INXS is, to my knowledge, the biggest pop-rock band to come out of Australia in the ’80s. Most of their songs were about fun and girls and wanting to be with girls and why girls should be with them to have fun. There was the occasional nod at social relevance and introspection, but the previous summary describes a big chunk of their output. Back in the fall of 1987 INXS looked like they were having more fun than anyone else and I listened to their peppy, poppy, party songs for like a month straight… and quite a bit afterwards. I can’t say they’re a guilty pleasure. Not so much because I think their music is exceptionally witty or poignant. Mostly, I can’t call them a guilty pleasure because I’m not even slightly repentant. Even if I was, I listened to INXS way too much in high school to try to back off now. For anyone who doesn’t already know, the band’s name is pronounced IN-EX-ESS. That was just a jumble of consonants to me for a year or so until I was taking notes in high school chemistry. I had to abbreviate ‘in excess’ and came up with inxs and thought ‘So that’s what it means.’ True story.
What drew me in to INXS when ‘Need You Tonight’ and ‘Devil Inside’ were running wild on the pop charts was… ‘desire’ isn’t quite the right word. I’m going to go with ‘Wanna’ said with a lurid tone.* Michael Hutchence clearly had access to a passionate, slightly forbidden, FUN world and he sang like he believed he could take you there. When I heard him sing about these places I thought, “I Wanna go there.” I’m told that INXS were a sexy band and that the lead singer, Michael Hutchence, dripped charisma and sex appeal everywhere he went. My response to that? “If you say so.” I won’t deny that a lot of the appeal was the personality they projected. In fact, that’s what sold me! It’s just that the personality they projected to me was a bunch of goofy guys who were having fun. The first time INXS really captured my attention was when I watched the video for ‘Need You Tonight/ Mediate.’ The ‘Need You Tonight’ part was a grainy, stylized, mostly black and white video. There was a definite effort to make Michael Hutchence seem cool and disaffected. The rest of the band was either not as good at being cool as Michael, or were deliberately trying to seem goofy. I suspect the second. Watch the video and you’ll see what I mean. I think the ‘Mediate’ portion of the video, practically a direct copy of Dylan’s Subterranean Homesick Blues,with deliberate errors, reinforces my belief. And why wouldn’t that appeal to me? A bunch of guys who don’t seem to be good at being cool but aren’t insecure about it? Of course that’s going to speak to me.
Having just said that I was more a fan of the musicians than the singer, make no mistake – Michael Hutchence was the anchor for INXS. The music backed him up, but he wrote the lyrics and sold them to whoever was listening. Andrew Farriss wrote the tunes and the rest of the band did a bang up job playing them, but solid music doesn’t send a band rocketing up the pop charts. That is the job of the Front Man. Or Front Woman. I don’t want to dismiss the Aretha Franklin’s, Madonna’s or Taylor Swift’s of the world. A front person is more than a singer. They are also a force of personality that compels whoever is listening to come along for whatever ride they’re offering. Every member of INXS was necessary for what the band became, but Michael was necessary for them to be the sensation that they were.
I may have sounded dismissive of INXS’ abilities in my opening paragraph, but I do think they are a solid band. To my ear, the songs are well constructed and enthusiastically executed. Another point in their favor? Musical variety. They had the standard guitar/ drums/ bass with Tim Farriss, Jon Farriss, and Garry Gary Beers. They also had Andrew Farriss on keyboard and Kirk Pengilly on saxophone. I think having four other musicians let INXS take advantage of the versatility of an electric keyboard without getting bogged down in many of the synth-pop cliches of the ’80s (not that they escaped them entirely.) However, it’s their enthusiasm more than anything else that turned me into the fan I was and still am. When they sing about missing their girl, having fun, or the cold war arms race, I believe them. I get swept up in their excitement or pathos.
Part of the criteria for earning a position on my top 20 musical performers list is longevity. Do I still have attachment to the band? The answer is yes, of course, but not in the same way as the other bands I’ve listed. INXS is the first band I’ve mentioned where my changing tastes are reflected in the songs I listen to. By that I mean I listen to the same Men Without Hats and Hall & Oates songs I listened to way back when. I have always loved almost everything that “Weird” Al and Tom Lehrer have written so I haven’t changed much there. In comparison, INXS’ albums The Swing and Kick were my favorites when I was in high school. Now, The Swing seems kind of dull and Kick sounds a little insincere. I’m much more likely to listen to their eponymous first album, Shabooh Shoobah, or Listen Like Thieves. I didn’t have much use for the music they put out in the ’90s at the time but it’s starting to grow on me now. I like to think this speaks to the versatility of the band and an ability to be relevant to many audiences. God, that sounds pretentious, but I’m sticking with it.
The story of INXS, unfortunately, ends in November of 1997 when Michael Hutchence was found dead in his hotel room. Why didn’t the band carry on without him? I don’t know. Possibly for the same reason that Michael Hutchence didn’t have that many outside projects – they needed each other. When Michael went off to make another album during the height of INXS’ fame in the late ’80s, he came out with Max Q. It’s not a bad album, certainly, but his singing never seemed to be a part of the music as much as it was when he sang with INXS. On the other end, the band did try to replace Michael Hutchence a decade or so later when they appeared on a season of Rockstar, appropriately titled Rockstar INXS. It was a prolonged game show and the prize for the winner was becoming INXS’ new lead singer. I watched some clips on line. None of the contestants did it for me either. They were trying to replace a Front Man with a singer and the results were lacking. Mike needed the music of the rest of the band, and they needed the lyrics and (more importantly) his delivery.
Now that I (finally!) am ready to finish this essay it’s time to discuss My Favorite Song Today. Most of their hit songs fall into the ‘Girl, I want to be with you,’ category which, I’ll be honest, doesn’t really resonate with me. No, to find the song that really jumps to mind one has to go through their hand-full of songs about something not related to girls. Maybe this collection of Aussie rockers put together a song that reflects an appreciation of the varied cultures of beliefs of the world while simultaneously expressing an ambivalence of contemporary values? If you’re looking for a song that fits that description then you, like me, have very specific tastes, and you’re in luck. INXS’ 1982 album Shabooh Shoobah has a song titled ‘Old World New World.’ The lyric that really does it for me is “Old world, new world/ I know nothing but I keep listening.” Furthermore it concludes with a listing of many different faiths, “Pan/ Shambala/ Judism/ Hindu/…” etc. To me that expresses a feeling that there isn’t necessarily a correct spiritual answer, but there is much to be learned and the singer is eager to do so. Similarly, I haven’t come across any one set of beliefs that will answer all of my questions and seriously doubt that I ever will. However, I believe I can get help to answer at least some of the questions I have if I pay attention to the world around me. The song reminds me that I’m not alone in my wanderings. It’s something I can identify with, just like the goofy guys that never convinced me they were cool but still looked like someone I wanted to spend time with.
*George Carlin talked about ‘Wanna.’ Part of a sin, according to Catholic dogma when George was growing up, was intent. It wasn’t enough to just commit the sin. You had to Wanna commit the sin. In fact Wanna was a sin in itself.
Thoughts Of A Younkin 