When and where did I hear the debut and the first two singles? Way back in 2001 for We are the Vegetables and Simple Simon, which was on the Shine Like Does anthology set and 2002 for the debut, which was from the Stay Young collection, as mentioned above. It was an ear opening experience to hear that era for the first time. I love the punky new wave stylings and yet, the band that I would come to know, has similarity on the debut. Granted, I don't give the first two albums much love in my rotation, save for 'Simple Simon' and 'Just Keep Walking'. None of the less, it's a fine a debut from the band.
On A Bus Interestingly the opening song on the album breaks the rules of pop from the day. The vocals come in at 30 seconds, and there was a big push at the time to get to the chorus in the first 30 seconds. The intro is a bright chirpy piece of music and we get a nice overview of some of the bands strengths. The drums open us up, and Jon Farriss was a very important part of the Inxs sound. Although his drums perhaps may not be the most technical of the drummers of the day, he was a big part of what made this band who they were. These drums are really very straight forward, but we will see a lot of development over the next few years. I think over the course of the thread we will also see the importance of Gary Beers, and again I think his bass playing was really solid for the band, even inventive and interesting. The opening chordal statement is unusual, because it is somewhat old fashioned sounding, even though it has the new keyboard technology of the day. Then we get TIm Farriss, who may not be, again, the most technical player, but he played some extremely important guitar lines, that essentially defined another section of the bands style. I think they are one of those bands, where each component is terribly important to the whole. Liquor market Lots of flats Another 24-hour chemist Self-serve gas I said all these things Serve me well I said all these things Serve me well It's hypnotizing It sends me to sleep No one talks to anyone else It's frightening Everybody's minds are blank Hypnotizing I'm always using you When I'm out of cash I stare through this window On a bus moving fast Source: LyricFind Songwriters: Andrew Charles Farriss / Garry William Beers / Jon Farriss / Kirk Pengilly / Michael Hutchence / Timothy William Farriss On a Bus lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group This is a pretty interesting lyric really. We have an observation of the way the urban world works. We have the things we need, and we are somewhat hypnotised by the whole scene, but it is essentially an exercise in futility and not really all that interesting.... it sends me to sleep. I reckon this is an excellent opening to the album. It is sort of poppy enough to set the bar, it incorporates some interesting things, it sets up all the members of the band, and their role in it. More importantly, I think it is a catchy and pretty interesting song. A solid opener.
Simple Simon Andrew: I penned the lyrics to that piece of lunacy, our first single. I like to think we improved lyrically after that. Jon: This song is out of its mind! But there was something unique about it and out of all the songs we had written at the time, this was the one we chose for our first single. Tim: Andrew's keyboard sounds so funny, it's like XTC meets Madness! On A Bus Andrew: In those days we couldn't afford a car, so our only means of transport was to travel on a bus or a train. At that time Michael used to live in Collaroy on the northern beaches of Sydney with Kirk and he would tell me about his experiences with catching a bus into the city - the people he'd meet. So that's what he wrote about. The strange thing was that later we seriously began touring America on a bus, doing years of that. It occurred to me that he must have had this psychic ability. Maybe he should have saved that lyric up for then. Jon: I used to love playing this song live. I liked the melody.
On A Bus really sets the stage for what's to come, probably more than any other opening track from any other INXS album. It drives you right to the chorus and the eventual finish line without even necessarily knowing you've arrived. Even the raking of the guitar strings in parts of the verses is kinda cool. Stylistically speaking, this song is somewhat hard rock without actually being hard rock. I dig it a lot...
Doctor We're all running fast tonight Rocket shoes on our feet There's a planet where it's right I'm sure we'll get there by next week I could've been a doctor I could've been a lawyer I could've been a scientist I could've been normal Especially in the daylight You say don't worry while in flight The darkness is like a fog I won't get scared I won't get tired I've been in space so damn long The Earth is just a big blue dot I can't see the cars and planes There's a planet where it's right I'm sure we'll get there by next week Source: LyricFind Songwriters: Andrew Charles Farriss / Garry William Beers / Jon Farriss / Kirk Pengilly / Michael Hutchence / Timothy William Farriss Doctor lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group Back in the day I loved Madness. I didn't hear a lot of the other Two Tone/ English ska stuff, but I was a big fan of the Clash. The influence of reggae on the mainstream music community was pretty huge, and during the eighties there were some wonderful and terrible attempts at ska and reggae influences rock music. For me Inxs here, really do a very good job of marrying rock with ska, and creating a nice little side step. The opening riff here is really pretty cool, and the way we move into the longer more flowing sax line works really well for me. I like the somewhat aggressive verse section, and the way we drop into the ska beat is very smooth and works well for me. I like the way the bass follows the melody line, and I think all these little bits and pieces in the arrangement work very well. We also get some nice little percussive accents that add colour to the arrangement. Lyrically we are looking at a young person running with the night, and not being the standard work a day johnny. A very popular theme in music. I guess these lyrics aren't "change the world" lyrics, but they work very well in context with the song.
