Kicking Against The Pricks
by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

Kicking Against The Pricks by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Year: 1986
Release date: 1986-08-18
Overall rank: 4,571st   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
73/100 (from 157 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1986 (61st)
Award Top albums of of the 1980s (657th)
Award Best albums of all time (4,571st)

Listen on Spotify SPOTIFY

Log in or create an account to rate this album, leave comments or join the discussion.

Listen & Collect

Complete your collection or upgrade your listening experience.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds bestography

Kicking Against The Pricks is ranked 17th best out of 30 albums by Nick Cave on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Nick Cave is Skeleton Tree which is ranked number 370 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 4,458.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds album bestography « Higher ranked (3,642nd)
The Firstborn Is Dead
This album (4,571st)
Kicking Against The Pricks
Lower ranked (4,604th) »
Idiot Prayer: Nick Cave Alone At Alexandra Palace

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

Listen to Kicking Against The Pricks on YouTube

Loading content from YouTube...

Kicking Against The Pricks rankings

Kicking Against The Pricks rankings summary
Overall rank: 4,571st | 1980s rank: 657th | 1986 rank: 61st  Overall chart history
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings).Help Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 3 hours ago)

Kicking Against The Pricks collection

Kicking Against The Pricks ratings

Average Rating: 
73/100 (from 157 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 3 ratings for this album.  | Show all 157 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
75/100
 !
4 days ago Exist-en-ciel  Ratings distribution  16,51770/100
 
80/100
 !
09/15/2026 08:56 robertoveltri  Ratings distribution  92679/100
 
75/100
 !
09/02/2026 02:22 xhitmanx  Ratings distribution  1,60475/100

Rating metrics: Help Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)

This album has a Bayesian average rating of 72.7/100, a mean average of 72.0/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 72.7/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.8.


Please log in or create an account if you want to be able to leave a rating

Kicking Against The Pricks favourites

Showing all 7 members who have added this album as a favourite

Kicking Against The Pricks forum mentions

This album has been referenced 6 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.

Kicking Against The Pricks comments

Showing latest 5 comments | Show all 7 comments |
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
Rating:  
80/100
Kicking against the pricks, is one of those rare covers albums, where instead of sounding like an indulgent karaoke record, here, it actually sounds like an LP. Opener, muddy water, is possibly the best song here, just like he does on most of the tracks, Cave really makes it his own. By the time I get to Phoenix, is great too, up there with Isaac Hayes' epic version. Hey Joe, though, is not up to the Hendrix take, but as before, Cave still makes it his own. Long black veil, is dark and brooding, while, I'm gonna kill that woman, sounds like vintage Cave. The hammer song, is another special moment. All in all, an enjoyable and atmospheric album.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 2
Log in to reply
Rating:  
80/100
Without prior knowledge, I would have had no clue this entire record is covers. It's as seamless and intriguingly dynamic as anything the group released in the 80's. The tracks are varied but the overall flow and sonic storyline is not. I like this quite a bit. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 2
Log in to reply
Rating:  
80/100
I know they are all covers, but in this album they did It in such a way that makes It unique, kind of like the way Cash does his covers, really impressionable.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 2
Log in to reply
Rating:  
95/100
Nick Cave and his Bad Seeds manage to make their own interpretation of each song they cover. In this process, they re-invent the original, with often fantastic results
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 2
Log in to reply
Rating:  
70/100
Nothing spectacular, but a fun cover album.

Favorite tracks: "I'm Gonna Kill That Woman", "Muddy Water"
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 1
Log in to reply
Anonymous
What do you think of this album? Join the conversation!.
The top-voted comments get featured on our charts, Album of the Day, and the site newsletter.

Log in or create an account to rate this album, leave comments or join the discussion.