The Birthday Party - Pretentious Poofters...

As a former bored, white, male, low-rent, suburban teenager with a lot of un-channeled energy & time on my hands myself, I think it's safe to say that there is nothing worse than a bored, white, male, low-rent, suburban teenager with a lot of un-channeled energy & time on their hands. Doesn't matter, America, Great Britain, Australia, name the predominately white country of your choice.

There was a certain demographic, in a certain time in history, where all the elements came together and you get something like The Birthday Party. Nihilistic. Absurd. Provocative. Stupid. Debauched. Ridiculous. 

These white boys are not dumb. But they are wallowing in a certain, stupid, calculated, heavy-handed, debauchery. They might think it's funny, and maybe even "art." One of their former classmates described the members of The Birthday Party as "Pretentious Poofters." That sounds like a fairly accurate description. 

We know this was just "a phase," that lasted for a short time 1976-1983. It's actually amazing these boys kept it up that long. So glad, Nick Cave survived it all, and moved into a different, more fruitful and compelling mode. Yikes!