Nick Cave is one of the most talented and influential performers/lyricists to have emerged since 1980. This critical biography charts his career from the early days with "The Birthday Party". With this band and later "The Bad Seeds", he has repeatedly succeeded in creating idiosyncratic, obsessive lyrical visions which make no concession to prevailing musical fads. His personal life has been equally turbulent and this book tells the full story of his drug addiction. It offers an overview of his career to date, unravelling the motivation of this reluctant icon and exploring his unique appeal. With exclusive interviews with Cave's fellow musicians, friends and colleagues, Johnston illustrates a life lived in barely controlled chaos and provides a vivid portrait of a maverick artist whose songs, according to "Rolling Stone", possess "the austerity of the most primal kind of myth".