'INXS' (pronounced "In Excess") are an
Australian
rock group. The band was formed on
16 August 1977, in
Sydney,
Australia.
History
Michael Hutchence era
INXS began under the name ''The Farriss Brothers'' but the band changed it just prior to the release of their self-titled début album in
1980, ''
INXS'', which featured "Just Keep Walking," their first Australian hit single. Its follow-up, 1981's ''
Underneath the Colours'' (produced by
Richard Clapton), became a hit-album in
Australia.
In
1982, ''
Shabooh Shoobah'' was released successfully worldwide. The single "The One Thing" brought them their first Top-30 hit in
America, while "Don't Change" became a staple in the set list of college rock bands who played the frat circuit. The album itself entered the
U.S. Top-50.
With the
Nick Launay-produced fourth album, ''
The Swing'' in
1984, the band received more significant attention from around the world, as "Original Sin" became their first #1 single and an international hit. During that year the song was #1 in Australia (for two weeks at the start of 1984) as well as in
Argentina and
France, #23 in
Switzerland, #31 in the
Netherlands and #58 in the
U.S. where the single's explicitly political and anti-racism message may have contributed to low airplay. Yet, "Original Sin" (produced by
Nile Rodgers) was largely ignored in the
UK, where INXS didn't have any success in the charts until
1986 with the album ''
Listen Like Thieves''. In the same way, the band's charismatic
singer Michael Hutchence gained attention with his
MTV-ready looks. INXS, which had started out as a
Funk act, gradually moved in a more straight-ahead rock-oriented direction through the first half of the 1980s.
By 1985's breakthrough album ''
Listen Like Thieves'' the band had perfected a matured sound influenced by the
Rolling Stones and
Chic but true to the band's original roots in the Aussie pubs. ''
Listen Like Thieves'' was loved by the critics. In the US the first single, "This Time" stalled at #81 in late 1985, but the band roared out of nowhere with the second, "
What You Need", which in early 1986 became a Top-Five
Billboard hit, bringing INXS their first breakout U.S. success.
In 1986, INXS recorded two songs with
Jimmy Barnes, an
Easybeats cover "
Good Times" and "Laying Down The Law", which Barnes co-wrote with
Andrew Farriss and
Michael Hutchence. "Good Times" was used as the theme song for the
Australia Made series of concerts that toured the country in the summer of 1986 - 87. Australia Made was the largest touring festival of Australian music talent that had ever been attempted to that point. INXS and Barnes headlined and the rest of the line-up featured
Mental as Anything,
Divinyls,
Models,
The Saints,
I'm Talking and
The Triffids. The shows began in
Launceston, Tasmania on
26 December and concluded in Sydney on Australia Day,
26 January 1987. A concert film of this event was made by
Richard Lowenstein and released later that year
[1]. "Good Times" peaked at No. 2 on the Australian chart and several months later was featured in the
Joel Schumacher film ''
The Lost Boys'', allowing it to chart Top 40 in the US.
CD cover to INXS's album ''Kick''
The band's worldwide peak of popularity came with 1987's ''
Kick'', an upbeat, confident album that yielded four Top-10 US singles and several international hits, including "
New Sensation", "
Never Tear Us Apart", "
Devil Inside", and the #1 "
Need You Tonight". They toured heavily behind the album throughout
1987 and
1988. The video for the 1987 INXS track "Mediate" (which played after the video for "Need You Tonight") duplicated the format of Bob Dylan's video for "Subterrean Homesick Blues," even in its use of apparently deliberate errors.
In 1989 Hutchence made an album with ''
Max Q'', which received decent reviews, but at best attained a cult status. The rest of the band also took a break to work on side projects, but soon returned to the studio to record their follow-up album titled
X.
However, the band had a lot of pressure on its shoulders due to fans and critics alike having high expectations about the follow-up album to Kick. In
1990, INXS released ''
X''. It followed in the same vein as ''Kick'', and added
harmonica to some songs, but critics and fans considered it a weak follow-up. Nevertheless, ''X'' did score two hits in
Suicide Blonde and "Disappear" (both Top-10 in the US), and was a Top-5 hit album internationally.
