When Ozzy Osbourne declared himself "the prince of fucking darkness" on a 2002 episode of The Osbournes, he may as well have simultaneously relinquished the title. The MTV hit quickly dissolved 30 years' worth of mystique and danger as it revealed him to be in reality a doddering old family man. But when Ozzy rose to fame in the '70s, every other rock star had an interest in the occult (or at least Hobbits), and heavy metal was still genuinely thought of as the province of Satanists, not nerdy gearheads. But who could be pop music's reigning prince of darkness in the era of rock star transparency, when every famous musician has a whiny MySpace blog? Since it's Halloween, we decided to think of a few options:
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Latest by Tertiad: Nick Cave is a good call.
But no Jaz Coleman? Really?
He's still wears the boiler suit and face paint on stage, can both sing and bellow with the best of them, and spouts all kinds of bizarre, offensive things in interviews. more »
The UK magazine Mojoloves to look back as it looks forward, so it's probably no surprise that its Mojo Honours, the reader-generated awards given out last night, were led by Duffy's "Mercy," a cauldron of throwbacks that flounced away with the evening's Song Of The Year Award. In addition to a few cursory nods in the direction of new-ish music (Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! won Best Album, while Led Zeppelin got the Best Live Act nod for its one show earlier this year), a bunch of seemingly interchangeable laurels went to Mojo staples.
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Nick Cave is raising money to have a semi-nude bronze statue of himself riding a horse erected (huh huh, huh huh) in his hometown of Warracknabeal, Australia. Cave's been talking about this project since 2001, but a recent interview with Q finds Cave surer than ever in his quest, and set on raising the $60,000 it would require. "I'm not going to pretend it's not satisfying in some ways. But there's a lot of work to do yet.'' Judging by the fact that he's still talking about this a couple years on, following an increase in movie gigs, album sales, a Nick Cave exhibition at the Melbourne Arts Centre and an honorary degree from his alma mater, I'm guessing he'll eventually get his wish.
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Latest by mossdale: Oh man, watching Tracy Pew make sweet, sweet love to his bass is priceless. more »
Nick Cave tour dates! He doesn't hit North America until September because his other project Grinderman is going to baffle audiences at various festivals around Europe this summer (what, no Lollapalooza appearance?), but it's never ever too early to get excited about seeing him live. [Pitchfork]
Nick Cave left his collegiate studies after two years to do drugs and yell about violence with the Birthday Party. Thirty years later, his alma mater has handed him an honorary degree of Doctor Of Laws. Said Monash University Vice-Chancellor Professor Richard Larkins, "Nick Cave's substantial achievements in the creative arts and in raising Australia's profile internationally make him a worthy candidate for recognition by Monash University. In addition to his musical contributions, Nick Cave has shown an outstanding ability to contribute to writing and acting—he is truly an extraordinary creative talent." You forgot "sex vampire," Dr. Larkins.
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Latest by KinetiQ: But will he climb over fifty doctoral students to get to ... nevermind. more »
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are playing the indie wankfest known as the Plug Awards! This will almost make up for last year's liveblog-joke-filled fiasco, especially if the organizers take one anonymous Brooklyn Vegan commenter's advice and ditch the "awards" part of the night in favor of a full Bad Seeds set. [BrooklynVegan / Photo: AP]
Something about the cover to the new Nick Cave album just screams "all your Disney favorites...live on stage!" Or maybe an ice show. A Nick Cave ice show. Nick Cave. On ice skates. Singing "From Her To Eternity" with Zac Efron. Or maybe with the talking candelabra from Beauty And The Beast. [Amazon]
It's not available in an easily embeddable format just yet, but really, you owe it to yourself to watch the video for Nick Cave's "Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!" in the widescreen format provided by his (and the Bad Seeds') official site. Because it's just our man Nick, with his hair slicked back and his moustache wide, vamping it up while in front of a green screen blaring "traveling" footage—so it looks like he's taking a trip around the globe, although in reality he probably moved about four feet during the whole time. (Note to Janet Jackson: This is how you make a video on a budget.)
