Added: 6 years ago
From: WhiskeyBucket
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  • This performance is one where you actually wonder if something is terribly wrong with Mick Harvey.

  • This makes me rather proud to be Australian. Absolutely hilarious and quite simply one of the greatest moments in modern music IMHO.

  • rowland s. howard is a god,there can't be any other explanation.

  • What we need to tell you folks, is there is a new band going on tour next year.

    What's your cell number?

    I'm going to come chill with you on tour, you can come sleep in the back of my van with me, and travel with us

  • Take notice, kids. This is what happens when you give musical instruments to heroin addicts.

  • i believe it was dutch TV, 1982 "Götterdämmerung 2000" Tracy Pew! Hell Yeah!!

  • mind you saying that,his music is so pain related its hard to enjoy,i mean i love fuked up shit,but say for example the cramps for me show more inventiveness,nick basically hales a load ov pain down the mic like a screaming goat at sacrafice.

  • i was in the same room with nick at broadway lodge in 88,nice bloke.i didnt even know the birthday party,and he didnt mention anything,someone else did,like alot ov these talented people,you wouldnt know,if you hadnt heard of them.

  • Why does this sound so epic? They're are the one band I love that's really hard to defend, because I really can't describe in coherent words why this kicks so much ass; it just does.

  • this is great to listen after a hard day work

  • this owns! fuckin love nick cave

  • Thumb up for the bass player's dance.

  • R.I.P Tracy Pew your are my fucking hero!!!

  • @TheSellarDoor how'd he die... grinding too hard?

  • Random coincidence: My friend once described Einsturzende Neubauten as German stoners in a junkyard. I typed that into the search box and got this. Nixa ftw!

  • What I would do to meet nick cave back then!! Hes still awesome now but a bit soft

  • Nick Cave. <3

    And LOL Tracy Pew. R.I.P.

  • I remember seeing this on Dutch TV in the early '80s (?) when it was first shown and being blown away. The entire album (Junkyard) is excellent. I think Götterdämmerung was a Dutch music programme (VPRO TV) rather than a German one.

    R.I.P. "hip cowboy" Tracy Pew.

  • rentbook i was there at the same gig, was awesome

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  • he really is the king

  • dost votřesný ehm fuj

    :D

  • How can something so messy sound so good!

    

  • A cowboy with a rickenbacker:Nothing can go wrong!

  • @TheSellarDoor A RIC just completes everything. I'm sure the cowboy can handle it. lol

  • 56 ppl dislike this shit how could they miss the like button

    the like button is twice as big as the dislike button

  • I saw The Birthday Party at Leeds Poly in 1982. It remains the best gig I've ever witnessed. Two of the fine musicians are sadly no longer with us. RIP Rowland S Howard and Tracy Pew.

  • This is a DUTCH tv show, not german

  • Cave doesn't give a shit! He's not thrusting to try and be sexy or anything he just does not care. Can't you see at 1:32 where he runs out of breath in the middle of saying "honey, honey, honey..." and just looks bored and like he doesn't really feel like being there. He's probably strung out and really craving a heroin hit that looking sexy and grinding his hips well is probably really low on his agenda.

  • @YemensGuy Wow, what an amazing observation! Nick Cave bored on a TV show? GET OUT OF TOWN! I''m sure he was strung out and not totally high whilst doing this performance. I mean, just look at how bored he is at thrusting  his hips. Yep, you have him all figured out. And you are clearly very interested in his intentions in regard to looking sexy.

  • @YemensGuy Nick cave was shooting up meth more then smack in that era man...... Just saying. I know Lindy Morrison who was the drummer of the go-betweens, who toured with Nick round this time and she told me that that's what he was doing. Plus I don't really think you're understanding the 'theatrical' side to what Nick Cave does. He romanticised a character and became it. He looks bored because that's his stage persona.

  • I wish Cave would have worked wish Rowland in the 2000's before his demise.

  • è bello marcio qui Nick Cave!

