Is there a contemporary artist who combines cult, charisma and poetry in the same way as Nick Cave? Probably not. Since the early 1980s, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds have enriched the music world - sometimes quiet and atmospheric, sometimes loud and rocking, but always with a good dose of lyrical depth. The Bad Seeds and the singer and composer revered as the Godfather of Goth create their own throne in the pantheon of music in their over 40-year band history.
The history of the cult band begins with the Australian post-punk group "The Birthday Party". After the breakup of this quite successful formation, Nick Cave and multi-instrumentalist Mick Harvey, together with the Einstürzende Neubauten frontman and guitarist Blixa Bargeld, call into being the band that will write music history as Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. In 1984, the debut album "From Her to Eternity" is released.
Ballads and rock songs for eternity
In 1985, the group finally moves to West Berlin. In the legendary Hansa Studios they record their second album, "The Firstborn Is Dead". Already here, songs like "Tupelo" reveal the darkly poetic soundscapes with which Cave creates his sinister pop myth of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Follow-up albums like "Your Funeral... My Trial" contain melancholy pieces that explore mental abysses, criminality and addiction. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds gradually build a growing and loyal following.
That the band and Nick Cave also explore new shores is proven by their appearance in Wim Wenders' film "The Sky Over Berlin" (1987) and Cave's first novel "And The Ass Saw The Angel" (1989).
On the album "The Good Son" (1990), Cave experiments for the first time with pensive piano ballads like "The Weeping Song" and "The Ship Song." With the 1996 album "Murder Ballads," Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds finally break into the mainstream without betraying their own style.
"Murder Ballads" - their most successful album up to that point - definitively establishes the band as an icon of dark goth music, softening genre boundaries and tirelessly reinventing themselves. Not a small part of the success has the collaboration with hit guarantor Kylie Minogue for the track "Where The Wild Roses Grow". The disc also features the duet "Henry Lee" with PJ Harvey.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Their shows - a revelation
Since "Murder Ballads", the composition of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds changes several times on tour and on albums. However, the heart is and remains Nick Cave, and so the Bad Seeds keep their distinctive sound. Be it on the emotional "The Boatmans's Call" (1997) or on the atmospheric album "Skeleton Tree" (2016), on which Cave deals with the tragic death of his son.
Whoever gets hold of tickets for Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds can look forward to an unforgettable live experience - consisting of soul striptease, musical shadow plays and Nick Cave's deeply echoing voice, which always manages the balancing act between end-time preacher and hopeful poet. Cave sings, screams, dances, rocks, sits down at the piano or bathes in the crowd in between and interacts with the audience again and again in his very special way. There can be no doubt that he loves to be on stage - Nick Cave is as passionate as he is a gifted performer. A live show by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds is nothing less than a revelation.
