Nick Cave

After a fan sent him a ChatGPT-generated song 'in the style of Nick Cave', Cave strongly rejected it and described generative AI applied to songwriting as an imitation lacking the human experience that, in his view, underpins artistic creation. He continued this criticism as AI-generated music developed.

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Nick Cave refused to join the cultural boycott of Israel and performed in Tel Aviv in 2017. He explained that pressure from the BDS movement had contributed to his decision to perform in Israel and subsequently described the cultural boycott as cowardly or shameful. Brian Eno, Roger Waters, Ken Loach and pro-Palestinian organisations strongly criticised his position.

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Cave defended Morrissey's freedom of expression despite his controversial statements, then described cancel culture as a form of 'bad religion' and political correctness as potentially stifling creativity. In 2023, he also argued against automatically boycotting works because of their creators' behaviour.

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The album Murder Ballads and some of Cave's earlier lyrics were criticised for extreme violence, particularly against women. In 2023, Cave responded directly to the allegation of misogyny, explaining that at the time he wrote deliberately violent and transgressive stories but did not consider himself personally misogynistic.

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