‘Infected by the seed of postindustrial punk bohemia’
Nick Cave and the milieu of the 1980s underground
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/pomh.v3i2.103Keywords:
genre, gothic, industrial, milieu, post-punk, punk, scenesAbstract
This article uses the concepts of cultural milieu and music genre to explore the work of Nick Cave in the 1980s and later. Milieu theory is derived from the work of phenomenologists Alfred Schutz and Jorg Durschmitt. The article analyses the transgressive milieu of Cave and such collaborators as Blixa Bargeld and Lydia Lunch and considers the way in which the music genres of punk, post-punk, gothic and industrial have been implicated in Nick Cave’s recorded output.
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Reynolds, S. 1987. ‘Interview with Nick Cave’. National Student.
—2005. Rip It Up and Start Again: Post-Punk 1978–1984. London: Faber and Faber.
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Schutz, A. 1970a. On Phenomenology and Social Relations. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
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—2007. Exploring the Networked Worlds of Popular Music: Milieu Cultures. New York: Routledge.
Discography
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. 1983. From Her to Eternity. Mute Records.
Current 93. 1998. All the Pretty Little Horses. Durtro Records.
Filmography
The Proposition. 2005. Dir. John Hillcoat. Screenplay and soundtrack Nick Cave.
Punk Attitude. 2005. DVD. Dir. Don Letts. Capital Entertainment.
Berger, G. 2006. The Story of Crass. London: Omnibus Press.
Bladet, E. 1995. Interview with Nick Cave’. Dark and Sad. Available at http://www.nick-cave. com.
Bourdieu, P. 1993. The Field of Cultural Production. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Cave, N. 1988. King Ink. Los Angeles: 2.13.61 Press.
Dax, M., and Beck, J. 1999. The Life and Music of Nick Cave: An Illustrated Biography. Berlin: DGV.
Durrschmidt, J. 2000. Everyday Lives in the Global City. London: Routledge.
Fabbri, F. 2004 (1982). ‘A Theory of Musical Genres: Two Applications’. In Popular Music: Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies. Volume 3: Popular Music Analysis, ed. S.
Frith, 7–35. New York: Routledge.
Ford, S. 1999. Wreckers of Civilisation: The Story of COUM Transmissions and Throbbing Gristle. London: Black Dog.
Glasper, I. 2006. The Day the Country Died: A History of Anarcho Punk 1980–1984. London: Cherry Red Books.
Hebdige, D. 1979. Subculture: The Meaning of Style. London: Routledge.
Hodkinson, P. 2002. Goth: Identity, Style and Subculture. Oxford: Berg.
Home, S. 1995. Cranked Up Really High: An Inside Account of Punk Rock. Hove: Codex.
Hoskyns, B. 1981. ‘Nick Cave Interview’. NME, October 17.
—1982. ‘Review: The Birthday Party at the Venue’. NME, March 13.
Johnstone, I. 1996. Bad Seed: The Biography of Nick Cave. London: Abacus.
Keenan, D. 2003. Coil, Current 93, Nurse with Wound—England’s Hidden Reverse: A Secret History of the Esoteric Underground. Harrow: SAF Publishing.
Laing, D. 1985. One Chord Wonders: Power and Meaning in Punk Rock. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.
Marcus, G. 1993. Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the Twentieth Century. London: Penguin.
McKay, G. 1996. Senseless Acts of Beauty: Cultures of Resistance. London: Verso.
Mercer, M. 1997. Hex Files: The Goth Bible. London: Overlook Press.
—2002. 21st Century Goth. London: Reynolds and Hearn.
Miller, S. 1983. ‘In a Black Box with Nick Cave’. On The Street.
Monroe, A. 2005. Interrogation Machine: Laibach and NSK. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Neal, C. 1987. Tape Delay. Harrow: SAF Publishing.
Neale, S. 1980. Genre. London: British Film Institute.
Negus, K. 1999. Music Genres and Corporate Cultures. London: Routledge.
Pachet, F., and Cazaly, D. 2000. ‘A Taxonomy of Musical Genres’. Paper given at: Content based multi-media information access conference [RIAO], Paris, April.
Reynolds, S. 1987. ‘Interview with Nick Cave’. National Student.
—2005. Rip It Up and Start Again: Post-Punk 1978–1984. London: Faber and Faber.
Sabin, R., ed. 1999. Punk Rock, So What: The Cultural Legacy of Punk. London: Routledge.
Sartre, J.-P. 1983. Saint Genet. New York: Pantheon Press.
Savage, J. 1991. England’s Dreaming: Sex Pistols and Punk Rock. London: Faber and Faber.
Schutz, A. 1970a. On Phenomenology and Social Relations. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
—1970b. Reflections on the Problem of Relevance. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
Vale, V. 1992. William Burroughs, Bryon Gysin, Throbbing Gristle: RE/search # 4 and 5. San Francisco: V/Search.
Webb, P. 2004. ‘Interrogating the Production of Sound and Place: The Bristol Phenomenon from Lunatic Fringe to World-Wide Massive’. In Music, Space and Place: Popular Music and Cultural Identity, eds S. Whiteley, A. Bennett and S. Hawkins. Aldershot: Ashgate.
—2007. Exploring the Networked Worlds of Popular Music: Milieu Cultures. New York: Routledge.
Discography
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. 1983. From Her to Eternity. Mute Records.
Current 93. 1998. All the Pretty Little Horses. Durtro Records.
Filmography
The Proposition. 2005. Dir. John Hillcoat. Screenplay and soundtrack Nick Cave.
Punk Attitude. 2005. DVD. Dir. Don Letts. Capital Entertainment.
Published
2009-07-17
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Webb, P. (2009). ‘Infected by the seed of postindustrial punk bohemia’: Nick Cave and the milieu of the 1980s underground. Popular Music History, 3(2), 103-122. https://doi.org/10.1558/pomh.v3i2.103
