Nick Cave discusses boycotting music as a reaction to an artist's actions

The book takes readers from Cave’s early childhood to the present day, and examines questions of faith, art, music, freedom, grief and love. During the conversation with O'Hagan, Nick Cave commented on the issue of boycotting songs written by controversial figures.

“Making art – especially making music – it prevents you from becoming the worst aspects of your character, and that’s why I very much think we need to be very, very careful about the music we don’t think people should listen to any more because of what the artist who has made that music may have been like,” Cave said.

He went on to discuss the idea of separating the art from the artist: “We need to understand that the songs themselves are the best of them [the artist]”, which means that our actions, particularly boycotts, shouldn’t “eradicate the best of these people in order to punish the worst of them”.

Cave discussed a similar topic back in 2019 in his newsletter, The Red Hand Files. A fan asked how the Australian music icon feels about “the current trend of connecting the shortcomings of an artist’s personal conduct and the art they create”, and what it means for the future of art if we expect all artist's to be morally perfect.

Cave responded, “Go to your record collection and mind-erase those who have led questionable lives and see how much of it remains.” He added: “Sometimes an individual’s behaviour is purely malevolent, and this surely needs to be exposed for what it is – and we must make a personal choice as to whether or not we engage with their work."

"Art must be wrestled from the hands of the pious, in whatever form they may come – and they are always coming, knives out, intent on murdering creativity. At this depressing time in rock ‘n’ roll though, perhaps they can serve a purpose, perhaps rock music needs to die for a while, so that something powerful and subversive and truly monumental can rise up out of it."

He has also previously stated how worried he is about his "future cancellation" due to writing an album titled Murder Ballads.