    

  • fairly undramatic and quite light. :)

  • @shutupandxplay - rflmao ;)

  • It's a rape

  • so much heroin....SO MUCH HEROIN

  • hey deezcows!!! this makes me start smoking anything !!!!!

  • makes me want to start smoking cigarettes.

  • pure sex

  • This is not on german TV but on dutch television..I know because I saw it there.Götterdämmerung 2000 was an alternative music show by VPRO broadcasting.

  • @MrKatana1100sz You're right... I made a stupid fault (shame on me!)

  • bon anniversaire Franck

  • When I was 20 years old, this LP was my soundtrack. I had his hairstyle too but that was not intentional, just genetics and not knowing what to do about it

    .

  • as(s) this, it shall be!!!

  • @Purerockband I think that's like comparing the birthday party to the stooges, music doesn't exist in a vacuum. the jesus lizard were very much their own thing, and a force to be reckoned with. equally powerful in my mind. same for scratch acid. that being said, they're has been a lot of talk about other bands, people should check out laughing hyenas, and the chrome cranks, specifically chrome cranks self-titled, and hyenas "merry go round" yeah'p.

  • @conceptionblues Give me a hand... birthday party, scratch acid... what is this style of music called??? Someone in the press called it "sausage" in 1984 or so, but that's stupid and i've never heard anyone else use it.

  • So damn good. One amazing thing about this video is how totally on these guys are, even though the song as written is a crazy chaotic mess and they're all high out of their minds. Also - can you believe this shit was on television in like 1981? Ah, to have been raised in Germany.

  • So damn good. One amazing thing about this video is how totally on these guys are, even though the song as written is a crazy chaotic mess and they're all high out of their minds.

  • This is the best live performance I've ever seen

  • This video is from Dutch Television (I think around 1982)

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  • Hm so it's recreational epilecy.. interesting..

  • Just another reason to see live videos !! Awesome, Even better to have been there. These guys are LIVING the song , not just playing it.

    Way to make a simple bass line look like an oragasm.

    Anyone know of any other bands that compare to the Birthday Party? (other than Einsturzende Beaubaten?)

  • @karolyaczel Scratch Acid, Jesus Lizard, Cows, Killdozer, Die Kreuzen, Daughters, Antioch Arrow, Clikatat Ikatowi (they all surely took influence from them). But contemporary bands? hm, probably none, maybe the early no wave scene with Teenage Jesus and the Jerks or The Contortions (and that's maybe).

  • @samuraiinCfede thanks man...plenty of stuff to check for me ...get back to ya

  • @samuraiinCfede what's the best shit that Die Kreuzen's done, cause all I heard from them was boring three-chord hardcore....Is there a particular album?

  • @Rankmoistmeat well I've only heard their debut, which is indeed mostly post-punk influenced hardcore but it seems they went for a darker path on their second album, 'October File' (which apparently influenced quite a lot of people in the 90's). I personally find them a good hardcore band, but nothing too special hm

  • @samuraiinCfede yeeee! Dark stuff is my favourite stuff! Yea I listened to October Files, but I actually can't stand the singer dude's voice, I don't feel it corresponds to the creepy music...Not like Nick Cave's voice in the Birthday Party, or Josh Homme's voice in Queens of the Stone Age, or Michael Gira's voice in Swans, or....

  • @Rankmoistmeat Maybe you must listen to more Aussi-stuff like The Scientists, Kim Salmon & The Surrealists and The Beasts of Burden

  • @PieterDrift yea I've heard of the Scientists I'll check 'em out thx!

  • @samuraiinCfede That band that was on ThreeOne G Records .....ummmm..... SHIT......... oh yeah, Lovelife or Love Life. Not sure which one. They were fucking bad ass and they were strikingly similar to The Birthday Party, except with a chick singer. Don't know for sure what happened to them. Really good jams, though.

  • I never knew thinks like this were on youtube. My ears feel kinda raped. o_O

  • goddamn sex on a stick, how can anyone dislike this? ultimate beauty, right here.

  • Holy fuck! How cool is Tracey Pew from 4:20 onwards?!