INXS performed at
Wembley Stadium on
July 13,
1991, during their "Summer XS" tour stop in
London to a sold out audience of 72,000 fans. During this show, INXS organized a film crew to shoot their show onto video to come out simultaneously as their live album ''
Live Baby Live'' (the video was also called ''Live Baby Live''). [Note: Name is said Live (as in "to live your life") Baby Live (as in a live performance).]
1992's ''
Welcome to Wherever You Are'' was an experimental album using sitars and a 60-piece orchestra while adding a much more "raw" sound to their music. It received critical reviews and went number one in the UK &
Sweden and number two in Switzerland, but had difficulty finding an audience in the U.S.
1993's ''
Full Moon, Dirty Hearts'' received mixed reviews and included a track called "Please (You Got That)" which featured the legendary
Ray Charles and title track with
The Pretenders Chrissie Hynde. The band made a full video album for the record using unknown Australian students to direct with help by
Richard Lowenstein. ''Full Moon, Dirty Hearts'' was the last record under INXS' contract with Atlantic.
The band took time off to rest and be with their families. Michael Hutchence remained in the public eye through modeling and film acting. His personal life included dating several models and public personalities including
Kylie Minogue,
Helena Christensen and
Paula Yates.
Throughout the
1980s and into the
1990s, INXS was a major force in
Australian popular music, leading the way into worldwide popularity for several Australian bands. The band worked closely with several other Australian artists, such as
The Models and
Jenny Morris, helping to establish their careers. By the mid-nineties, however, their popularity had waned, especially in the US, where their ''Greatest Hits'' compilation failed to reach the Top-100. (At the 1996
BRIT Awards, Michael Hutchence presented Oasis with an award, after which their characteristically arrogant vocalist Liam Gallagher remarked "Has-beens shouldn't be presenting awards to gonna-bes".)
[1] In 1997, the group released a comeback album titled ''
Elegantly Wasted'', which garnered mixed reviews. It fared respectably in Australia,
Canada, France,
Great Britain (where INXS had ironically more success in the
90s than in the
80s), Sweden and Switzerland.
On 22 November 1997, Hutchence was found dead in a
Sydney hotel room under suspicious circumstances. The coroner who performed his autopsy ruled his death a
suicide. Some speculate his death was actually an accident, the result of
autoerotic asphyxiation.
Transitional years
Since Hutchence's death, INXS continued, using
Terence Trent D'Arby and
Jimmy Barnes as temporary lead singers.
New Zealander, ''Celebrity Treasure Island'' host and former lead singer of Australian band
Noiseworks,
Jon Stevens began singing with INXS in
2000. INXS played as one of the headline acts at the Sydney
2000 Olympics. Stevens was officially named a member of the band in
2002. However, he left INXS in
2003 to pursue a solo career, only recording a contractual obligation song called "
I Get Up", released as a single (which charted in the Top-100 on the Australian ARIAnet Singles Chart) in the same year. The song was also used in the
Rugby Union World Cup 2003 and the ''EA Sports Rugby 2004'' video game.
In 2001, INXS was inducted into the
Australian Recording Industry Association Hall of Fame. In total, the band has received three
Grammy nominations over their 30 year career.
Rock Star: INXS
INXS returned to the news in
2004 when it was announced that a new
reality television program titled '' would feature a contest to find a new lead vocalist for the band. The show, which had its debut on the
CBS network 11 July 2005, (on
VH1 in the UK and on
FOX 8 in Australia), featured 15 contestants vying for the position of lead singer. The show was executive produced by ''
Survivor's
Mark Burnett and hosted by
Brooke Burke and former
Jane's Addiction and
Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist
Dave Navarro.
Cover art for INXS's ''Switch'' album
On 20 September 2005, J.D. Fortune (born Jason Dean Bennison, but uses his mother's maiden name of Fortune) of
Oakville, Ontario,
Canada won the eleven-week competition, which culminated in his singing the
Rolling Stones's "
You Can't Always Get What You Want" and INXS' "What You Need" in the finale of the show to become the new lead singer of INXS. He has recorded the new album with producer
Guy Chambers and went on a world tour with INXS in 2006. Runner-up
Marty Casey was the opening act during leg one of the world tour, along with his band, The
Lovehammers.
