Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds & The Smiths -- The Importance of Collaboration

“It is what I call the corrosive power of collaboration. 

Collaborations that work are the most glorious and productive power of things. But if the collaboration is not attended to properly, with care and respect, it can eat away at itself. 

The work can be so intense, you can forget to be friends”.

Nick Cave, in his book Faith, Hope, and Carnage, discusses his need to collaborate with other creatives to produce songs and how his creative flow works best when he exchanges ideas with others. In Chapter Four, Nick contrasts his collaboration experiences with Warren and Blixa, both (current and previous, respectively) members of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. 

Warren, the pianist, has a natural flow of creating instrumentals alongside Nick’s steady and intentional process of songwriting. Their approach to incorporating their personal life struggles and developments into songs complements one another, and represents a unique story through images in a song.

Blixa, however, had a process that contradicts the other Bad Seeds members at this time. Whereas the group would meet in the studio and repetitively perform a song to revise the instrumentals, lyrics, and audio, Blixa would often approach the final studio recording and implement his electric guitar independently with no direct collaboration from other members.

Since Nick’s collaboration method is different from Blixa’s, Blixa felt that his contributions were not impactful and disliked Nick’s “traditional” music-making process. Consequently, Blixa left the Bad Seeds. Looking back, Nick describes Blixa’s departure as a move that was “for the best”, as the band then developed a new, experimental style of music which strengthened their members’ skills.

An aligned collaboration style is essential when creating music with others. Learning about Nick’s recount of Blixa’s departure reminded me of The Smiths —  a British band that had inspired me throughout high school and whose songs became nostalgic for this era of my life — and their split in 1987.

“The fact is: you don’t know me. 

You know nothing of my life, my intentions, my thoughts, my feelings.”

The quote above is from Morrissey, the singer of The Smiths, in an “open letter” to Johnny Marr, the guitarist. After the band’s breakup, Marr had frequently spoken out against Morrissey in interviews and solo music, mostly for publicity from the British press. But why exactly had the band broken up, and why does Marr continue to speak about the band’s past?

Roughly beginning during the production of Strangeways, Here We Come in 1987, Marr was increasingly unsatisfied with the direction The Smiths was heading towards. Marr accused Morrissey of being inflexible in trying new “sounds” that diverge from the band’s iconic instrumentals and that would expand Marr’s musical talents. Instead, Morrissey wanted The Smiths to perform covers of other musicians’ works, such as Cilla Black. This was contradictory on Morrissey’s part, as he had criticized Marr for collaborating with musicians outside of the Smiths.

Following Marr’s departure, Morrissey was unable to find a replacement guitarist, and the band subsequently split. Both Marr and Morrissey continued to produce music in their solo careers; However, as a fan of The Smiths, I am disappointed when I listen to Morrissey’s current music. While I can somewhat enjoy Morrissey’s singing voice and lyrics in his recent works, the quality is far different from when he was part of The Smiths. I find that a sort of “spiritual youth” died upon the disbandment, and the lack of instrumental talent in Morrissey’s solo works makes the music feel insubstantial and incomplete. I often return to The Smiths’ music to enjoy the well-balanced collaboration, which allowed each member’s skills to thrive together.

I find Blixa and Marr’s separation from their bands a caution to other creative collaborators. It is important to find creatives who have a similar creative process or personal mission as yours to achieve long-term creative success. Creatives who can work well with others and who have superb interpersonal skills can be more flexible when facing creative dilemmas; If dilemmas are encountered, they can either bring a band closer together and allow them to develop their skills or lead to the band’s end.

One of my favorite The Smiths songs, "What Difference Does it Make?"

"First of the Gang to Die" is one of Morrissey's most popular solo works