Reply #2: I'd have voted for Paul Kelly

[velvet]

But Nick Cave is perfectly acceptable.

Years ago in Melbourne I took a friend to the Venue, a huge faded-glory ballroom in St.Kilda, to see The Birthday Party. Early eighties, the band was just back home from a stint in Europe. My friend was rather straight-laced, the Venue wasn't his type of place and he'd never heard of the band. I'd run into him somewhere on my way to the show and persuaded him to come along.

The place was packed. You entered via the gallery and looked down on the teeming dance-floor beneath. We stood a moment to observe the milling crowd, the stylish, ghoulish and don't-give-a-fuck cream of the Melbourne demi-monde.

"Velvet!" said my friend, "This is Babylon!"

I beamed and nodded enthusiastically, but he wasn't smiling. Once the band started playing he lasted one song. Said sorry he couldn't stand it another minute (geez man, they're just warming up) and fled.