Doctor Andrew: I read a quote from a young band recently: 'the entertainment industry is so bizarre and devoid of day-to-day reality in most people's lives that the two have literally nothing in common at all.' I think that's sort of what I was thinking when I wrote this. Being in a band and touring constantly, sometimes I'd stop and think about what else I could be doing, you know. That's where part of the lyric comes from, 'could have been a doctor, could have been a normal, especially in the daylight.' That's certainly what the whole thing was about. And Kirk's sax on Doctor was a very important part. Kirk: That saxophone was a real cheap little old French one, and that's the one in the Hard Rock Cafe here in Sydney. After the album I went and bought a real one.
Doctor contains too much ska influence and is a little too derivative to be thoroughly enjoyable but I like it. The short outro appears to be a clever segue into Just Keep Walking...
Just Keep Walking. This song was probably the first real shot fired in the Inxs hits department. It reached number 38 on the Aussie charts, and grabbed a fair bit of attention. I honestly don't recall if I heard it at the time, but I likely did. The thing is, in Australia at least, it became a fairly consistent radio staple on many stations, even when the band were in their peak period. Green fields Grass and earth Broken bottles Bricks and dirt Sunshine soothing Clouds are hazy Dark street corners Feeling lazy Fast car driving Sleek and modern Public transit Photos waiting Blood and glass Three points of rain Carpet lining Seats reclining Clever words on smooth tongue talking Shove it brother Just keep walking City penthouse The kitchen living A country home It's a kitch living Money can buy almost anything But anything's nothing when you're dead Source: LyricFind Songwriters: Andrew Charles Farriss / Garry William Beers / Jon Farriss / Kirk Pengilly / Michael Hutchence / Timothy William Farriss Just Keep Walking lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group This is an interesting lyric, and could well be about the idea of living life to the full while you're alive. There are a couple of lines that insinuate that there is some reference to someone who has died, or perhaps it is just using the idea of someone dying to accentuate the idea of Just Keep Walking in the life you have. We open with a fairly understated instrumental section, that doesn't really prepare you for what is to come. There is a cool little rhythm guitar with a nice little melody guitar on top of that, and then we break into the opening verse which is mainly set upon the somewhat dreamy wandering keyboard line. The guitar just chunks a rhythm out underneath, and Hutchence lays down a beautifully measured vocal. The break into the chorus, or pre-chorus, not sure which it classifies as (fast cars driving), is quite brilliant really. We just burst into a now guitar driven section. the rhythmic delivery of the vocal changes up beautifully and each line is punctuated at the end by the guitar.... it is a simple usage of the rhythm guitar, but extremely effective, and it changes the whole feel of the song. Still to this day though, the ultimate hook for me in this song is the "clever words on smooth tongues talking" section. Delivered in a rapid fire almost tongue twister styling, it just grabs the attention and brings the chorus to an excellent crescendo. This chorus is followed by the beat representing a slow march of sorts, and we get a sort of ominous musical line come into play, that again suggests somewhat that there is more to the lyric here than just a few words scribbled down to make a song. The musical interlude has the guitar and the keys playing a sort of heavy melodic harmony, that again changes up the feel a fair bit, but yet it still fits together really well. At the end of the second verse we get another break down, with a really nice rhythmic drumming section and some interplay between the keys and guitar, that works like, but is completely different from a lead break of sorts. This track is still among my favourite Inxs tracks, and I think although it would be easy to dismiss the song, as just a pretty good early single, I think it is one of the defining Inxs songs, and it captures some quirks of the band that really help define who they are and what it is they're trying to do. Sure we can suggest influences that were on this album, but at the very least, on this song, I think they manage to shine through the influences and present themselves, rather than their version of their inspirations. Anyway, please give us your thoughts on this track please. cheers Mark
On A Bus Country boy visits big city and drops jaw; which effect this track doesn't have as an album opener. Doctor Most peculiar track title, surely something with Planet would've been a more logical choice. Ska is nicely used for this track and helps to create a catchy chorus. I also like the sax, which almost gets overrun by the less impressive synths. Just Keep Walking Great new wavy track that displays the band's (hit) potential. My brain does tell me the drummer's struggling a bit during the verses to keep it steady.
Great minds think alike! For me, Just Keep Walking is a gem of a song and the first INXS song that I really enjoyed. I can't even place when I would've first heard it. I also love WTWYA. Great album but we'll get to that. I love this song and agree with your second last paragraph above. A brilliant early single that probably should've been bigger in Australia than it was given it's exposure on Countdown and Australia's embrace of the post punk/new wave sound.
Angry young men railing against the establishment. Excellent single and a big step up from the first two. Also while it charted at 38 nationally it probably made the top 20 in Sydney
Frankly I had anticipated vivid Aussie member participation on this thread. Can somebody sound the alarm ?
I'm hoping that at the moment some folks just aren't too enamored with the debut album, and will get on board as we move along. The debut is, to me at least, and excellent debut, and worth a revisit. It is new to me, and I am really liking it.
I'm old enough to remember a very early live TV appearance on local TV in Adelaide, South Australia, where the presenter pronounced the band name phonetically - Inkses.
