The discography of
The Birthday Party, an Australian
post-punk
Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...
band, consists of four
studio album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
s, two
live album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
s, six
compilation album
A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...
s, six
extended play
An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record. s and nine
single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
s. The group began under various names in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
in 1973; formed by vocalist
Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian singer, songwriter, poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional actor. Known for his baritone voice and for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Ca ...
, guitarist
Mick Harvey, drummer
Phill Calvert, guitarist John Cocivera, bassist Brett Purcell, and saxophonist Chris Coyne —all of whom were students at
Caulfield Grammar School
Caulfield Grammar School is an Independent school, independent, co-educational, Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican, International Baccalaureate, day school, day and boarding school, located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1881 as ...
.
By 1978, following several membership changes, the band consisted of Cave, Harvey and Calvert with bassist
Tracy Pew and guitarist
Rowland S Howard.
Under the name The Boys Next Door, the band released several singles and two studio albums, ''
Door, Door
''Door, Door'' is the debut album by Australian rock band The Boys Next Door. The album was recorded before the band left Australia for London in 1980, at which point they changed their name to The Birthday Party and created the body of work ...
'' in 1979 on
Mushroom Records
Mushroom Records was an Australian flagship record label, founded in 1972 in Melbourne. It published and distributed many successful Australian artists and expanded internationally, until it was merged with Festival Records in 1998. Festival Mu ...
and ''
The Birthday Party'' in 1980 on
Missing Link Records
Missing Link Records was an Australian-based independent record label established in 1977. The Missing Link label was created by Keith Glass (singer-guitarist ex-Cam-Pact) and David Pepperell (journalist and vocalist, ex-The Union) who were the ...
.
Despite moderate success in Australia, The Boys Next Door relocated to London, England in 1980 and changed their name to The Birthday Party. In London, the band experienced underground critical success with a series of singles and two further studio albums, ''
Prayers on Fire
''Prayers on Fire'' is the debut studio album by Australian rock group The Birthday Party, which was released on 6 April 1981 on the Missing Link label in Australia, later licensed to the 4AD label. This was the band's first full-length releas ...
'' (1981) and ''
Junkyard'' (1982);
''Junkyard'' was also a minor commercial success, peaking at number 72 on the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...
upon its release.
In 1982, the band relocated to
West Berlin
West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...
, Germany and Calvert departed. The band, now featuring Harvey on dual guitar and drumming duties, released as two EPs, ''The Bad Seed'' and ''Mutiny!'', in 1983 on
4AD
4AD is a British record label owned by Beggars Group. It was founded in London under the name "Axis" (after the Hendrix album) by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent in 1980 as an imprint of Beggars Banquet Records. The name was changed to 4AD af ...
and
Mute Records
Mute Records is a British independent record label owned and founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller. It has featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Depeche Mode, Erasure, Einstürzende Neubauten, Fad Gadget, Goldfrapp, Grinderm ...
. Featuring
Einstürzende Neubauten
(, 'Collapsing New Buildings') is a German experimental music group, formed in West Berlin in 1980. The group is currently composed of founding members Blixa Bargeld (lead vocals; guitar; keyboard) and N.U. Unruh (custom-made instruments; perc ...
member
Blixa Bargeld
Blixa Bargeld (born Christian Emmerich, 12 January 1959) is a German musician who has been the lead singer of the band Einstürzende Neubauten since its formation in 1980. Bargeld was also a founding member of the Australian rock band Nick Cave a ...
as a guest musician, they were the band's final recordings prior to their disbandment in late 1983.
Cave, Harvey,
Barry Adamson
Barry Adamson (born 11 June 1958)
Discography Studio Albums
Compilation Albums
EPs
Singles
Soundtracks
References
External links
*
Adamson's art-house
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adamson, Barry
1958 births
Living people
People from ...
and Bargeld formed
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are an Australian rock music, rock band formed in 1983 by vocalist Nick Cave, multi-instrumentalist Mick Harvey and guitarist-vocalist Blixa Bargeld. The band has featured international personnel throughout its care ...
in December 1983 and Howard joined
Crime and the City Solution
Crime & the City Solution are an Australian rock band formed in late 1977 by singer-songwriter and mainstay Simon Bonney. They disbanded in 1979 leaving only bootleg recordings and demos. In late 1983, Bonney travelled to London and in 1985 he ...
, as well as forming
These Immortal Souls
These Immortal Souls were an Australian post-punk band formed in London in 1987 by Harry Howard on bass guitar, his older brother Rowland S. Howard on guitar and vocals, Epic Soundtracks (a.k.a. Kevin Godfrey) on drums (all three ex-Crime & the ...
in the wake of The Birthday Party's break-up.
The band's back catalogue has been reissued several times, usually in the form of compilation albums such as ''
Mutiny/The Bad Seed
''Mutiny/The Bad Seed'' is a compilation album by The Birthday Party. It is compiled from 2 EPs, ''The Bad Seed '' recorded in October 1982, and ''Mutiny!'' recorded in April and August 1983, and both were released in 1983. ''The Bad Seed'' and ...
'' (1989) and ''Hits'' (1992), and several unreleased recordings and
video albums have been released since their disbandment. Though the band did not experience commercial success during their career, they have been recognised as having a major impact on the
gothic rock
Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie a ...
genre and influencing several subsequent bands, including
My Bloody Valentine,
Gogol Bordello
Gogol Bordello is an American punk rock band from the Lower East Side of Manhattan, formed in 1999 by musicians from all over the world and known for theatrical stage shows and persistent touring. Much of the band's sound is inspired by Ro ...
and
LCD Soundsystem
LCD Soundsystem is an American rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2002 by James Murphy, co-founder of DFA Records. The band comprises Murphy (vocals, various instruments), Nancy Whang (synthesizer, keyboards, vocals), Pat Mahoney (dr ...
.
Albums
Studio albums
Live albums
Compilation albums
Box sets
Extended plays
Singles
Retail singles
Split singles
Demos
Music videos
Video releases
Notes
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Birthday Party, The
Discographies of Australian artists
Rock music discographies