Latest by HUGE_Hefner: Wow, great song and video. Let's see that again. more »
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' new album Dig, Lazarus, Dig! isn't out until March 3 but you can stream a preview of the whole shebang right now from the band's official website. (Presumably. My computer tends to cough up digi-blood whenever I try to stream anything these days, but other folks have gotten it to work.) Man, Maura's gonna be sad she decided to take today off from the Internet. [Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds via Paper Thin Walls]
It's not too uncommon for me to have days where all I want to listen to is 14-minute jags of Nick Cave freaking out, which is one of the many reasons why "Babe, I'm On Fire" is among my favorite songs of all time. The video—where Cave and his bandmates in the Bad Seeds play almost every single one of the people name-checked in the song—is not always in the best taste, or safe for your guaranteed employment (then again, few 14-minute videos are), but man, does listening to it really loud almost make working at home worth the crushing loneliness!
Latest by dog door: @jessdolator: obscurity is a value insofar as... say there are a few major stories in the music world. Brittney's 'comeback'... new Eagles album... someone throwing a show at Arcade Fire. Whatever. I can go read a blog that I know more »
Bummed (like us) that your ghouls night out got cancelled at the last minute? Stuck fending off ungrateful brats in costumes? Stomachache from binging on three-for-one sacks of discount candy from Wal-Mart? Release your Halloween-related frustration by watching the Birthday Party stumble and rumble through an unhinged "Release The Bats" at the Hacienda in '82.
What does a music awards show look like in the Southern Hemisphere? The answer: Almost as cheesy and brutal as the ones they pump out up here, although with more Silverchair. But hey, at least in Australia they have the sense to give lifetime achievement awards to Nick Cave. [Screw Rock N' Roll]
eMusic editor Michael Azerrad posts the story of the best heckle we've heard in ages, which was directed at Grinderman during their set at last night's White Stripes show. The punchline is too perfect to spoil here, but we have to disagree with Azerrad—dude sounds like he's probably got plenty of "weird music" to occupy him now that he's finally come around to the White Stripes. [17 dots]
During my daily YouTube trawl a few weeks back, I discovered the above clip of Pere Ubu performing "Breath,", their typically zonked stab at a glossed-out "pop hit," on David Sanborn's long-mothballed after-hours show Night Music. It was pretty damn weird seeing Crocus Behemoth splutter and stutter on a stage that looked more suited to G.E. Smith, and talking to a friend with fond memories of the show and a few YouTube links of his own, I found out that for a few years Sanborn delighted in screwing with the preconceptions of the late-night audience in the era of Richard Marx. It also turns out that everybody's pal, turbodouche Lorne Michaels, feels that, because he never made back his initial investment on the show, the episodes should rot in storage somewhere rather than be released on DVD. And so, in lieu of properly synced footage in stereophonic high-fidelity with bonus features and a commentary track, I present to you, after the jump, the blurry, pixilated best of Night Music (at least of what's available on YouTube).
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Latest by JazzProphet: This was a show worth watching. Debbie Harry even did some backing vocals on Pere Ubu's "Waiting for Mary". I have some tapes of the show. I am trying to find a band that Sanborn introduced as performing a type more »
Any band calling itself Grinderman should have music that sounds like it's been covered in a layer of gutter grime; the band that snatched the name is made up of Nick Cave and a few of his Bad Seeds cohorts, and they don't disappoint on the down-and-dirty front. The Grinderman full-length doesn't come out until springtime, so for now we'll have to content ourselves with the sludgy "Love Bomb," which we found on Medication this morning.
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Idolator
When Ozzy Osbourne declared himself "the prince of fucking darkness" on a 2002 episode of The Osbournes, he may as well have simultaneously relinquished the title. The MTV hit quickly dissolved 30 years' worth of mystique and danger as it revealed him to be in reality a doddering old family man. But when Ozzy rose to fame in the '70s, every other rock star had an interest in the occult (or at least Hobbits), and heavy metal was still genuinely thought of as the province of Satanists, not nerdy gearheads. But who could be pop music's reigning prince of darkness in the era of rock star transparency, when every famous musician has a whiny MySpace blog? Since it's Halloween, we decided to think of a few options:
More »
Nick Cave tour dates! He doesn't hit North America until September because his other project Grinderman is going to baffle audiences at various festivals around Europe this summer (what, no Lollapalooza appearance?), but it's never ever too early to get excited about seeing him live. [
