There’s a famous Nick Cave quote that gets passed around whenever anyone wants to dismiss the music of a certain long-running Los Angeles funk-metal act: “I’m forever near a stereo saying, ‘What the fuck is this garbage?

Cave was asked about the quote in the latest entry for his Red Hand Files Q&A website. He chalked it up to being a "troublemaker, a shit-stirrer, feeling most at ease in the role of a societal irritant" in his younger days.

Cave’s comments about the Los Angeles funk-rockers have circulated as something of a punchline for roughly 25 years now. Though their exact origins appear to have been lost to time, the quote is often attributed to Cave as, “I’m forever near a stereo saying, ‘What the fuck is this garbage?’ And the answer is always ‘The Red Hot Chili Peppers.’”

Nick Cave explains how his Red Hot Chili Peppers diss became a meme and how he and Flea have since become friends.