I was at college, living in dorms, and the experience—aside from the usual horrifying awkwardness and somewhat spontaneity of the occasion—was completely and utterly unremarkable aside from one thing: the guy I slept with identified as straight. Obviously it is being written when we know where young Cave was headed, but it is also like the first volume of one of those multi-volume biographies of a well-known author, like Joseph Frank's 5 volumes on Dostoyevsky, or Carl Rollyson's 2 big volumes on William Faulkner. S. in the 1920s and is now attracting some attention as both a sunny nature and an international word name. The boy told his then-girlfriend (who I knew about), saying I had come on to him but that nothing had really happened.

I'd recommend it absolutely for a Nick fan (though truth be told he does come across as a pretentious bellend), or for those interested in Australia's cultural history. Personally I loved reading about the timeline of the Boys Next Door and their trajectory amongst the other new bands of the time. One of his favourite stories to tell me was when he was outside of a pub, Nick Cave came out and was seemingly jumped at by some people who bundled him into the boot of a car, and drove off - however, I do not know how much truth is in this story! While Cave has had many career highlights since the demise of The Birthday Party, if you want to listen to NC at his anarchic best I recommend ‘Drunk on the Pope’s Blood’ (aptly subtitled ’16 minutes of Sheer Hell’) a live recording of four songs from this time.I remember one BP gig at the Seaview Ballroom where NC mocked the support band for engaging in audience participation and followed up by humiliating a punter who had been naïve and uncool enough to actually participate. However, for those who are new to the series, it may take several hours just to make it through one game. And while at the beginning I felt like I had the upper hand in the situation—I was the one who was out and comfortable in my sexuality, right?

This was originally conceived as a biography of Cave’s entire life - not just his early years - but, for various reasons (which I won’t get into here, as they are well documented), that plan fell apart. All the relevant voices have their say, creating a wonderfully alive picture of this tumultuous time in modern Australian music . One can hope there will eventually be a full biography of Nick Cave to follow this, if so please direct it straight into my arms. To be frank, I don't think I would have enjoyed actually being there, but reading about it decades after the time was brilliant.

Usually the best parts of a biography are the bits before a person was famous, so i had high hopes for this. If you liked Fireboy and Watergirl 1: Forest Temple, make sure to also play our other fireboy and watergirl games or Fireboy and Watergirl 6: Fairy Tales and Fireboy and Watergirl 2: Light Temple. Such is the artistic depth and international breadth of that story, the ongoing work could end up akin to John Richardson's all-consuming multi-volume biography of his friend Picasso. I hadn’t known a lot about him oddly or much about the Melbourne scene before reading this book but different things I had been told over the years all fit together now.