# The Birthday Party discography

The discography of The Birthday Party, an Australian post-punk band, consists of four studio albums, two live albums, six compilation albums, six extended plays and nine singles. The group began under various names in Melbourne in 1973; formed by vocalist Nick Cave, guitarist Mick Harvey, drummer Phill Calvert, guitarist John Cocivera, bassist Brett Purcell, and saxophonist Chris Coyne —all of whom were students at Caulfield Grammar School. By 1978, following several membership changes, the band consisted of Cave, Harvey and Calvert with bassist Tracy Pew and guitarist Rowland S Howard. Under the name The Boys Next Door, the band released several singles and two studio albums, Door, Door in 1979 on Mushroom Records and The Birthday Party in 1980 on Missing Link Records.
Despite moderate success in Australia, The Boys Next Door relocated to London, England in 1980 and changed their name to The Birthday Party. In London, the band experienced underground critical success with a series of singles and two further studio albums, Prayers on Fire (1981) and Junkyard (1982); Junkyard was also a minor commercial success, peaking at number 72 on the UK Albums Chart upon its release. In 1982, the band relocated to West Berlin, Germany and Calvert departed. The band, now featuring Harvey on dual guitar and drumming duties, released as two EPs, The Bad Seed and Mutiny!, in 1983 on 4AD and Mute Records. Featuring Einstürzende Neubauten member Blixa Bargeld as a guest musician, they were the band's final recordings prior to their disbandment in late 1983.
Cave, Harvey, Barry Adamson and Bargeld formed Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in December 1983 and Howard joined Crime and the City Solution, as well as forming These Immortal Souls in the wake of The Birthday Party's break-up. The band's back catalogue has been reissued several times, usually in the form of compilation albums such as Mutiny/The Bad Seed (1989) and Hits (1992), and several unreleased recordings and video albums have been released since their disbandment. Though the band did not experience commercial success during their career, they have been recognised as having a major impact on the gothic rock genre and influencing several subsequent bands, including My Bloody Valentine, Gogol Bordello and LCD Soundsystem.

## Albums
### Studio albums

List of studio albums, with chart positions :
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions |
| Title | Album details | AUS | UK | UK Indie |
| Door, Door | Released: 1979 (AUS) Labels: Mushroom (36931) Formats: LP, CD | 93 | — | — |
| The Birthday Party | Released: November 1980 (AUS) Labels: Missing Link (7) Formats: LP | — | — | — |
| Prayers on Fire | Released: 6 April 1981 (UK) Labels: Missing Link (14), 4AD (104) Formats: LP, CD | 96 | — | 4 |
| Junkyard | Released: 10 July 1982(UK) Labels: Missing Link (21), 4AD (207) Formats: LP, CD | — | 72 | 1 |
| "—" denotes a release that did not chart |||||

### Live albums

List of live albums, with chart positions :
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions |
| Title | Album details | UK Indie |
| It's Still Living | Released: May 1985 (AUS) Labels: Missing Link (009), Virgin (2048) Formats: LP, CD | 19 |
| Live 1981–82 | Released: 10 August 1999 (UK) Labels: 4AD (9005) Formats: 2×LP, CD | — |
| "—" denotes a release that did not chart |||

### Compilation albums

List of compilation albums :
| Title | Album details |
| A Collection… | Released: 1985 (AUS) Labels: Missing Link (22), Suite Beat (2017) Formats: LP, CD |
| Hee-Haw | Released: 1988 (UK) Labels: 4AD (307), Virgin (2037) Formats: LP, CD |
| Mutiny/The Bad Seed | Released: 1989 (UK) Labels: 4AD (301) |
| Hits | Released: 12 October 1992 (UK) Labels: 4AD (2016), Warner Bros (9 45087) Formats: 2×LP, CD, CS |
| The John Peel Sessions | Released: 28 May 2001 (UK) Labels: Strange Fruit (098) Formats: 2×LP, CD |

## Box sets

List of box sets :
| Title | Album details |
| Definitive Missing Link Recordings 1979–1982 | Released: 1994 (AUS) Labels: Missing Link (30) Formats: 5×CD box set |

## Extended plays

List of extended plays, with chart positions :
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions |
| Title | Album details | UK Indie |
| Hee-Haw | Released: December 1979 (AUS) Labels: Missing Link (3) Formats: 12" | — |
| Drunk on the Pope's Blood/The Agony Is the Ecstacy (The Birthday Party/Lydia Lunch) | Released: 18 February 1982 (UK) Labels: 4AD (202), Missing Link (006) Formats: 12", CS | 2 |
| The Bad Seed | Released: March 1983 (UK) Labels: 4AD (301) Formats: 12" | 3 |
| Mutiny! | Released: November 1983 (UK) Labels: Mute (12 29) Formats: 12" | 3 |
| The Peel Sessions | Released: January 1987 (UK) Labels: Strange Fruit (020) Formats: 12", CD | 7 |
| The Peel Sessions II | Released: November 1988 (UK) Labels: Strange Fruit (058) Formats: 12", CD | 11 |
| "—" denotes a release that did not chart |||

## Singles
### Retail singles

List of retail singles, with chart positions :
| Single | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | Notes |
| Single | Year | UK Indie | Album | Notes |
| "These Boots Are Made for Walking" | 1978 | — | Non-LP single | Released under The Boys Next Door, backed with non-LP track "Boy Hero" |
| "Shivers" | 1979 | — | Door, Door | Released under The Boys Next Door |
| "Happy Birthday" | 1980 | — | The Birthday Party | Released under The Boys Next Door |
| "The Friend Catcher" | 1980 | 21 | The Birthday Party | N/A |
| "Mr. Clarinet" | 1980 | 18 | The Birthday Party | N/A |
| "Nick the Stripper" | 1981 | — | Prayers on Fire | 12" backed with non-LP tracks "Blundertown" and "Kathy's Kisses" |
| "Release the Bats" | 1981 | 3 | Non-LP single | Backed with non-LP "Blast Off" |
| "Dead Joe" | 1982 | — | Junkyard | N/A |
| "—" denotes a release that did not chart |||||

### Split singles

List of split singles, with other artist :
| Single | Year | Other artist | Notes |
| "Scatterbrain"/"Early Morning Brain" | 1979 | Models | Released under The Boys Next Door, non-LP track |

## Demos

List of appearances on various artist compilation albums :
| Song | Year | Album | Notes | Ref |
| "Figure of Fun" | 1980 | Fast Forward No 2 | Released exclusively and issued free with Fast Forward magazine | |
| "Sex Crimes" | 2005 | Inner City Sound | Exclusively released on this compilation, unreleased song | |

## Music videos

List of music videos, with directors :
| Title | Year | Director | Ref |
| "Nick the Stripper" | 1981 | Paul Goldman | |
| "Deep in the Woods" | 1983 | Glenn Auchinachie | |

## Video releases

List of video albums :
| Title | Album details |
| Pleasure Heads Must Burn | Released: 1984 (UK) Labels: Ikon (7), Cherry Red (20) Formats: VHS, DVD |