During the ''Rock Star: INXS'' competition, the contestants were challenged to write the lyrics and melody to music written by
Andrew Farriss. Originally this challenge was divided up into two teams. When Fortune did not see eye-to-eye with his team (that included Casey), he decided to venture out on his own and write his own lyrics. At first Fortune's move seemed to have doomed his chances to win the competition (because it was perceived he couldn't work in a team), but it was this move that resulted in his creation of the lyrics to "Pretty Vegas". This song became a favorite of both fans and INXS and played a major role in Fortune being able to win the competition . This single was released 4 October 2005 and reached #5 on the
iTunes Store ranking of top downloaded songs on its first day, debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at #37, and became a huge radio airplay hit in Fortune's native Canada.
INXS, v.2.0
On 29 November 2005, the band's first album in eight years was released, entitled ''
Switch''. It was released in the United States via
Epic Records.
In September of 2006, INXS would part ways with Epic Records.
[3]
After the success of the ''Switched on World Tour'', the band are currently working on their new album.
J. D. Fortune has stated that he is writing new material on the road. One such song is called "Angel Skin" which talks about a man descending down to Hell. Other demos of songs that have been written include "Death of an Elephant", "Lullaby", "Everybody Says Goodbye" and "Product of the System".
[4] Fortune has not confirmed whether or not the band has a new label worldwide.
In 2007 the Farriss Brothers were inducted into the
West Australian Music Industry Awards Hall of Fame.
INXS toured Australia in March 2007, with
Simple Minds and support band
Arrested Development.
Although several rumours have spread about of the possibility of the band changing its name back to "The Farriss Brothers," due to many fans believing that the band is not truly INXS without Michael Hutchence, JD Fortune and Kirk Pengilly of INXS have reportedly stated that this is simply a rumour and the band's name will remain the same.
[5]Fortune is currently working on a solo album “Death of a Motivational Speaker.”
In
August,
2007, INXS has reported what is termed as a "medical issue" on Garry Beers' hand. This announcement came at the cancellation of an
August 31, 2007 show in
Cleveland,
Ohio in which [INXS.com] stated "Due to ongoing medical issues with Garry Beers' hand, the band's doctor has urged the band to not play more than three shows in a row or risk permanent damage to Garry's hand."
[6]
Discography
'''For a complete discography, see'
INXS discography.''
Studio albums
#
1980 - ''
INXS''
#
1981 - ''
Underneath the Colours''
#
1982 - ''
Shabooh Shoobah''
#
1984 - ''
The Swing''
#
1985 - ''
Listen Like Thieves''
#
1987 - ''
Kick''
#
1990 - ''
X''
#
1992 - ''
Welcome to Wherever You Are''
#
1993 - ''
Full Moon, Dirty Hearts''
#
1997 - ''
Elegantly Wasted''
#
2005 - ''
Switch''
#
2007 - ''(Unnamed 12th Studio Album)'' - ''TBR''
Live albums
#
1991 - ''
Live Baby Live''
#
2004 - ''
Compilation albums
#
1982 - ''
INXSIVE''
#
1994 - ''
The Greatest Hits''
#
2001 - ''
#
2002 - ''
Definitive INXS/The Best of INXS''
#
2002 - ''
The Years 1979-1997''
#
2002 - ''
Stay Young 1979-1982''
#
2004 - ''
#
2004 - ''
Original Sin - The Collection''
#
2006 - ''
EPs
#
1983 - ''
Dekadance''
#
2004 - ''
Bang the Drum''
See also
★
List of best-selling music artists
References
1. Reported at [2]
2. http://www.rockbandlounge.com/rock-star-inxs/jd-fortune.asp
3. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/search/google/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003123856
4. http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Lowdown/2006/11/27/2516748-ca.html
5. http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,23663,21455851-5007184,00.html
6. http://www.inxs.com/news/news.php?uid=2319
External links
Official sites
★
Official site
★
Michael Hutchence Official Site
★
Official INXS Photo site: inxs.buzznet.com
★
Epic Records' INXS page
Database entries
★
★
★
★
★
INXS at
Discogs
Fan sites
★
HARDSTAR-INXS
★
An Excess of INXS
★
INXS.PL - Polish INXS website
★
INXS French page
★
ROCKBANDLOUNGE.COM: INXS Lounge
★
Michael Hutchence Fan Forum
★
fortune448.com
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