Described as "one of the most original and celebrated bands of the post-punk and alternative rock eras in the '80s and onward",[1] they have released eighteen studio albums and completed numerous international tours.

[6] Throughout the 1980s, beginning with their debut studio album From Her to Eternity (1984), the band drew largely on post-punk, blues and gothic rock, and formed an evolving, multinational lineup, bringing in musicians such as Blixa Bargeld, Barry Adamson and Kid Congo Powers.

Following Harvey's departure in 2009,[7] the band broadened their sound further to include electronic and ambient styles, which feature prominently on the trilogy of studio albums Push the Sky Away (2013), Skeleton Tree (2016) and Ghosteen (2019).

During September and October 1983, they recorded material with producer Flood,[9] although the sessions were cut short due to Cave's touring with the Immaculate Consumptive, another project formed with Thirlwell, Lydia Lunch and Marc Almond.

[10] In December 1983 Cave returned to Melbourne, Australia, where he formed a temporary line-up of his backing band, due to Bargeld's absence, that included Pew and guitarist Hugo Race.

Released the following year, the album Kicking Against the Pricks explored such influences with renditions of material by Johnny Cash, John Lee Hooker and Lead Belly.

[citation needed] Tender Prey, the dark, brooding[15] 1988 follow-up, saw the arrival of American guitarist and The Gun Club stalwart Kid Congo Powers—Harvey made the transition to bass—and short-tenured German keyboardist Roland Wolf.

The single "The Mercy Seat" chronicled an unrepentant prisoner on death row[6] and further increased the group's critical acclaim and commercial attention.

[15] The documentary film The Road to God Knows Where, directed by Uli M Schueppel, depicts a five-week period[16] of the United States leg of their 1989 tour.

[20] After a period of time in New York City, Cave relocated to São Paulo, Brazil,[6] shortly after the final tour for Tender Prey and, after successfully finishing drug rehabilitation,[15] began experimenting with piano-driven ballads.

[citation needed] Two established Australian musicians, Casey of the Triffids and solo artist and keyboardist Savage, replaced the departing Powers and Wolf.

Let Love In expanded upon the fuller ensemble sound that was established in Henry's Dream[21] and featured contributions from Howard, Ellis, Tex Perkins (Beasts of Bourbon) and David McComb (The Triffids).

The Minogue collaboration was a mainstream hit in the UK and Australia, and won three Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Awards, including Song of the Year.

[6] The sound of The Boatman's Call, released in 1997, was a radical departure from the archetypal and violent narratives of the band's past, featuring songs about relationships, loss, and longing, often with sparse arrangements.

Cave revealed his mindset during the creation of the album in a 2008 interview: "When I was making half that record I was furious because certain things had happened in my love life that seriously pissed me off.

The album marked a return to band-oriented and collaborative arrangements, as previous releases involved a decreased level of input from Cave's bandmates.

[29] In 2004 the band released the acclaimed two-disc set Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus, with Bargeld replaced by the English actor, guitarist and organist James Johnston, a member of Gallon Drunk and former guest member of the Bad Seeds from a Lollapalooza tour ten years prior (Johnston only played organs on the recordings, as Harvey contributed the guitar pieces).

Harvey concluded his public statement by stating, "I shall continue working on the Bad Seeds back catalogue re-issues project over the coming year and look forward to the new opportunities I shall be able to accommodate as a result of my changed circumstances.

[43] During the album's recording, former member Barry Adamson rejoined the band as a bassist, then assumed a multi-instrumentalist (percussion, keyboards, vocals) role on subsequent tours.

In 2014 Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds toured North America with Ellis, Adamson, Sclavunos, Casey plus Conway Savage and George Vjestica.

Cave embarked on solo tours in Australia and New Zealand in late 2014 and Europe in 2015 with Adamson on keyboards and percussion, joined by the rhythm section of Wydler and Casey, and with Ellis as the featured multi-instrumentalist.

On 2 June 2016, the official Nick Cave website announced a documentary film titled One More Time with Feeling (directed by Andrew Dominik) which was screened on 8 September 2016.

In 2017, Cave begun writing songs for the next Bad Seeds record, which is set to complete a musical trilogy the band began with Push the Sky Away.

[46] Ellis and Cave played two orchestral shows at Hamer Hall in Melbourne, Australia on 9 and 10 August, featuring a selection of their various film scores.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds 18th studio album Wild God was announced on 6 March 2024 and the title track was released as a single on the same day.