Nick Cave named his favourite singer of all time
Australian musician Nick Cave has always brought an uncomfortable, candid element to his songwriting. His emotional openness, particularly about the death of his sons, is so shocking and raw – it almost lends itself to punk, in the sense that punk is so anti-conformity, no emotion is off the table. While it might favour anger over sorrow, Cave has a songwriting gift for translating both in his music.
Cave established his punk roots early on in The Birthday Party, a band that regularly tore up venues with their gothic shrieks and dark lyrics. And it was fellow Australian band, The Saints, that lit a fire within Cave to embrace his more cutthroat, evocative side, back when he was just a failing art student unsure of his direction.
In a heartfelt post following the death of Chris Bailey, the lead singer of The Saints, Cave declared the punk outfit “Australia’s greatest band” and Bailey his “favourite” singer. In a Red Hand Files post, Cave wrote: “In the late seventies, the Saints came down from Brisbane and tore their way through Sydney and Melbourne with their famously seditious shows.”
He included a picture of him looking on, enthralled by Bailey’s stage presence – the flickers of a burgeoning punk career in his eyes. “These legendary performances changed the lives of so many people, myself included,” continued Cave. “It is impossible to exaggerate the resulting radical galvanizing effect on the Melbourne scene.”
Never one to mince his words, when Bailey was interviewed by Punk77, he professed: “I have never been over fond of scenes anywhere,” despite Cave’s enthusiasm for the one he helped create. Despite enjoying a warm reception as part of Britain’s punk resurgence, Bailey wasn’t too enamoured with “the notion of ‘punky rocky a la Anglaise’” either, saying the movement was too fashion-oriented and “careerist”.
As for the difference between Australia and England’s respective punk scenes? “Size darling, not a lot else,” said Bailey. “You must remember that in 1976, punk rock was yet to become a ‘marketing exercise’ down south.” Bailey’s consistent chip-on-the-shoulder outlook, with its matching musical output, made him a trailblazing punk poet that Cave adored.
Reflecting on their connection, Cave said he and Bailey were lucky enough to get to know each other well – but it’s the picture of the two when they were relative strangers he would treasure most. Cave described himself as a young man transfixed and, indeed, transformed by the tenacity of Bailey.
Recalling being that young man “feeling his own best laid plans fall away”, Cave explained that Bailey gave him the ultimate gift of inspiration. The ‘Red Right Hand’ singer wrote that as it took hold in the picture, a “thought bubble above his head fills with its sudden and outrageous revelation: ‘This is what I want to do and this is who I want to be.’”
