Nick Cave, the acclaimed Australian frontman of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, is one of the music industry and film industry’s greatest minds. He is a diamond in the rough, dwelling in the shadows of the mainstream mayhem as to continue to clandestinely build his artistic arsenal of genius work.
Courtesy NickCave.com
Cave is an avid musician with occasional stints in screenwriting. His writing, whether for an album or movie, is poetic and contains deep underlying themes of disdain for today’s media.
“Push the Sky Away,” the band’s most recent album, has a solemn undertone throughout its entirety but provides release for the consumers’ ears by way of its tuneful transitions between tracks. “Higgs Boson Blues” is a track with many references to the music industry’s past and present, like Robert Johnson and Miley Cyrus.
“He got the real killer groove. Robert Johnson and the devil man. Don’t know who’s gonna rip off who,” Cave adds in homage to the blues artist.
Johnson was a pioneer in the blues genre and one of the first members of the 27 Club, a collection of musicians who died at 27 years old, including Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Brian Jones, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse. This quote plays out a scenario in which Johnson and the devil bargain with one another, musical talent for a soul.
At the end of the track, Cave says, “Miley Cyrus floats in a swimming pool in Toluca Lake. And you’re the best girl I’ve ever had. Can’t remember anything at all.” Cave could be suggesting that Cyrus is spiraling toward the same fate as Johnson. “Floating in a pool” has a clear sound that is reminiscent of death. To say “you’re the best girl I’ve ever had” may indicate that she was the devil’s greatest prize from pop culture destined for destruction like many others. The lyrics in this track are absurdly beautiful. It doesn’t conform to the norm, but tells a story in an unorthodox manner, mocking today’s ideals.
Cave’s music can be representative of love as well. In “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I,” his song “O Children” plays on a radio following the announcer’s declaration of the day’s departed. The protagonists, Harry and Hermione, take one another’s hands in this moment and dance to the uplifting music as they forget the troubles of the world in the film’s most heartwarming scene. The lyrics offer a journey, by means of a “train that goes to the kingdom.” Death is present in this track, like in “Higgs Boson Blues,” but it is presented as something to be eluded.
Harry Potter is not the only film that features Cave on its soundtrack. His music has been in an array of genres: “I Am Sam,” “Shrek 2” and “West Of Memphis,” for instance.
Music may be Cave’s precedent in the film industry, but he is an accomplished screenwriter too; notably, he wrote “Lawless,” which starred Shia LaBeouf and Tom Hardy.
Cave’s role in this film is intriguing because of the story being so diverse from his upbringing in Australia. Based off of Matt Bondurant’s novel “The Wettest County in the World,” “Lawless” is a tale of three brothers in the backwoods of Virginia, entangled in a web of moonshine bootlegging between mountainfolk and the mafia. It is a cinematic wonder and one of the best works for some of the actors, but is all the more interesting due to Cave’s involvement.
This article is a sort of contradiction, putting Cave’s name in the spotlight, but serves due justice to the artist whose legacy will subsist and work will be marveled at by music scholars years from now.
Cave’s performance at this year’s Bonnaroo Music Festival was an emotional rendering for all who were there. As he finished playing “Higgs Boson Blues,” he leaned into the crowd, pulling hands near his chest to hold them firmly against his heart, and repeatedly said, “Can you hear my heartbeat? Goes boom, boom, boom.”
The crowd in a pensive euphoria began chanting “boom, boom, boom” in a heartfelt tone each time Cave asked the question.
The heartbeat is felt by many in his loyal fan base and will be felt by all who have Cave’s voice bestowed upon their ears in the future. Some of the greatest art receives its deserved recognition posthumously. Nick Cave prowls in the background of pop culture and mainstream media, but his devotion to his fans and sincerity of his work are what make him a hidden gem of true creative genius.
