Nicholas Edward Cave was born in Wangaratta, Australia, on the 22nd of September 1957.
After moving to Melbourne to pursue his studies at Caulfield Grammar School, where he was referred to as being "sleazy" because of his art work, Nick meets the future members of The Boys Next Door: Mick Harvey, Tracy Pew and Phil Calvert. He also falls in love with Anita Lane, to whom he will dedicate his novel. To this day, the two still collaborate on occasions even though the romance is dead.
At first, The Boys Next Door tour colleges and sing oldies, which is surprising since punk was at its height. In 1979, Rowland S. Howard joins the band and some songs are written, such as World Panic and Masturbation Generation. Real progress is achieved when a label gives the band some studio time, enabling them to work on their first album, Brave Exhibitions, which will never be released.
But in May 1979, the album Door Door comes out; it includes some pop song and reflects the inexperience of the band, but the group is getting more and more confrontational in live performances and they even get banned from clubs and are hassled by the police. They record more songs for their new album: Hee Haw (December 1979). The new songs better reflect the punk atmosphere of the time and Nick's texts are starting to be little stories. As the band moves to London to bigger and better things, they change their name to The Birthday Party, inspired by one of their songs: Happy Birthday (therefore their name is supposedly not a reference to the Pinter play or to the film of the same name... depending on who you ask).
As soon as they arrive in London, the band's sound becomes harsher -more pressing and energized- and in 1981, their first album comes out. Prayers on Fire is everything fans and critics hoped it would be; but soon, British audiences become colder towards the band which starts to have some inner tensions, partly due to the fact that some of its members are under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. After a few more explosive albums, the tension gets too great and the imminent split up is close at hand.
However, while touring in Berlin, the band catches the performance of an "incredibly weird group" called Einstürzende Neubauten. Nick meets its lead singer, Blixa Bargeld, and they understand each other at once. The Birthday Party moves to Berlin where the last album recorded, Mutiny, is thought of as a masterpiece by many.
Right before their Australian tour, Mick Harvey quits the band and the tension between Nick and Rowland Howard gets too strong and the split up occurs.
The Birthday Party is no more.
In the last months of 1984, Nick writes 50 - 1 - Page - Plays with Lydia Lunch, all based on pornography and violence and all with the same title: Fresh Cunt in A Can. Other than that, he writes other one-acters, poems, and lyrics and he drifts between London and Berlin.
Finally, still in 1984, Cave and his so-called Cavemen perform a series of shows known as Nick Cave, Man or Myth?. On stage with him are Mick Harvey, Blixa Bargeld and Barry Adamson.
In May, their first single, In the Ghetto, is released; it is a cover of an Elvis Presley song, whom Nick admires more and more. The B-side is The Moon is in the Gutter and the crowds start to murmur that Nick is "softening." The single is credited to Nick Cave "featuring the Bad Seeds," stressing the temporary nature of this association. But in May 1984, the album From Her to Eternity is released and the name Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds is definitely adopted as a name for the band.
All the musicians in the band are involved in their own musical projects and they come and go, but the nucleus of Nick, Mick, and Blixa never changed until early 2003, where Blixa left the Bad Seeds!
