I played that one constantly for most of 1986, then pretty much forgot about it, hardly spinning it since. Yet, the last two times I dug it out (around 2009, then just a few months ago) I was stunned at how great it still sounds and how well it's aged. Just about every track is perfect.
As great as the intro is to "What You Need," do you guys remember how it was altered/remixed for the video?:
INXS and their origins The Band started out as the Farriss Brothers in 1977, In Sydney New South Wales, Australia. The Bands founding members were Bass- Garry Gary Beers Keys - Andrew Farriss Drums - John Farriss Guitar - Tim Farriss Vocals - Michael Hutchence Guitar and Sax - Kirk Pengilly Initially known for their new wave/pop styling later on the band developed a harder pub rock style, which was really essential in Australia around that time. Life in the Australian music industry required a band to tour, and unlike most countries Australia has a huge amount of land with a comparatively small population, spread very far apart from each other. The main avenue to success in Australia was tour until you collapse covering all the major cities and as many outback/country regions as you can get to. The man facility for this was the pubs and bars across the country, and the main sort of music that was wanted in these areas was pub rock, hard rock, and just generally such guitar driven music that workers could rock out to after their working day. Later on into the bands career they also developed some dance and funk style elements that merged with their natural style well, and ended up becoming hugely popular in the wider world, which again was generally the main aim of Australian bands. Due to the rather small population, most bands really needed to break through in either Europe or the US generally to be able to generate enough interest to survive. Certainly it was possible to survive in Australia alone, but that required endless pub tours (literally) and huge popularity. Initially Andrew Farriss asked Hutchence to join a band he was in called Doctor Dolphin. In the meantime Tim Farriss and Kirk Pengilly were in a a band called Guinness, which was essentially just TIm and Kirk, who had been playing together since 1971 as an acoustic duo. They ended up all coming together as the Farriss Brothers and with the line up listed above played their first gig at Whale Beach 40 miles north of Sydney August 16 1977. In 1978 The Farriss boys parents moved to Perth Western Australia (my hometown) and took Jon with them to finish his schooling. As Soon as Andrew and Hutchence finished their schooling they all went to join them. They briefly performed as a band called The Vegetables, singing "We Are The Vegetables", and ended up returning to Sydney ten months later where they recorded a set of demos. Via a chance meeting in Narrabeen on the northern beaches of Sydney, Tim was approached by Gary Morris, the manager of Midnight Oil. The band started to regularly support Midnight Oil, and at the suggestion of one of the Oils road crew changed their name to INXS, which was somewhat inspired by English band XTC and Australian Jam (jelly) makers IXL. Later on in life Pengilly says that Morris said they should make themselves a Christian band, and although they considered this they decided against. Their first gig as INXS was September First 1979 at the Ocean Beach Hotel in Umina. After passing on the Christian band image the band hired Chris Murphy as their manager and through his business abilities by early 1980 the band had signed a five album deal with Sydney independant label Deluxe Records, run by Michael Browning, A former manager of Ac/dc. The band released their first single Simple Simon/We are The Vegetables in Australia and France, May 1980. The song debuted on Australian kids tv show Simon Townsend's Wonder World, and the band moved on to Trafalgar Studios in Annandale, Sydney, co-produced by the band and Duncan Mcguire with all songs attributed to the band at the insistence of Murphy. The album was recorded with a $10,000 budget, so they recorded int between midnight and dawn, after usually doing a gig prior. So the band moved fairly quickly from obscure to Aussie music makers, and the momentum just grew and grew over the next several years. If any of you guys have any additional information please share it with us, so we can all learn how all this came together. Tomorrow we'll look at the band's debut album, and then start going through the tracks one at a time, and we will be on our way. Just for fun here is INXS on Simon Townsend's Wonder World
It is really interesting to me looking back at this. I was 11 turning 12 in 1980, and I would have certainly seen this, as I did used to watch this show.... in fact I vaguely remember it.... I honestly don't remember what I thought about it though. I probably thought it was fun. It is an interesting song, with the rapid fire vocals, and the sort of sped up ska type feel of the track. Looking back, I wonder if they were trying to get the goofy Mental As Anything thing going on, with the video seeming to be quite quirky and fun.
One of my all time favorite bands! If you haven't already, please listen to X. It was called the son of Kick by the band if I remember correctly. Awesome album front to back. Disappear, The Stairs (my fave on this album), and By My Side are solid tracks. I suggest you watch Live Baby Live! As they play a good portion of the X album, at Wembley Stadium in 1991. It's an awesome concert.
I am familiar with X particularly the singles, and Live Baby Live has been in the collection for a long time.... I recently updated to the bluray I'm looking forward to exploring all the albums I am less familiar with.
I love this version too! It works brilliantly with the visuals. That video blew my mind: the cut-up images, stop-motion dancing, hand-coloring on the film, the shot of the whole band playing the chorus on guitars...
I had Kick and Thieves on tape back in the day. Always liked the their singles though. Strong songwriting, infectious melodies. They did, I always felt, need a really great lead guitar player. Kind of faceless outside of Hutchence but that’s ok he had charisma to spare.
That sounds absolutely grueling. I take all the big Australian acts paid their dues early on by touring this way?
"Beautiful Girl" is one of my favorite singles of the 1990's. It always take me back to the Spring of '93...
Up until at least the nineties. It was the only way to do it. Aside obviously from the pop music world, where things are slightly different.. but even then, probably pre 85, perhaps 82, pop bands and singers did the same routine. All to the best of my knowledge obviously
Since we're at the beginnings, anyone catch the biopic mini-series Never Tear Us Apart from a few years back?
I'm kinda curious how people outside AUS got hooked on the band. I'm sure I heard their songs earlier but it wasn't till their appearance on the Lost Boys Soundtrack that I really started paying attention. Couple that soon after with the sucker punch that was the Need You Tonight->Mediate music video and I feel their popularity almost exploded overnight in the US. It's hard to understate just how influential that music video was to the bands career in the states...
I'm in the US and I recall seeing The One Thing video on MTV once or twice in early '84, well after it's release. Strangely, I don't recall anything else from Shabooh Shoobah or The Swing getting much screen time back then and surely not on radio in the mid-west where I lived. It didn't really catch my eyes and ears at the time and 1984 was an explosive year for music and music video, so it was easy for INXS to get buried in all of that. It wasn't until late '85 when I saw the premiere for the video of This Time that I perked up. I was mesmerized by the light show in the video and the song was captivating. Right then and there, I was hooked. Surprisingly, that track was released ahead of What You Need in the US, so I'd already purchased the album and fully aware of the absolute awesome opening track that later became the second single from Thieves in the US. And What You Need just totally blew up...it was a massive hit single back then.
Seldom has a band with so very little depth made it so big. Not to dump on them, it was just always fascinated me.
In Canada “Original Sin” was a pretty big song — but actually the first I was aware of the band was seeing the video for “I Send a Message.”
"The One Thing" got heavy, HEAVY rotation on MTV/radio in America in 1983 and that's what put them on my radar. "Original Sin" got some moderate airplay and then they really blew up with "What You Need" in 1985. By the time Kick was released afterward, they were known everywhere.
I almost never play the self-titled debut so this thread is a good excuse to pull it off the shelf. Unfortunately my copy is the Don Bartley remaster....
Interestingly, the thing that turned me into an Inxs fan was a concert, or part of a concert televised from the US on the Shabooh Shoobah tour. I have been wanting them to release that for decades now. I knew and liked the singles I had heard, but that concert was what made me go and buy an album.
