By December 1984, The Swing had gone double platinum , making it one of the five biggest domestic albums in the history of Australian music at the time.
Garrett ran as a Nuclear Disarmament Party (NDP) candidate for a New South Wales seat in the Australian Senate during the December 1984 federal election , Garrett obtained 9.6% of votes but was unable to obtain the required quota of 12.5%.
Peter Leak, an Englishman living in New York City, became interested in the band, made contact and was made their manager. With the help of Leak and Elektra Records A & R (artists and repertoire) man Howard Thompson, 10,000 Maniacs signed to Elektra in November 1984. In the spring of…
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Partly recorded in Slane Castle , The Unforgettable Fire was released in October 1984 and marked a major change of style. It was ambient and abstract, and featured a rich, orchestrated sound. Under Lanois’ direction, Mullen’s drumming became looser, funkier, and more subtle, and Clayton’s bass became more subtle. Complementing…
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10 to 1 was followed by Red Sails in the Sunset in October 1984, which was recorded in Japan, produced by Launay again. It peaked at No. 1 for four weeks on the Australian charts, and charted on the Billboard 200. Singles from the album were released in US and…
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The band was initially named Mogo, and they played their first show on the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus in the first week of September 1984. However, Nakajima used the performance to launch an extended anti-police tirade. Mascis was so appalled by Nakajima’s behavior at the show that he disbanded…
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In 1984, the band returned to BOSS Studios to record enough material for two full-length albums. Both were originally offered to Alternative Tentacles, with the first being Psychic… Powerless… Another Man’s Sac . Before either album could be released, though, Alternative Tentacles had to acquire the master tapes from Bob…
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In September 1984, Some Great Reward was released. Melody Maker claimed that the album made one “sit up and take notice of what is happening here, right under your nose.” In contrast to the political and environmental subjects addressed on the previous album, the songs on Some Great Reward were…
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The band eventually settled on vocalist Chuck Mosley around August 1984, with guitarist Jim Martin also joining during this period. Mosley had known Billy Gould since 1977, and previously performed with him in a Los Angeles new wave band called The Animated, which Gould was in prior to joining Sharp…
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However, they were later renamed Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in May 1984, in reference to the final Birthday Party EP The Bad Seed .