Tynan's Anger

SONGS OF THE DECADE #100

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Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!  (2008)

When I think of the last few years of this decade, when indie rock fans were just starting to get a whiff of their long-brewing discontent, I think of Nick Cave, as gloriously spiteful as ever in his 50s, sensing that there was no one else willing to give the young idiots a push. After a few years of trying to be an adult, Cave reached for his trusty raunch lever and ratcheted up his own proclivity to filth. Which is perhaps why on the opening track of one of the harshest albums Cave has produced in decades, Cave sounds so disappointed that the young 'uns were not able to man up and live the scum life themselves. Despite the authority granted to Cave by his age, he’s a lot more Lazarus than Jesus, and the fact that forces in the world pulled Cave back into the dirt from whence he came allowed him to take a frank, smartass take on the New Testament, pointing out just how little has changed, be it Nazarath, Babylon (old and new), New York, San Francisco or L.A. Cave ended up producing a remarkably mature take on the world he knows all too well. After this album younger fan's proclivity to scum was back in full force, just like Cave himself.

Labels: 2000s, dig lazarus dig, lists, Nick Cave, pop music, songs of the decade