History YMMV / NickCave

* MagnificentBastard: The titular Man from ''Red Right Hand'' is a mysterious figure who emerges from the storm to those who have lost hope and faith in their dreams, helping to rekindle them with his charisma and charm, doing favors and helping to enrich them with whatever they need, bringing fame to his name all across the land, renowned as a "god, ghost, man and guru". Far from being benevolent however, everything he does is designed to lay the stages for a "catastrophic plan" of which all his beneficiaries are just small cogs from, with the song warning us that everything has been "designed and directed by his RedRightHand".

** The entirety of ''Skeleton Tree'', given that it [[CreatorBreakdown was written and recorded in the aftermath of his son's death]].

* FaceOfTheBand: Doesn't help that they're called "'''Nick Cave''' and the Bad Seeds" and that Cave is so charismatic that he steals all the attention anyway. Only music nerds tend to recognize that Rowland S. Howard, Warren Ellis, Blixa Bargeld, Mick Harvey, Conway Savage, Music/JGThirlwell and other utterly brilliant musicians have been involved with Cave's projects over the years.

* AwesomeMusic: "The Mercy Seat", a very popular work by the The Bad Seeds, and with Nick Cave himself.

* CompleteMonster: Lottie from ''Music/MurderBallads''. See that page for more details.

** "The Boatman's Call" and "No More Shall We Part" are also quite sad, lonely albums.

** "The Boatman's Call" and "No More Shall We Part" are also quite sad, lonely albums

* CompleteMonster: Stagger Lee and Lottie from ''Music/MurderBallads''. See that page for more details.

** ''Skeleton Tree'', given that it [[CreatorBreakdown was written and recorded in the aftermath of his son's death]].

* CompleteMonster: This duo from ''Music/MurderBallads'':
** "Stagger Lee": After [[VillainProtagonist Stagger Lee's]] wife kicks him out of the house, he goes to a bar. When the bartender disputes Lee's {{Badass}} status, Lee [[DisproportionateRetribution shoots him four times in the head]]. A woman discovers the murder, and Lee taunts her about it. She cheats on her husband with him until he discovers them. [[DepravedBisexual Lee]] then forces the husband to give him a blowjob, and guns him down afterwards.
** "The Curse of Millhaven": Loretta, better known as Lottie, the [[TeensAreMonsters 14-year-old]] [[VillainProtagonist title character and narrator]], is such a [[AxCrazy sadistic, prolific, and senseless killer]] that her actions are mistaken for some sort of curse upon her hometown. First, she [[WouldHurtAChild murders a young boy]] by bashing in his head, and hides his body in a creek. She then [[OffWithHisHead decapitates]] a handyman and leaves his head in a fountain, and stabs her neighbor to death. After getting caught, she happily describes the rest of her crimes in detail: on top of the murders, she had taken down warning signs around a lake in late winter, resulting in the deaths of 20 children, and committed arson around a slum, burning it and its inhabitants to the ground. She ends the song by explicitly stating that she feels no remorse, and makes it clear that she only committed these crimes ForTheEvulz.

* CompleteMonster: Lottie, the 14-year-old title character and narrator of [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACG9wv69bKU "The Curse of Milhaven"]] from ''Music/MurderBallads'' is such a sadistic, prolific, and senseless killer that her actions are mistaken for some sort of curse upon her hometown. First, she murders a young boy by bashing in his head, and hides his body in a creek. She then decapitates a handyman and leaves his head in a fountain, and stabs her neighbor to death. After getting caught, she happily describes the rest of her crimes in detail: on top of the murders, she had taken down warning signs around a lake in late Winter, resulting in the deaths of 20 children, and committed arson around a slum, burning it and its inhabitants to the ground. She ends the song by explicitly stating that she feels no remorse, and makes it clear that she only committed these crimes for fun.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: "The Mercy Seat" from "Tender Prey", a song considered by many to be Nick Cave’s MagnumOpus, is narrated by a convicted killer, a man who shares his last ruminations on God, life in death row, and his own fate with us before being sent to the electric chair. Throughout the song, the narrator insists both that he is innocent and that he is “not afraid to die”, but drops several hints (making references to his “kill hand” and his “devil blood”, for instance) that he might not be as blameless as he claims, and his lurid obsession with the chair also seems to hint that he is truly horrified by the thought of his execution. But what truly ratchets the ambiguity of the song up to new levels is the song’s final line, which sees the chorus’s original ending—“And I’m not afraid to die”—replaced with something else: [[spoiler:"But I’m afraid I told a lie." Which of the narrator's claims is the lie—his profession of innocence, or his insistence that he isn't scared of death? Is the narrator breaking down and confessing his guilt, or is he simply admitting that, for all his apparent bravado, he really is afraid of the chair? Is he a hard-bitten murderer grudgingly acknowledging his sins in the last moments of his life—or an innocent brought nearly to the point of madness by the thought of [[CruelAndUnusualDeath what is about to happen to him]]?]]

