🎸 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Kicking Against the Pricks (1986)
Release Date: March 18, 1986
Label: Mute Records
Genre: Post-Punk, Alternative Rock, Blues Rock
Length: 43:18
Producer: Nick Cave, Flood
🔥 Kicking Against the Pricks is the third studio album by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and their first covers album. Instead of writing original material, the band reinterpreted songs from various genres including blues, folk, country, and traditional music.
The album shows how Nick Cave could take familiar songs and reshape them into dark, dramatic, and sometimes unsettling performances, giving them a completely new emotional weight.
📝 Tracklist
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“Mudride” – 6:08
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“I’m Gonna Kill That Woman” – 3:34
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“Sleeping Annaleah” – 3:18
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“Long Black Veil” – 3:45
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“Hey Joe” – 4:16
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“The Singer” – 3:10
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“All Tomorrow’s Parties” – 5:52
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“By the Time I Get to Phoenix” – 3:38
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“The Hammer Song” – 3:06
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“Something’s Gotten Hold of My Heart” – 4:38
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“Jesus Met the Woman at the Well” – 2:01
🎤 Album Credits
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Nick Cave – Vocals, Piano
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Mick Harvey – Guitar, Bass, Drums, Keyboards
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Blixa Bargeld – Guitar
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Barry Adamson – Bass
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Producer: Flood**, Nick Cave
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Label: Mute Records
🎶 The band transformed these songs with minimalist arrangements, dark atmospheres, and dramatic vocals, giving the album a raw and haunting character.
🌟 Most Popular Tracks
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“The Singer” – A powerful reinterpretation of a Johnny Cash classic.
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“Hey Joe” – A darker version of the famous murder ballad.
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“All Tomorrow’s Parties” – A haunting cover of the The Velvet Underground song originally written by Lou Reed.
These tracks helped the album stand out as one of the more unusual covers albums of the 1980s.
💰 Reception & Legacy
💿 Kicking Against the Pricks received positive reviews and strengthened the band’s reputation in the alternative and post-punk scenes. Critics praised the group’s ability to reinterpret classic songs while still maintaining their own distinctive identity.
Although it wasn’t a major commercial success, the album became a fan favorite and remains one of the most unique cover albums in alternative rock.
🎉 Fun Facts
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The album title comes from a biblical phrase meaning resisting something inevitable.
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Many of the songs chosen were obscure blues, folk, and country tracks rather than obvious hits.
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The band deliberately selected songs that could be dramatically reimagined.
🕵️ Trivia
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The track “All Tomorrow’s Parties” was originally recorded by The Velvet Underground in 1967.
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“Long Black Veil” is a classic American country murder ballad covered by many artists over the years.
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The album continues the band’s fascination with American folklore and dark storytelling.
🤔 Did You Know?
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Several songs on the album come from traditional folk and gospel music, giving the record a historical feel.
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Nick Cave’s reinterpretations often changed the tempo, arrangement, and emotional tone of the original songs.
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The album helped establish Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds as one of the most creative bands in the alternative rock scene of the 1980s.
