Why Nick Cave is the greatest ‘serious’ rock musician of our time. Period. The End.

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Echo, May 6, 2017.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. misterdecibel

    misterdecibel Bulbous Also Tapered

    And then there's his voice...
     
  2. Diamond Dog

    Diamond Dog Cautionary Example

    He's no Neil Young or Bob Dylan, I'll give you that. But people still seem to like him.

    D.D.
     
    Turbo2k likes this.
  3. Boswell

    Boswell Forum Resident

    Yes, he's a rather horrible singer with a put-on voice. He's no Neil Young, that's for sure. I watched the Cohen tribute, "I'm Your Man" recently and Cave was easily the worst part of it.
    Bad film maker, too. That western was unwatchable.
    I am going to give his music another chance though.
     
  4. Tanx

    Tanx Forum Resident

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    I like Nick Cave, but he's kind of the punk rock Springsteen. The chances he takes are all pretty guaranteed to appeal to his musically well-bred audience. As with Springsteen, I think it's not intentional or contrived. But I'd be more impressed if he did put out a Let's Dance just to see what would happen.
     
  5. Diamond Dog

    Diamond Dog Cautionary Example



    And what happened is pretty much what happened when the other guy put out a Let's Dance.
    Don't hold your breath waiting for Nick Cave to put out a Let's Dance.

    D.D.
     
    Gavinyl likes this.
  6. keyse1

    keyse1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Australia
    Only 1
    And he died too soon to make a definitive comment on the best Australian songwriter
     
  7. aussievinyl

    aussievinyl Appreciator Of Creative Expression

    As an Australian, I think of Nick as theatrical and for that reason have never taken him seriously.
    I did like his side project, Grinderman, which deals in part with middle aged men grappling with feelings of lust, which I of course do not understand.
    At all.
     
    Andrew J, Gavinyl, Mylene and 2 others like this.
  8. Sordel

    Sordel Forum Resident

    Location:
    Switzerland
    He's certainly theatrical and a lot of his work is tongue-in-cheek, but some of his songs (e.g. “As I Sat Sadly By Her Side”) are very serious indeed. Separating what you could call Cave's existential joker persona from the writer behind it is, as with Dylan, one of the challenges that Cave lays down for the listener.
     
    keyse1 likes this.
  9. NettleBed

    NettleBed Forum Transient

    Location:
    new york city
    I don't know about that, but I don't think he's a particularly good musician or artist. I've heard most of his acclaimed albums and find him to be an affected bore with little to say.

    I did like The Proposition, though.
     
  10. wolfram

    wolfram Slave to the rhythm

    Location:
    Berlin, Germany
    So Nick Cave is a bad (or "rather horrible") singer now? I think his voice and singing fits his songs perfectly. Just like with Tom Waits the voice will not appeal to everyone, but if it's missing, the song loses something essential imo.
     
  11. pathosdrama

    pathosdrama Forum Resident

    Location:
    Firenze, Italy
    I can't understand what a "serious" musician should be.
     
  12. Dingo

    Dingo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Australia
    My friend Claire went to high school with Nick. He used to smoke behind the bike sheds at lunchtime, and generally just be a quintessential Aussie bloke stuck in a **** country town.
    I lived in St. Kilda during the ' glory years' of the Crystal Ballroom on Fitzroy Street.
    I lived in Dalgety Street, one up from Fitzroy Street.
    When I was out to get the daily milk, bread, and papers, I used to see Nick stumbling homewards at 7a.m. in his lime- green two piece suit, no socks, and a gap between top of shoe and bottom of trouser of five inches, revealing a moon tanned and very stoned shank. He was always polite and said good evening, despite the actual time of day.
    I enjoy his music selectively. ' The Boatmans Call' is brilliant.
    Nick invented himself.
    But I can never comfortably reconcile the myth with the actuality.
     
  13. Andy Smith

    Andy Smith .....Like a good pinch of snuff......

    Not much of a Nick Cave supporter to be honest, but I saw a bloke live a couple of weeks ago called Del Scott Miller and he did an interesting cover of Cave's 'Red Right Hand'. I've checked, and there's a studio version on his 'Del38' album.
     
  14. Neonbeam

    Neonbeam All Art Was Once Contemporary

    Location:
    Planet Earth
    Did you miss "Murder Ballads"???? :evil:
     
  15. Sondek

    Sondek Forum Resident

    Black Sabbath were theatrical too, as was David Bowie (far more than Nick Cave). There's been many theatrical artists I could name.
    I don't see why that would be a reason not to take a group or artist any more or less serious than another.
     
  16. Neonbeam

    Neonbeam All Art Was Once Contemporary

    Location:
    Planet Earth
    Look no further than Shakespeare! :biglaugh:
     
  17. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product

    i think cave's recorded work is quite brilliant. to me his writing and recording has been on a general upward slope, getting better and better.
    but i am not into the whole idea of musicians as competing bodies. best, to me is not useful or real. what is best for me today, is not tomorrow, so i try to avoid that altogether.
     
    Gavinyl and Diamond Dog like this.
  18. misterdecibel

    misterdecibel Bulbous Also Tapered

    Peter Allen?
     
  19. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Rolf Harris.
     
    scobb and Williamson like this.
  20. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product

    Don Walker
    Paul Kelly
    Richard Clapton
    Birtles/Gobbles
    Mark Seymour
    Iva Davies
    Ed Kuepper
    James Reyne
    David McComb
    Jim Moginie/ Rob Hurst
    Brewster/Neeson/Brewster
    Young/Scott/Young
    Greg Macainsh
    Vanda/Young
    Archie Roach
    Glenn Shorrock
    Garth Porter
    Martin Armiger
    all sit above peter allen in my book
     
    zphage likes this.
  21. Ricardo Perfecto

    Ricardo Perfecto Forum Resident

    His last couple of albums have been number one on the mainstream charts here and gone gold [35,000]. The stations you mention are bland rock and pop top 40 stations. You won’t hear Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan or The Beatles on them either. Cave is all over national radio on government and community stations. He is a household name in that most everyone here has heard of him whether they know his music or not, and even then most people aged 30 to 60 would have heard at least a couple of Ship Song, Mercy Seat, Wild Roses, Shivers etc somewhere sometime. Recent tours he has sold out a combination of large halls in the five thousand plus range and outdoor gigs in the ten thousand plus range in Melbourne and Sydney, as a stand-alone act not festival bills. I am not a huge fan personally (did go to same school though) but he is a bigger deal here than you let on.
     
    Gavinyl and keyse1 like this.
  22. Erm, I'm confused. Are you saying you think there's only one better Australian songwriter?
     
  23. keyse1

    keyse1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Australia
    Yes
    David McComb from The Triffids
    But he died sadly beforee a claim to be a better songwriter could be made
    Born Sandy Devotional is I think the best Australian record of all time
     
    SJP, Williamson and Dayfold like this.
  24. stunner2020

    stunner2020 Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    I think it's unfair to claim that Nick Cave isn't versatile; as far as consecutive albums go I can't think of many quite so stylistically disparate as Grinderman II and Push The Sky Away.
     
    Wild Frank, Echo, Gavinyl and 3 others like this.
  25. NeilYoungFan

    NeilYoungFan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pennsylvania
    Good post, but to quibble:

    I really don't think anyone is fit to be mentioned in the same breath as Bob Dylan. He's my 3rd favorite artist, but he stands alone on his own mountain. Everyone else can be in the discussion for 2nd place...
    NYF
     
    mark winstanley likes this.
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine