A little while back, I was tasked with defining the seven ages of goth. Basically, the goal was to go from the birth of the genre to its modern forms and incarnations based on the years which each of those subgenres were at their height. It was a fair bit of writing that pleased pretty much no one because goths are happiest when they're pointing out how much more they know about goth than you, but there was always one huge, glaring omission to the article that I couldn't hide: Nick Cave.
The man, whom as I've pointed out is awesomely insane, defies all attempts to nail him into a box. It's not just that you have to deal with the fact that he's fronted three iconic bands with three totally distinct sounds in addition to his solo work, it's that even within those bands he has never, ever fit in with a defined period of gothic evolution.
Yet, there is absolutely no doubt that Cave is one of the highest-credentialed goths around. He's an anomaly, woven inside a movement without directly affecting or being affected by that movement.