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: ''The Mercy Seat'', a song considered by many to be Nick Cave’s magnum opus, is narrated by a convicted killer, a man who shares his last ruminations on God, life in death row, and his own fate with us before being sent to the electric chair. Throughout the song, the narrator insists both that he is innocent and that he is “not afraid to die”, but drops several hints (making references to his “kill hand” and his “devil blood”, for instance) that he might not be as blameless as he claims, and his lurid obsession with the chair also seems to hint that he is truly horrified by the thought of his execution. But what truly ratchets the ambiguity of the song up to new levels is the song’s final line, which sees the chorus’s original ending—“And I’m not afraid to die”—replaced with something else: [[spoiler:"But I’m afraid I told a lie." Which of the narrator's claims is the lie—his profession of innocence, or his insistence that he isn't scared of death? Is the narrator breaking down and confessing his guilt, or is he simply admitting that, for all his apparent bravado, he really is afraid of the chair? Is he a hard-bitten murderer grudgingly acknowledging his sins in the last moments of his life—or an innocent brought nearly to the point of madness by the thought of [[CruelAndUnusualDeath what is about to happen to him]]?]]

* CompleteMonster: Lottie, the 14-year-old title character and narrator of [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACG9wv69bKU "The Curse of Milhaven"]] is such a sadistic, prolific, and senseless killer that her actions are mistaken for some sort of curse upon her hometown. First, she murders a young boy by bashing in his head, and hides his body in a creek. She then decapitates a handyman and leaves his head in a fountain, and stabs her neighbor to death. After getting caught, she happily describes the rest of her crimes in detail: on top of the murders, she had taken down warning signs around a lake in late Winter, resulting in the deaths of 20 children, and committed arson around a slum, burning it and its inhabitants to the ground. She ends the song by explicitly stating that she feels no remorse, and makes it clear that she only committed these crimes for fun.
* CrossesTheLineTwice: "Stagger Lee", "The Curse of Millhaven" and "O'Malley's Bar" are so blatant about their respective narrator's enjoyment of murder that they cross over into BlackComedy.

* HoYay with Blixa Bargeld: their duets of ''Where the Wild Roses Grow'' and ''The Weeping Song''. Oh, and that time they made out on stage...

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: ''The Mercy Seat'', a song considered by many to be Nick Cave’s magnum opus, is narrated by a convicted killer, a man who shares his last ruminations on God, life in death row, and his own fate with us before being sent to the electric chair. Throughout the song, the narrator insists both that he is innocent and that he is “not afraid to die”, but drops several hints (making references to his “kill hand” and his “rebel blood”, for instance) that he might not be as blameless as he claims, and his lurid obsession with the chair also seems to hint that he is truly horrified by the thought of his execution. But what truly ratchets the ambiguity of the song up to new levels is the song’s final line, which sees the chorus’s original ending—“And I’m not afraid to die”—replaced with something else: [[spoiler:"But I’m afraid I told a lie." Which of the narrator's claims is the lie—his profession of innocence, or his insistence that he isn't scared of death? Is the narrator breaking down and confessing his guilt, or is he simply admitting that, for all his apparent bravado, he really is afraid of the chair? Is he a hard-bitten murderer grudgingly acknowledging his sins in the last moments of his life—or an innocent brought nearly to the point of madness by the thought of [[CruelAndUnusualDeath what is about to happen to him]]?]]

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: ''The Mercy Seat'', a very popular work by the The Bad Seeds, and with Nick Cave himself.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: ''The Mercy Seat'', a song considered by many to be Nick Cave’s magnum opus, is narrated by a convicted killer, a man who shares his last ruminations on God, life in death row, and his own fate with us before being sent to the electric chair. Throughout the song, the narrator insists both that he is innocent and that he is “not afraid to die”, but drops several hints (making references to his “kill hand” and his “rebel blood”, for instance) that he might not be as blameless as he claims, and his lurid obsession with the chair also seems to hint that he is truly horrified by the thought of his execution. But what truly ratchets the ambiguity of the song up to new levels is the song’s final line, which sees the chorus’s original ending—“And I’m not afraid to die”—replaced with something else: [[spoiler:"But I’m afraid I told a lie." Which of the narrator's claims is the lie—his profession of innocence, or his insistence that he isn't scared of death? Is the narrator breaking down and confessing his guilt, or is he simply admitting that, for all his apparent bravado, he really is afraid of the chair? Is he a hard-bitten murderer grudgingly confessing his sins in the last moments of his life—or an innocent brought nearly to the point of madness by the thought of [[CruelAndUnusualDeath what is about to happen to him]]?]]

