By the early 1990s, Nick Cave and the always wild and professional backing group, The Bad Seeds, were darlings of the rock underground, and Kylie Minogue was one of the world’s biggest pop stars. “Where the Wild Roses Grow” achieved the near-impossible and granted them all a hit, as well as one of the finest alternative rock songs of the decade.
But just why is Cave trying to kill Minogue in the music video? And how did the Australian starlet agree to get mixed up in such things?
I am looking at the lyrical meaning of the song and telling the story of how “Where the Wild Roses Grow” was created.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Kylie Minogue’s Journey to Making “Where the Wild Roses Grow”
It was a highly unadvisable mix. Certainly, this wasn’t the pairing that Minogue’s management team, I believe, had in mind.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds is an Australian band formed out of the ashes of the notorious The Birthday Party. Cave’s former band was known for starting punch-ups during live shows and for greatly inspiring the London post-punk scene. Neither of those two things could be sustained for too long.
Minogue, on the other hand, had made her name as a soap opera star in her native Australia before successfully launching a music career. Her lite, likeable pop songs were matched by an angelic, squeaky clean image.
It was quite a daring move, I think, for Cave to ask Minogue to sing on his album, “Murder Ballads,” a collection of gruesome tales delivered in song.
Meaning of the Lyrics of “Where the Wild Roses Grow”
I find it interesting that “Where the Wild Roses Grow” was not the only duet on the album. Cave also got then girlfriend PJ Harvey to sing on the equally morbid “Henry Lee,” and former girlfriend Anita Lane to join in the chorus for the Bob Dylan cover, “Death Is Not the End.”
It was also not the only song on the record to deal with themes of passion and murder. In fact, all of the songs were written from this angle.
Yet, I am astonished by just how popular “Where the Wild Roses Grow” became and has remained.
Cave explained the writing process, as well as the way in which he convinced Minogue’s team to get the artist on board: “I wrote Where The Wild Roses Grow because I wanted to see if I could get her to fit my world. I sent a sinister demo with (former Bad Seeds guitarist) Blixa Bargeld singing her part and her management went into meltdown. They told her it was madness. But she heard it and said yes.“
Part of the reason for this, I think, is due to the poetic nature of the lyrics. Essentially a dark love song, containing a tragic ending for one of the characters, the tune is sung from the perspectives of both a man and a woman. First, they are enraptured with each other, but the man ends up sacrificing the woman so that true beauty can be forever preserved and never wither.
The song was inspired by “The Willow Garden,” a traditional folk song. As in the original, the man falls in love with a beautiful woman whom he later murders by the river.
The Music Video for “Where the Wild Roses Grow”
The music for “Where the Wild Roses Grow” is, I think, just as famous as the song itself. That, in no part, is due to Minogue’s undeniable star power, and to the fact that audiences had never seen her in this way before.
The music video was shot by Rocky Schenck, a director who specialised in promo films for bands. He’d also worked with Alice in Chains, Ozzy Osbourne and, yes, Cave’s acquaintance P.J. Harvey.
Openly, the music video takes inspiration from the famous painting “Ophelia” by John Everett Millais. I recently saw it at Tate Britain in London, and fans of Cave should also treat themselves to a visit.
While Minogue is seen lying in the river, Cave hangs above her, washing his hands of blood and, in the final scene, closing her eyelids.
Legacy Of “Where the Wild Roses Grow” by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Kylie Minogue
It was dubbed one of the strangest collaborations in pop music history. But the general public was intrigued enough to turn “Where the Wild Roses Grow” into a genuine hit.
This was a Top 10 hit across numerous countries. The song helped Cave, finally, reach the charts in earnest. It also assisted Minogue’s career, who, from this point onwards, was no longer seen as a virginal pop star.
Minogue publicly thanked Cave for the song numerous times, and even dueted with him on occasion. When unavailable, Minogue’s role could be taken on by the likes of (former) Bad Seeds guitarist Blixa Bargeld.
In 1996, the composition was deemed “Song of the Year” at the ARIA Awards, essentially the Australian version of the Grammy Awards.
Hooray for odd collabs, I say. Cave told The Daily Telegraph in 2014, about the process of making the song: “I think her management wasn’t that happy about it – I mean we were just a bunch of junkies sitting in the studio, and she walked in full of life and love and goodwill.”
“It was so different to have somebody like that around for a few months, and we had this hit, we became defined by Kylie and Kylie’s presence – so that little slice of life is Kylie’s, in a way. We really liked each other.”
