The Nazis Next Door
The four-track EP The Bad Seed is best known for being the first half of the compilation Mutiny/The Bad Seed which was relased in 1989. But just like Mutiny which features guest guitarist Blixa Bargeld, The Bad Seed was released in 1983. Another commonality of those two releases is that both cover artworks contain a swastika. Nick Cave explained that it was the ghost of the Nazi ballroom that Hansa Studios used to be before which inspired him.
Collapsing Party Rooms
Although Einstürzende Neubauten’s Blixa Bargeld is not featured on this EP but on its successor, there is a certain atmosphere on The Bad Seed that resembles the sounds of the German Avantgarde Noise collective, It is the darkness of the Cold War, the sheer creativity that is born from lack of prospects, and the cold surface of the masses of concrete in late 20th- century Europe that define the sound of The Bad Seed. It is the desperate successor of the Blues, and the sound of a generation that did not want another war.
A Bad Seed Was Cast
The Bad Seed was not just an extraordinary Post Punk and Noise EP. It was furthermore a sneak preview to the future work of the band’s vocalist Nick Cave. In the final track Deep in the Woods especially, it becomes very obvious why Cave’s next band has been called The Bad Seeds.
This series‘ season will end next week!
In February 2024, a new season will commence. Parallely to The Year 2004, the series Back in the Days… (which will be renamed to Backlight) will then remember releases from 1974, 1984, 1994, and 2014 every other week.
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