History Music / NickCave

* GutturalGrowler: Used on occasion. An example would be "Lovely Creature" off of ''Music/MurderBallads.''

* TitleDrop: "Sugar Sugar Sugar" from ''Tender Prey'' has a Title Drop towards the end. "You better pray baby tender prey".

* BadassBaritone: One of the best examples in rock.

And before you ask, [[OlderThanTheyLook he's sixty-five]], by the way.

-->--"The Mercy Seat"

Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an internationally renowned musician from the North East of Victoria, UsefulNotes/{{Australia}}. He started out in Music/TheBirthdayParty, a rather weird PostPunk band who would become a big influence on GothRock. In the middle of TheEighties he went on to found ''Nick Cave and the Cavemen,'' who fairly quickly re-named themselves to ''Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.'' In later years he's formed a third band, ''Grinderman,'' which -- very unusually for him -- plays rather [[ThreeChordsAndTheTruth straightforward rock music.]]

He is also the author of the novels: ''Literature/AndTheAssSawTheAngel'' and ''The Death of Bunny Munro,'' as well as the scripts for ''Film/TheProposition'' and ''Film/{{Lawless}}'', for which he and bandmate Warren Ellis (no, not ''that'' Creator/WarrenEllis) also composed the soundtracks. And he's occasionally acted, most notably in ''Film/WingsOfDesire'' (where he appears AsHimself in concert) and ''Film/TheAssassinationOfJesseJamesByTheCowardRobertFord'' (he appears as a musician, playing the folk song "UsefulNotes/JesseJames"), which he and Ellis again scored. The film version of ''Film/TheRoad'' was scored by him and Ellis, and directed by ''John Hillcoat,'' who also did ''The Proposition'' and ''Lawless''.

In 2023 he was part of the Australian delegation to the coronation of King Charles III, marking his gradual transformation from wild young man into a notable Australian artist.

His songs range from gentle love songs, to angsty songs of pain, to full-on [[MurderBallad murder ballads]]; he wrote a whole album of the latter. He's also known for deeply held, though unconventional, religious views; his songs and novels are rife with Christian symbolism, though he denies in recent interviews that he believes in a personal or interventionist God (So... Deist, maybe? Post-theist?). His song "Into My Arms" specifically opens with the lyric "I don't believe in an interventionist God", so there you go.

with The Birthday Party

with Nick Cave & The Back Seeds

with Grinderman

with Warren Ellis

Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an internationally renowned musician from the North East of Victoria, UsefulNotes/{{Australia}}. He started out in Music/TheBirthdayParty, a rather weird PostPunk band who would become a big influence on GothRock. In the middle of TheEighties he went on to found ''Nick Cave and the Cavemen,'' who fairly quickly re-named themselves to ''Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.'' In later years he's formed a third band, ''Grinderman,'' which- very unusually for him -plays rather [[ThreeChordsAndTheTruth straightforward rock music.]]

And before you ask, [[OlderThanTheyLook he's sixty-four]], by the way.

* CorruptHick: A plethora of characters in ''And The Ass Saw The Angel.''

* NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly: Combines American folk music with gothic post-punk and, recently, blues-influenced rock and roll. His output in TheNewTens has made a hard turn into ambient and electronic music.

Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an internationally renowned musician from the North East of Victoria, UsefulNotes/{{Australia}}. He started out in Music/TheBirthdayParty, a rather weird PostPunk band who would become a big influence on GothRock. In the middle of TheEighties he went on to found ''Nick Cave and the Cavemen,'' who fairly quickly re-named themselves to ''Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.'' In recent years he's formed a third band, ''Grinderman,'' which-[[SomethingCompletelyDifferent very unusually for him]]-plays rather [[ThreeChordsAndTheTruth straightforward rock music.]]

And before you ask, [[OlderThanTheyLook he's sixty-two]], by the way.

* BadassMustache / BadassBeard: With Grinderman came a mustache to the formerly clean-shaven Cave. Many of the members of Grinderman and a few of the Bad Seeds sport badass facial hair such as Warren Ellis' wild-man grizzly beard.

* RedRightHand: [[TropeNamers The trope is named after a song of his]].

* DeadpanSnarker: In several interviews.

* OdeToIntoxication: The Birthday Party's own "Mutiny In Heaven" is a manic ode to heroin abuse. Several songs off of ''No More Shall We Part'' allude to Cave's time in detox such as "Oh My Lord."
* OlderThanTheyLook: Would you believe that this dude is sixty-two as of 2019?

Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an internationally renowned musician from the North East of Victoria, UsefulNotes/{{Australia}}. He started out in Music/TheBirthdayParty, a rather weird PostPunk band who would become a big influence on GothRock. In the middle of TheEighties he went on to found ''Nick Cave and the Cavemen,'' who fairly quickly re-named themselves to ''Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.'' In recent years he's formed a third band, ''Grinderman,'' which-[[SomethingCompletelyDifferentvery unusually for him]]-plays rather [[ThreeChordsAndTheTruth straightforward rock music.]]

Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an internationally renowned musician from the North East of Victoria, UsefulNotes/{{Australia}}. He started out in Music/TheBirthdayParty, a rather weird PostPunk band who would become a big influence on GothRock. In the middle of TheEighties he went on to found ''Nick Cave and the Cavemen,'' who fairly quickly re-named themselves to ''Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.'' In recent years he's formed a third band, ''Grinderman,'' which[[SomethingCompletelyDifferent-very unusually for him]] plays rather [[ThreeChordsAndTheTruth straightforward rock music.]]

Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an internationally renowned musician from the North East of Victoria, UsefulNotes/{{Australia}}. He started out in Music/TheBirthdayParty, a rather weird PostPunk band who would become a big influence on GothRock. In the middle of TheEighties went on to found ''Nick Cave and the Cavemen,'' who fairly quickly re-named themselves to ''Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.'' In recent years he's formed a third band, ''Grinderman,'' [[SomethingCompletelyDifferent who very unusually for him]] play rather [[ThreeChordsAndTheTruth straightforward rock music.]]

He is also the author of the novels: ''And the Ass Saw the Angel'' and ''The Death of Bunny Munro,'' as well as the scripts for ''Film/TheProposition'' and ''Film/{{Lawless}}'', for which he and bandmate Warren Ellis (no, not ''that'' Creator/WarrenEllis) also composed the soundtracks. And he's occasionally acted, most notably in ''Film/WingsOfDesire'' (where he appears AsHimself in concert) and ''Film/TheAssassinationOfJesseJamesByTheCowardRobertFord'' (he appears as a musician, playing the folk song "UsefulNotes/JesseJames"), which he and Ellis again scored. The film version of ''Film/TheRoad'' was scored by him and Ellis, and directed by ''John Hillcoat,'' who also did ''The Proposition'' and ''Lawless''.

* AxCrazy: From the Birthday Party there's the subject of "Hamlet (Pow Pow Pow)" who is a gun-happy sociopath bearing a crucifix. ''Music/MurderBallads'' by the Bad Seeds has at least ''six'' songs featuring outright homicidal maniacs. In particular [[spoiler: Lottie from "The Curse of Milhaven" is literally rabid with psychopathic murderous rage.]], as well as the protagonist of "Stagger Lee", who is not only a murderous psychopath, but also a sadistic rapist who [[DepravedBisexual doesn't discriminate based on gender]].

He is also the author of the novels: ''And the Ass Saw the Angel'' and ''The Death of Bunny Munro,'' as well as the script for ''Film/TheProposition,'' for which he and bandmate Warren Ellis (no, not ''that'' Creator/WarrenEllis) also composed the soundtrack. And he's occasionally acted, most notably in ''Film/WingsOfDesire'' (where he appears AsHimself in concert) and ''Film/TheAssassinationOfJesseJamesByTheCowardRobertFord'' (he appears as a musician, playing the folk song "UsefulNotes/JesseJames"), which he and Ellis again scored. The film version of ''Film/TheRoad'' was scored by him and Ellis, and directed by ''John Hillcoat,'' who also did ''The Proposition.''

His songs range from gentle love songs, to angsty songs of pain, to full-on [[MurderBallad murder ballads]]; he wrote a whole album of the latter. He's also known for deeply held, though unconventional, religious views; his songs and novels are rife with Christian symbolism, though he denies in recent interviews that he believes in a personal or interventionist God (So... Deist, maybe? Post-theist?).

** ''Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus.'' The former CD was harder-edged and the latter was notably softer and more melancholy.

* GeniusBonus: Several of the verses in "More News from Nowhere" are direct references to ''Literature/TheOdyssey''.

* NewSoundAlbum / [[SurprisinglyGentleSong Surprisingly Gentle Album]]: Happened thrice with the Bad Seeds. ''The Good Son'' was a [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks shockingly]] gentle follow-up to the intense ''Tender Prey.'' Then it happened again with both ''The Boatman's Call'' and ''No More Shall We Part'' following a year after the moody and dark ''Murder Ballads.'' ''The Boatman's Call'' was much better received than ''The Good Son,'' perhaps because it was less of a shock the second time to hear the Bad Seeds do an album full of sorrowful songs and LonelyPianoPiece tracks. Then it happened a ''third time'' with ''Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!!'' sounding more like the rock & roll of Grinderman than anything else they'd done previously.
** And happened again with ''Skeleton Tree'', which is more electronic and baroque than previous albums. This style continues in ''Ghosteen'', but even more ambient and ethereal.

** "Fireflies", off ''Ghosteen'', finally plays the trope straight.

And before you ask, [[OlderThanTheyLook he's sixty-one]], by the way.