  • @pietrobembo It may be an epileptic seizure, although, considering the point at which it starts, who knows the extent to which it was done on purpose? Or, perhaps it's both -- maybe he felt it coming on & decided to turn it into a stage performance?

  • @felixbunke Yes, you might be right. I had forgotten he suffered from epilepsy.

  • HOT MESS!

  • I've found out that this is really awkward to watch in front of your dad. Especially the end bit.

  • @BilllyTrench It was my Dad who introduced me to The Birthday Party!

  • @BilllyTrench Yes, Mr. Pew does seem remarkably determined to show us the phallic symbolism of a bass guitar.

  • The King of Desolation. Yessss

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  • Garbage in honey's sack again.

  • Years ago Rowland S played amazing solo sets at my local Melbourne pub!?!

    Am sooooo.... glad I got to see them! THANKS - R.I.P.

  • LOL at Mick Harvey at 1:49 "Okay, um, I think I'll go right... over... here. Don't mind me, guys, just keep paying the bills and stuff."

  • @CreativeImbalances if i could double like this i would. hah

  • damn he fiiiine!

  • The positive side of drugs.

  • real shock rock

  • oh Tracy,you move like a taipan! Hope you have a great time in heaven or where ever you rest.It is a great pity that I never saw you and your mates on stage, cause I was to young by the time you entered europe. I`m from GERMONEY.R.I.P.Greetings to Rowland!

  • The bassist totally has the man swivel down pack!

  • I'd so totally play bass like that!

  • A few points. At :041 Mick Harvery looks horrified. Lol! Tracy Pew looks like a sick pervert with the humping and that porno mustache. Rowland S. Howard looks too drunk to stand up, let alone play guitar.

  • pure filth........

  • SHEER PANDEMONIUM......in other words.....The Birthday Party cosmos

  • the beginning is absolute the beginning for a real king.

  • Nick is so high

  • Fuck Nick Cave, Fuck Mick Harvey, Fuck Roland S. Howard.

    Give me Tracy Pew.

  • thats one hip cowboy

  • @gabrieldordali sorry man cant agree just dont get black hat, leather pants n frilly shirt. n that hip grinding! i mean i grind hips, im a bass player, but im good at it

  • @geoffhead111 The point is he's not good at it . He's not trying to be sexy or anything.

  • @SidVicious1207 really? now that you mention it, i remember seeing this vid back in the 80s n thinking the exact same thing. dammit, there i go missing my *$#% cultural references again [sob]

  • @geoffhead111: how can you deny that mustache

  • Birthday Party was before their time.

    I love this band.

  • Sounds like Berlin !

  • I never realised how fucking amazing this tune is until I lost a drinking game and put it on again.

  • This is the first time I've ever listened to the Birthday Party, and wow. This is something else.

  • @LubricatedSquirm Was it as good for you as it was for me?

  • If people were normally as clean as this band I'd be a happy boy.

  • what a bloody great mess. i love it

  • best dark song ever! pure inspiration..

    HONEY HONEY HONEY HONEY HONEY HONEY HONEY!!!

  • I really like this noise.

  • To those who still believe the band is actually playing: watch the final 30 secs of this video and try not to focus on Mr. Pew's crotch but on his (cordless!) bass. He's not even touching the fretboard. Back then there was just one multi-purpose tv-studio complex in the Netherlands and it had strict restrictions on sound volume. It wasn't possible to let a rock band play live. Proper live performances were always shot on location.

  • @cquilty That all is very true, but shouldn't we thank the VPRO for at least recognizing the breath of fresh (or in this case putrified and rotting) musical air this band was spreading. And making it possible for all of us to still enjoy this footage? I say Yes, and I wish music programs on television were still this adventures today.

  • in the words of the immortal Frank Zappa...."no commercial potential" ....gee can't imagine WHY they'd had such rotton commercial failure.

  • @WildWeaselNJ If we're going to play the man, then I'll play you. If you're going to shitcan someone's 'correct' spelling of recognise- then use inverted commas correctly and quote properly what you're querying. You Yankee fuckers are so small minded- incorrect spelling, ha!......recognize, cozy, color, neighbor, get some idea about English and other English speaking peoples, don't be so simple and phonetic! By the way this clip is gold and it is fact that this band influenced many others.

