Nick Cave

January 9, 2005 2:23 PM

Nick Cave -- Babe I'm On Fire -- The greatest music video of all time. The RealVideo file has better audio. Lyrics (useful)
posted by Pretty_Generic (50 comments total)

This is ridiculously long (and repetitive), but entertaining. It's good... but the best? Not likely.
posted by buriednexttoyou at 2:35 PM on January 9, 2005

If posting a link to a recent video no one has seen for a song few have heard by the most literate songwriter of our time is wrong, babe I don't wanna be right.
posted by basicchannel at 2:40 PM on January 9, 2005

Does this thing ever end? Best...no. Boring...yes.
posted by Orange Goblin at 2:40 PM on January 9, 2005

I think science has proven time and time again that the greatest video of all time must contain at least one scene in which a milk carton goes to heaven.
posted by Simon! at 7:20 PM on January 9, 2005

Incidentally, I'm willing to call this a close second, although milk carton clearly trumps baby robot.
posted by Simon! at 7:21 PM on January 9, 2005

And as long as were on him, how about Cave's The Secret Life of the Love Song and the Flesh Made Word...(mp3 excerpts)
posted by punkbitch at 7:37 PM on January 9, 2005

The greatest music video of all time.

No.
posted by DuoJet at 7:56 PM on January 9, 2005

no BEST VIDEO EVER post would be complete without the mention of spike jonze, michael gondry, and chris cunnignham. in my opinion the best directors out there for music videos.

the white stripes animated lego video for "fell in love with a girl" is one of my favorites although other important works include the infamous christopher walken dancing video, chemical brothers "star guitar" and "let forever be" deserve mentions because of the intricate cut / meshing /morphing work to match the beats with movie.

you can see lots of videos for free (legally) at launch, yahoo's music engine, but you have to a) sign in b)watch stupid 10 second ads every time and c) use IE (at least i couldnt get mozilla to work it). anyone else know a better free legal video streaming provider?

if not you can always buy their recently released full collections on DVD. as part of the "directors series" seperately or as a boxed set
posted by sophist at 8:14 PM on January 9, 2005

Simon! that was pretty incredible, moving, disturbing. Were the faces-in-the-clouds at the end people we should recognize? The musicians, perhaps?
posted by stevil at 8:14 PM on January 9, 2005

Another ditto for Simon!'s choice, I'll just blurt it out now, it's for "Coffee and TV" by Blur...yes? Hypnotic video.

Nick Cave is ok, I guess, but I would actually put this video in the weak category. I think it's a lack of imagination when the video is so literal. Oh, and it's repetitive.

The best music videos? That'd probably be one by Michel Gondry, a true cinematic genius.
posted by zardoz at 8:23 PM on January 9, 2005

Another vote for Simon's video. While perhaps not the best video of all time, i really liked it.
posted by sophist at 8:34 PM on January 9, 2005

Nick Cave just sent some costume shop owner's kid to college.
posted by Hildago at 8:38 PM on January 9, 2005

For Winamp 5 users looking for free videos online - go to the Winamp Library -> Streaming Media -> Winamp.com Videos, and take your pick.
posted by kersplunk at 8:44 PM on January 9, 2005

i thought nick cave was supposed to be good
posted by tsarfan at 8:59 PM on January 9, 2005

I don't WANT to be exposed to anus
posted by mr.marx at 9:07 PM on January 9, 2005

my vote for best video of all time goes to Nine Inch Nails' 'Perfect Drug.' i've tried to find a link to it, but no luck. i'm pretty sure David Fincher directed it.
posted by NationalKato at 9:21 PM on January 9, 2005

actually, it was Mark Romanek who directed 'Perfect Drug.'
posted by NationalKato at 9:25 PM on January 9, 2005

plus nobody was actually on fire.

a much better video where someone was truly on fire was "califronia" by Wax, directed by Spike Jonze who has made at least one two three music videos better than this one.
posted by tsarfan at 9:31 PM on January 9, 2005

I thought this was a pretty great music video, but I've got some problems.

And yes, we all know Spike can shoot a damn good video.
posted by buriednexttoyou at 9:43 PM on January 9, 2005

I thought Nick Cave was supposed to be good. It's like putting Bad Religions latest album up and saying it's the best punk album ever made, ever.
posted by Dean Keaton at 9:58 PM on January 9, 2005

my vote for best video of all time goes to Nine Inch Nails' 'Perfect Drug.'

A live version of Hurt with Trent behind this enormous screen was killer.
posted by LouReedsSon at 10:08 PM on January 9, 2005

nick cave IS good, but he says he dosn't enjoy making videos and - well, I think you can kinda tell. not much effort made, overall. still, i do think it's very funny if you know a bit about Mr Cave's supposed obsessions (and australia's refugee policy).
posted by bunglin jones at 10:11 PM on January 9, 2005

"Special thanks to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation."

