In a move they wouldn’t dream of attempting today, MTV decided to hand Australia’s own Nick Cave a nomination for Best Male Artist back in 1996, a nomination the former Birthday Party frontman promptly rejected.
It’s not that Cave was ungrateful. On the contrary, he opened the letter by thanking MTV for the nomination and the support given to his 1996 Bad Seeds album Murder Ballads and its collabs with Kylie Minogue and PJ Harvey.
However, he then explains why he must reject the nomination and any future nominations and let them “be presented to those who feel more comfortable with the competitive nature of these award ceremonies. I myself, do not.”
“I have always been of the opinion that my music is unique and individual, and exists beyond the realms inhabited by those who would reduce things to mere measuring,” Cave’s letter continues. “I am in competition with no one.”
Minogue recently read the whole letter aloud as part of a new video series put together by Letters Live, the live show spinoff from literary correspondence website Letters of Note. Check out the full clip below.
“My relationship with my muse is a delicate one at the best of times, and I feel that it is my duty to protect her from influences that may offend her fragile nature,” Minogue reads in the video.
“My muse is not a horse, and I am in no horse race, and if indeed she was, still I would not harness her to this tumbrel, this bloody cart of severed heads and glittering prizes. My muse may spook, may bolt, may abandon me completely.”
Nick Cave’s MTV Rejection Letter
21st October, 1996
To all those at MTV,
I would like to start by thanking you all for the support you have given me over recent years and I am both grateful and flattered by the nominations that I have received for best male artist. The air play given to both the Kylie Minogue and P. J. Harvey duets from my latest album ‘Murder Ballads’ has not gone unnoticed and has been greatly appreciated. So again my sincere thanks.
Having said that, I feel that it’s necessary for me to request that my nomination for Best Male Artist be withdrawn and furthermore any awards or nominations for such awards that may arise in later years be presented to those who feel more comfortable with the competitive nature of these award ceremonies. I myself, do not.
I have always been of the opinion that my music is unique and individual and exists beyond the realms inhabited by those who would reduce things to mere measuring. I am in competition with no-one.
My relationship with my muse is a delicate one at the best of times and I feel that it is my duty to protect her from influences that may offend her fragile nature.
She comes to me with the gift of song and in return I treat her with the respect I feel she deserves – in this case this means not subjecting her to the indignities of judgement and competition. My muse is not a horse and I am in no horse race and if indeed she was, still I would not harness her to this tumbrel – this bloody cart of severed heads and glittering prizes. My muse may spook! May bolt! May abandon me completely!
So once again, to the people at MTV, I appreciate the zeal and energy that was put behind my last record, I truly do and say thank you and again I say thank you but no… No thank you.
Yours sincerely, Nick Cave.
