1: there's one nice thing about the amount of Neil Young I've been subjected to in this project, and it's that it gives me some language to explain why I don't like some Nick Cave. the feeling I get when I hear "they found [name] cuffed to the bed" and I go "oh let me guess she was shot in the head" is the exact same feeling as most Neil Young rhyming songs. the cadence even feels similar sometimes 2: with apologies to Nick Cave, because it's not really something he can control: the vast majority of Nick Cave fans I've met are men who approach me at clubs/bars/shows during downtime and ask me what music I listen to, then ask me if I like Nick Cave, and when I say oh I'm not super familiar they belt out at the top of their lungs a line like "She saw the barkeep, said, "O God, he can't be dead!" Stag said, "Well, just count the holes in the motherfucker's head!"" and I wonder if they're going to get overly drunk and then ask me for a ride home later, because that would be on par with this style of interaction, then I usually try to Irish-exit the function early to avoid the whole thing. this is something weird to belt out to strangers you just met. I am not overly sensitive and I enjoy a murder ballad on occasion, but now is not the time and honestly it might never be the time. 3: with no apologies to Nick Cave, because this is directly in his control: I just think that albums and artists like this wind up getting a lot of renown for being "transgressive" and I don't get it. it doesn't feel transgressive for me to listen to a guy singing overly-aggressive versions of murder folk songs with an over the top orchestral accompaniment. if something is what every Phantom of the Opera obsessed subtype of theater kid would do, it may not be mainstream but it's also not remarkable to me my own past as a Phantom of the Opera obsessed "might have been a theater kid if my school had a theater program" begrudgingly gives the second star