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: ''The Mercy Seat'', a song considered by many to be Nick Cave’s magnum opus, is narrated by a convicted killer, a man who shares his last ruminations on God, life in death row, and his own fate with us before being sent to the electric chair. Throughout the song, the narrator insists both that he is innocent and that he is “not afraid to die”, but drops several hints (making references to his “kill hand” and his “rebel blood”, for instance) that he might not be as blameless as he claims, and his lurid obsession with the chair also seems to hint that he is truly horrified by the thought of his execution. But what truly ratchets the ambiguity of the song up to new levels is the song’s final line, which sees the chorus’s original ending—“And I’m not afraid to die”—replaced with something else: [[spoiler:"But I’m afraid I told a lie." Which one is the lie? Is the narrator breaking down and confessing his guilt, or is he simply admitting that, for all his apparent bravado, he really is afraid of the chair? Is he a hard-bitten murderer grudgingly confessing his sins in the last moments of his life—or an innocent brought nearly to the point of madness by the thought of [[CruelAndUnusualDeath what is about to happen to him]]?]]
* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: ''The Mercy Seat'', a very popular work by the The Bad Seeds', and with Nick Cave himself.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: ''The Mercy Seat'', a song considered by many to be Nick Cave’s magnum opus, is narrated by a convicted killer, a man who shares his last ruminations on God, life in death row, and his own fate with us before being sent to the electric chair. Throughout the song, the narrator insists both that he is innocent and that he is “not afraid to die”, but drops several hints (making references to his “kill hand” and his “rebel blood”, for instance) that he might not be as blameless as he claims, and his lurid obsession with the chair also seems to hint that he is truly horrified by the thought of his execution. But what truly ratchets the ambiguity of the song up to new levels is the song’s final line, which sees the chorus’s original last line—“And I’m not afraid to die”—with a different line: [[spoiler:"But I’m afraid I told a lie." Which one is the lie? Is the narrator breaking down and confessing his guilt, or is he simply admitting that, for all his apparent bravado, he really is afraid of the chair? Is he a hard-bitten murderer grudgingly confessing his sins in the last moments of his life—or an innocent brought nearly to the point of madness by the thought of [[CruelAndUnusualDeath what is about to happen to him]]?]]

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: ''The Mercy Seat'', a song considered by many to be Nick Cave’s magnum opus, is narrated by a convicted killer, a man who shares his last ruminations on God, life in death row, and his own fate with us before being sent to the electric chair. Throughout the song, the narrator insists both that he is innocent and that he is “not afraid to die”, but drops several hints (making references to his “kill hand” and his “rebel blood”, for instance) that he might not be as blameless as he claims, and his lurid obsession with the chair also seems to hint that he is truly horrified by the thought of his execution. But what truly ratchets the ambiguity of the song up to new levels is the song’s final line, which sees the chorus’s original last line—“And I’m not afraid to die”—with a different line: [[spoiler:"But I’m afraid I told a lie." WHICH ONE IS THE LIE? Is the narrator breaking down and confessing his guilt, or is he simply admitting that, for all his apparent bravado, he really is afraid of the chair? Is he a hard-bitten murderer grudgingly confessing his sins in the last moments of his life—or an innocent brought nearly to the point of madness by the thought of [[CruelAndUnusualDeath what is about to happen to him]]?]]

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: ''The Mercy Seat'', a song considered by many to be Nick Cave’s magnum opus, is narrated by a convicted killer, a man who shares his last ruminations on God, life in death row, and his own fate with us before being sent to the electric chair. Throughout the song, the narrator insists both that he is innocent and that he is “not afraid to die”, but drops several hints (making references to his “kill hand” and his “rebel blood”, for instance) that he might not be as blameless as he claims, and his lurid obsession with the chair also seems to hint that he is truly horrified by the thought of his execution. But what truly ratchets the ambiguity of the song up to new levels is the song’s final line, which sees the chorus’s original last line—“And I’m not afraid to die”—with a different line:
->[[spoiler:'But I’m afraid I told a lie.
WHICH ONE IS THE LIE? Is the narrator breaking down and confessing his guilt, or is he simply admitting that, for all his apparent bravado, he really is afraid to die? Is he a hard-bitten murderer grudgingly confessing his sins in the last moments of his life—or an innocent brought nearly to the point of madness by the thought of [[CruelAndUnusualDeath what is about to happen to him ]]?]]

* FaceOfTheBand: Doesn't help that they're called "'''Nick Cave''' and the Bad Seeds" and that Cave is so charismatic that he steals all the attention anyway. Only music nerds tend to recognize that Rowland S. Howard, Warren Ellis, Blixa Bargeld, Mick Harvey, Conway Savage, [[{{ptitlephp55f3l}} JG Thirlwell]] and other utterly brilliant musicians have been involved with Cave's projects over the years.

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel - "The Carny."

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel