Nick Cave

Nick Cave's music has gone from savage to sublime. With the Birthday Party, who started out in Melbourne, he howled over chaotic, violent post-punk, and the Bad Seeds, formed in 1983, gave him a broader canvas: gothic murder ballads, gospel, blues and lush, brooding piano songs, sung in a deep, dramatic baritone.

Tender Prey brought 'The Mercy Seat', Murder Ballads paired him with Kylie Minogue on 'Where the Wild Roses Grow', and The Boatman's Call stripped things back to piano and heartbreak. Later, with Warren Ellis at his side, Push the Sky Away turned to ambient, elegiac textures, and Skeleton Tree was completed and Ghosteen written in grief after the death of his son, and Wild God let some light back in.