  • Heerlen, Limburg, Netherlands, 1985, Dope and other drugs, Nick Cave, Birthday Party, The Bad Seeds, Fuck free without HIV. Fight Cops, Gangs and your Parents. Hate authority, Love Sex, Metallica and Thrills. Wish I was there again. To get fucked up. And then some more,....and more,........

  • I particularly enjoy finding someone who can not only use the word "seminal" in a sentence, but can at the same time incorrectly spell "recognize". I will have to admit however, that the reference to other bands just as horrible, being influenced by this piece of crap band, was a wonderful attempt at validation. Bravo!

  • @WildWeaselNJ Uh, I'd wager that he's a Brit. Those wacky kids spell all kinds o' crazy.

  • the cowboy inspired me to play bass back in the 80s......luv his impecable economy and tone.

  • huhhuhhuhuh...you said "seminal". fact remains: Birthday Party makes noises that will fuck your face in half, make you drop to your knees and beg for more. thanks for posting :D

  • the coolest uncle bassist in the world

  • pure sex style

  • That cigarette came out of nowhere; such immoral sexual maddening intensity- I can't HELP but love it!

  • This is so brilliant.

  • Love Nick Cave's hair in this video. It probably inspired Robert Smith's own hair.

  • @Rockguitarhero462 haha yeah it's awesome, he was mocking Keith Richards

  • @sashageyer95 why would he mock the great Keith Richards? That's blasphemy.

  • @Rockguitarhero462 back then the stones were pretty uncool, they looked like gigantic rich dinosaurs and the punks (and early post punks) liked to poke fun at them. of course all of this became redundant and they stopped trying to mock them.

    but think, at the same time this was happening with the birthday party, jagger was prancing around in pastel leggings.

    oh well the stones are legends and so are the birthday party

  • @Rockguitarhero462 haha nick was doing this kinda stuff years before smith

  • @theweddingband1 yup cause Robert Smith actually admitted to being a fan of Nick cave.

  • @theweddingband1 Correction: Smith never did this.

  • Sexiest Video Ever.

  • This is like... 5.10 minutes of pure Hell... 'Honey honey honey honey kiss me!' Brilliant!

  • i'm pretty sure hole wrote this

  • @veverzay

    A couple of decades too early for that.

  • @veverzay yeah except this was written in 1981 when courtney love was only 17, 8 years before anyone thought of hole

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  • SCRATCH AND SNIFF THIS HEAVENLY BODY! Oh, hang on.

  • His screams are huge!

  • is that nick cave

  • @112taker it sho is.

  • I love the democracy of this band!

  • @BPCpresents

    you got it...exactly how i have always tried to talk about the jesus lizard...the way that each instrument does its own thing...with total trust from each other...incredible.

  • What garbage. Birthday Party top 10 most influential band of the 80s? You got to be joking. I could name hundreds more 80s bands that were more influential or sold more albums. Let`s start with Metallica, Nirvana (yes they started in the 80s), Guns & Roses, Killing Joke, Dead Kennedys, Napalm Death (who started death metal/grindcore), Motorhead (who started speed metal). As for more commercial bands - INXS, Duran Duran, Def Leppard, New Order, Billy Idol.. I could go on & on but run out of space

  • @ManFromMelbourne

    The Birthday Party influenced an american band called Scratch Acid, which influenced a Seattle band called Nirvana. East Bay Ray influenced, by The Birthday Party. Also Scratch Acid also influenced a whole decade in a half of inspiring artists in a little known genre called noise-rock. way more influential that a bunch of commercial artists recycling each other over time. sorry, but you lose, no one hear gives a shit about gun's n roses.

  • @ManFromMelbourne 'Cos Metallica isn't influenced by Nick Cave or anything. I mean, it's not like Metallica didn't cover the bad seeds, right?

