After the murder of his two boys, Nick Cave, vocalist for Bad Seeds, says he had lost his “rage, anger, and hatred.”
Two of the musician’s children perished in 2015 and 2022, causing him to face an unspeakable grief at age 65.
In response to a fan’s message in his Red Hand Files newsletter, the “Where the Wild Roses Grow” hitmaker stated that the sad news had turned his world upside down.
When did you become such a Hallmark card hippie? Peace, love, and joy. Puke! Where are the indignation, hate, and hatred? Reading these recently is like listening to a droning old preacher at Sunday church.”
Cave’s response was nothing but straightforward.
“I have evolved,” he wrote. “For better or worse, the wrath you talk of has lost its appeal, and, yes, I may have become a Hallmark card hippy. Hatred stopped being interesting. Those emotions were like old, discarded skins I shed. They were their own unique form of vomit.”
He continued, “Sitting around in my own mess, angry at the world, disdainful of the people in it, and thinking my contempt for things somehow amounted to something, had some sort of nobility, hating this thing here, and that thing there, and that other thing over there, and making sure that everybody around me knew it, not just knew it, but felt it as well, contemptuous of beauty, contemptuous of joy, contemptuous of happiness in others, well,
The musician stated that the death of his kid left him “completely devastated.”
“I began to comprehend the precarious and fragile state of the earth. I started to fret for it. Be concerned,” he continued.
“I felt a sudden, urgent need to, at the very least, extend a hand in some way to help it – this terrible, beautiful world – instead of merely vilifying and judging it.”
Arthur, the son of Cave and Susie Bick, died in 2015 after falling from a cliff near Brighton, England. He was only 15 at the time.
The coroner observed at the time that Arthur’s death was unintentional and that he had recently consumed LSD.
Cave’s eldest son Jethro Lazenby passed away in May 2022 at the age of 31.
In a statement to NME, Cave announced his kid’s passing: “With great regret, I can confirm that my son, Jethro, has gone away. Please respect the privacy of our family at this time.”
»Nick Cave believes “rage lost its allure” after his two boys died«