Video director? Ann Elk.
posted by pracowity at 10:21 PM on January 9, 2005

I'm gonna set it straight, this Watergate . . .

The best video evar is the video for "Sabotage".

I win!!!!one11!11one
posted by secret about box at 10:54 PM on January 9, 2005

Ann Elk once bit my sister...
posted by kindall at 12:53 AM on January 10, 2005

While my love and admiration for Nick Cave run deep, and I think this is a great song, and I really do like the video, I'm not sure I'd say this is the best video ever. But one of the best shows I've ever seen was Nick Cave and Bad Seeds in L.A. and I've seen all the above bands save one and I'd have to say I think, in my opinion, Nick had the best show.
posted by Sir BoBoMonkey Pooflinger Esquire III at 1:02 AM on January 10, 2005

Nø realli!

Mynd you, møøse Elk bites Kan be pretti nasti...
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 1:15 AM on January 10, 2005

Like Bolero with escalating waves of intensity.

Funny when he showed himself unadorned as the Christian apologist he is.
posted by lacus at 1:28 AM on January 10, 2005

The DVD of earlier Nick Cave videos is worth watching, especially since he says a few negative words about nearly every video on it. The videos for "Where The Wild Roses Grow" (with Kylie Minogue) and "Henry Lee" (with PJ Harvey) are great.
posted by gluechunk at 1:45 AM on January 10, 2005

Best video ever is Balls to the Wall by Accept. Followed by Digging in the Dirt by Peter Gabriel. Fa' reals.
posted by black8 at 1:49 AM on January 10, 2005

I liked Nick Cave when he was more like a cave.
posted by gorgor_balabala at 3:40 AM on January 10, 2005

Horrible. In that maybe-this-will-get-better sort of way.
posted by bluesky43 at 5:13 AM on January 10, 2005

Yet no one here has mentioned "Windowlicker" by Aphex Twin for best video.

Come on. Richard Dean James. You can't go wrong with that.
posted by daq at 7:11 AM on January 10, 2005

When a once great artist starts doing Mick Jagger dancing, singing the same lines over and over, and their video literally interprets the lyrics of the song, you know it's time to stick'em in the old folks home with Tom Petty, Neil Young, Lou Reed and Nick Lowe.
posted by fungible at 7:27 AM on January 10, 2005

If posting a link to a recent video no one has seen for a song few have heard by the most literate songwriter of our time is wrong, babe I don't wanna be right.

Who said anything about him?
posted by ludwig_van at 7:50 AM on January 10, 2005

Yeah, I haven't seen one mention of Richard Thompson yet.
posted by kenko at 8:09 AM on January 10, 2005

Is this is so good, why isn't Beck in it?
posted by dougunderscorenelso at 8:40 AM on January 10, 2005

Yeah, I haven't seen one mention of Richard Thompson yet.

Way to get "Beeswing" stuck in my head for the second time this week. If that's not bad enough, the only song that can push out "Beeswing" is "1952 Vincent Black Ligntning."
posted by The White Hat at 9:09 AM on January 10, 2005

I meant greatest as in length-wise. I think.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 9:33 AM on January 10, 2005

that was very










long.

But finding out at the end that warren ellis acted as a number of the people in it made it worthwhile.

Not a bad song, either.
posted by shmegegge at 9:49 AM on January 10, 2005

OK. I want to know who bought Nick Cave a rhyming dictionary for his birthday. Because that person owes me fifteen minutes of my life.
posted by seanyboy at 2:55 PM on January 10, 2005

I actually love the song. Interesting how many of the visual references were British. Unless John Motson has an evil Australian twin that is.
posted by seanyboy at 3:02 PM on January 10, 2005

nah. gimme nick and st shane macgowan doing *what a wonderful world* ahead of this anyday.
posted by UbuRoivas at 3:35 PM on January 10, 2005

haha! just noticed in the credits: "nick cave was (amongst other things): "the drug addled wreck".
posted by UbuRoivas at 3:47 PM on January 10, 2005

I love Nick Cave... but...
This stunk. I agree with the other comments. Too long. Repetitive and rather un-original. As for the song? Certainly not close to his best. Give me "Red Right Hand" or some of his soundtrack work any day.
posted by tkchrist at 4:08 PM on January 10, 2005

Chevy Chase and Paul Simon did a better job in "You Can Call Me Al."
posted by Frank Grimes at 5:50 PM on January 10, 2005

This video looks like most other mtv fare which Nick Cave probably shouldn't get his hands dirty with.
And the best video of all time by far is "Bastards of Young" by the Replacements. Can't find it online, but trust me.
posted by mike_bling at 8:00 PM on January 10, 2005

..."babe".
posted by gorgor_balabala at 12:38 PM on January 11, 2005

Not a bad song, but I still must nominate Benny Benassi's "Satisfaction" video as the best of all time ;)
posted by starscream at 3:48 PM on January 11, 2005

Yawn
posted by Ranger03 at 4:58 PM on January 11, 2005