  • @ManFromMelbourne you're sooooo basic

  • This magazine playlist ends up down the pan and no mistakin mister

  • Oh yes the artic monkeys cover of red right hand, amazing. HughDW you are clearly an idiot, or young, or both? Animalzarg has the right idea, he clearly can't write correctly through alcohol abuse or ill education but he knows what's what.

  • I think this is immoral garbage and I dont care what you think you are wrong

  • artic monkeys been influenced in the way they sound nothing like birthday party, they not as heavy, theyre lame,and they wont grow older to be the giant nick cave is? artic et al suck arse,this is good music,please stop comparing to dumb yoofs

  • serious bending at 4:20

  • lmao Tracy Pew looks like a freaking legs from Silent Hill near the end there

  • Wow, I watched this about 20 times again and again. I really don't know why, but I always loved their music. NOBODY is as cool as them. Pure energy! I wish I could have seen them live, but I'm a bit too young.

  • TBP define intensity. The real deal.

  • I love how much Tracy Pew is constantly gyrating.

  • Best bass performance of all time.

  • hahah, oh my god, that guy with the cowboy hat on the right; his guitar stance is utterly disturbing.

  • @KitchenNowBitch

    Bass.

  • EVERYONE IN THIS VIDEO HAS A BONER AND I LIKE IT

  • I'm a straight man, but Cave's little move at 00:34 is sexy.

  • they let them on tv!! still one of the best dvd extras E V E R. when people rave on to me about utter SCUM like The National, Midlake, Coldpiss et all, i just play them this or The Friend Catcher, and they start to cry for mummy...fuck the Horrors as well not fit to lick the shit from their boots...I M O.

  • wtf am I watching lol

  • Parece el Jim Carrey alemán

  • I love Mick Harvey's face at 0:42. Its like they all went on tour without him and he's like "what the fuck happened to you guys!?"

  • Seems like conaono likes this but just can't admit it. It is what it is. Maybe if they had a major label conaono might like.

  • Jesus I love this performance, it's so fucking bizarre. It just seems like they're operating on a completely different plane from everyone else, like they come from another dimension where perversity and madness are the norm.

  • To understand this, you have to look outside of your "taste." You have to look into perhaps, an opposite viewpoint of reality than what you are fed with. Your disdain for abstract art is perhaps coming from a place you may not understand. If you read any of Chomsky, Foucault, and other people who theorized in media control, you can perhaps get a better glimpse into the vast network of control that exists in media and music. Further, nowave, and other forms of music got it, and they said, fuck it

  • I have a mcjob. I've had a mcjob since I was 15. I've been working class my whole life. Real abstract art, like this shit I believe, is so monumentally important because it deconstructs our notions of pop music. We don't realize it, but pop music is often an institutional brainwasher. I love pop music, very much, but I realize how it can be twisted to numb people into states of entertained boredom. This type of music is revolutionary in its refusal to be easily acceptable.

  • @VenamousMuffin okay ..I hadn't even considered that.....good call!

  • @VenamousMuffin I don't like any kind of music

  • okay....thanks for the replies...so I gave this a second chance and actually listened and watched the entire tube....conclusion : this is the most forced nonsence I have ever witnessed in my entire life. What is amazing to me is that someone could actually coordinate this band of losers into a group setting long enough to actually film this crap. This guy could do better as a cigarrette salesman....

  • @konaono you are not at all taking into account any of the context surrounding the music. furthermore, have you ever listened to any of nick cave's post-birthday party music? i'd suggest looking into this stuff a little more.

  • not german. dutch tv around 1983

  • @irriboy1 actually, very early 1982. Phill Calvert is on drums here and he left in april of 1982. Mick Harvey took over on drums from then on.

  • 3:19 is the reason why smoking is still completely fucking cool

  • @smnmntl hahaha fuckin right

  • who are these guys?!?! i've never heard of this band - they are fantastic!

  • smash tastic .The best band ever,Beethoven + Mozart = The Birthday Party

  • This band makes Slipknot and all those other screamo bands look like pussies

  • Wow, its like everything the sex pistols never wanted to be... but might have if they bowed to satan. Astounding.

  • Tracey, was obscene!