Australia's INXS is still making a go of it - they just headlined the monsoon-plagued Live & Loud festival in Singapore with Jon Stevens singing lead in place of the late Michael Hutchence, who committed suicide in 1997. It's hard to believe it's been almost six years - I remember hearing the news on the car radio. How can people with so much going for them get so twisted around that they can only see the bad? Terrible.
So anyway, INXS carrries on without singer/lyricist/focal point Hutchence, but it's like the Stones without Jagger, the Doors without Morrison (oh wait, that one IS happening) - kind of an empty shell. It's easy to forget that 10-15 years ago INXS was one of the biggest groups in the world - they had a ton of great songs and three classic albums.
Their first great album, Shabooh Shoobah, came out in '82, went gold in America and made them stars. Shabooh is the most new wavy of the band's albums, and is many a long-term fan's favorite. Michael Hutchence's vocals are more malleable and less strident than they were to become, and though the songwriting isn't as consistent as on some later albums, Shabooh contains three of the group's very best songs: the swooping hookfest "The One Thing," the halting Aussie-ska of "Black and White," and the majestic keyboard and treated-guitar wave classic "Don't Change."
The Swing, THE classic INXS album, made the band ubiquitous with alt-rock fans in 1984. Chock-full of modern rock radio hits (primarily written by keyboardist/guitarist Andrew Farriss and late singer Michael Hutchence), The Swing is the bridge between the band's experimental beginnings and their subsequent arena-filling success. "I Send a Message" is '80s alterna-funk at its finest; the title track rides in on a monster beat, joined by surprisingly jagged guitar and tough vocals from Hutchence; "Burn For You" is a chipper sing-along bolstered by a full background chorus; and "Original Sin" took on miscegenation in a post-"Brother Louie" world."
Article comments
1 - Craig Lyndall
Beautiful Girl was on repeat in my world (home/car/discman) for about a 3 week period. Something about the simplicity of that song really hit home with me. Now I need to buy that album again. I only had it borrowed from a friend.
2 - Tom Johnson
Don't forget Kick, which seemed to be the soundtrack to my junior year of high school (sophomore? Can't remember now - but it was EVERYWHERE for quite a while.)
3 - Cindy
Gawd I love(d) INXS! Many many years ago I was a new hire for American Airlines. I had a boy call me up with backstage all access passes to the INXS show in Dallas and wanted me to tag along. I was a flight attendant on-call/reserve that night and scheduling refused to release me to go.
I cried and threw tantrums all night long. So the next day I get called for a quick roundtrip to Houston and low-and-behold, who should walk on my flight and plop down in first class!?!?!!?! INXS! I still giggle like a school girl at the memory! I still miss Michael H...
4 - Eric Olsen
Great story Cindy, thanks! I miss Michael too and I never met him (did see them front row in Cleveland in about '91 though)
5 - MARTIN
Hi there!
I'm an INXS fan and i like to invite everybody to my INXS forum, there you can find rare stuff (for free, of course) as many bootlegs concerts and rare and live videos too in direct download (Rapidshare & Megaupload), so come on and join us!
Martín