Very few, even hardcore fans, care much about the early material. I think I like the b-side Scratch more than Just Keep Walking.
Just Keep Walking Gary: It's probably the weirdest chorus lyrically ever in the history of music, almost like scat singing, stream of consciousness. Kirk: That song became our biggest pub rock anthem. Audiences loved 'Shove it brother, just keep walking.' Andrew: In the pub environment we were playing in, everyone was shaking fists in the air. You know, drinking, smoking or whatever. But also probably because of the work we were doing there was always that underlying threat of violence, that combination of alcohol, young people... Tim: Disputes over girlfriends... Andrew:...all intoxicated, and I think that aggro thing if you're exposed to it you're going to write about it. It's all very well just to sit around and think about it...but that was the atmosphere we were in.
Just Keep Walking is clear and by far the best track from INXS' debut album and was obviously a hit, albeit, a minor one. If every song on the album was this good and had extremely hooky choruses/guitar riffs, then the album would've been more successful commercially. It also has one of the best middle sections of any song I've ever heard, changing the direction & tempo of the track completely. And then I love how seamlessly the song segues back into the verses after. And for the first time, the lyrics were excellent - very thought-provoking. You can tell they were on their way but still needed more development overall...
Learn To Smile We open with a solid chunk rhythm guitar and then a very 1980 synth melody comes in, and I think it sounds excellent personally. Slow and easy is a dimension Gonna laugh it up Laugh it up They say you make no fool of you And it's new for you to gaze Up and down inside your yourself Inside yourself It's good in here It's pretty far out Yes we're all just learning how to smile We're looking out to you We're looking out to you Show your love Bite me now Put a hand in and take it out You can try to make me mad Or change my mind Be careful So you want me there now So you want me there now Barely moving I stagger Some interpretation There's a buzzing in the station Spinning station unravel me Cross platforms with rehearsed travel Rehearsed travel Source: LyricFind Songwriters: Andrew Charles Farriss / Garry William Beers / Jon Farriss / Kirk Pengilly / Michael Hutchence / Timothy William Farriss Learning to Smile lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group Hutchence really delivers this vocal well. He has a quite unique way of singing to my ears, and I think this song is a good example of that. This is an interesting lyric, and to some degree it seems more like the words are more about the way they sound that what they particularly say. Often we get caught up in the idea that a lyric must be some poignant social or political observation, but some of the greatest songs of all time don't fall into that category.... I am not saying this is one of the greatest songs of all time. So often it isn't so much what the words are, but how they are sung, and I think here Hutchence manages to sing this lyric with conviction that in and of itself is enough to sell the song. Also I think that the idea of learning how to smile kind of gives this song a pretty solid meaning anyway. I can't speak for anyone else, but I know during my life I have had to learn how to smile in the face of adversity, in the face of social battles, in the face of a world completely out of our control.... so for all the things about the lyric that are a little cryptic, it still carries something worthwhile. I don't know, maybe that's all crap, but they are the thoughts in the head this morning. We move from a smooth verse and into a staccato chorus that has a tiny touch of a ska feel in it, but not enough to make it a ska track at all, and this somewhat staccato, somewhat disjointed rhythmic approach became something that the band refined and used to define their sound for a lot of their career. The song has a few changes in feel, without actually losing its flow. Also interestingly we get a somewhat extended keyboard lead break from Andrew Farriss and I think that it is very good also. The last chorus is a sort of inversion of the chorus and takes a different melodic line, and again I think it is very effective in its writing, arrangement and delivery. Not the greatest song in the Inxs catalog, but a solid song, that, to me at least is very worth investing a few listens into.
Countdown was pretty much THE Aussie music show in the seventies and eighties, and yes I used to watch it every Sunday .... I know we have gone passed the song, but here is the band with Just Keep Walking on Countdown in 1980. To some degree I guess Countdown was an Aussie variation to England's Top Of The Pops.
Learn To Smile Strange amalgamation of musical styles and even Hutchence at times sounds a bit like a mixture of Joe Jackson and Bon, Simon le Bon. It's an interesting track in the development of the band, not an essential one probably.
What I find interesting about the album is the song-writing credits, where the band is listed for writing all the songs. There are hints in each of these of what would become, though they dropped the ska, which is a big plus. No need for that as other bands were doing it better. Learn To Smile truly shows the way to The Swing, which is their new wave period. All the songs above show tightness. When I saw them live in 85, it was in true form. They could play together like no other band. I was inspired.
Countdown was must see TV for every teen in Australia. I have a feeling some UK acts were on Countdown more than Top Of The Pops. Rod and Elton for starters
I missed the start of this thread so I hope you don’t mind me putting my ten cents worth in here Mark. I'm looking forward to following this thread as it develops. As I’ve been catching up I have been listening to my copy of Shine Like It Does. I recall becoming aware of INXS around the time of KICK, unsurprisingly. That album was just everywhere at the time it came out, which we will no doubt go into detail about later on. The other thing I wanted to mention is that the Nineties were a great time to be a music lover in South Africa. Post-Apartheid, bands loved coming here, almost all for the first time and most only ever that one time. INXS came here in 1997. I saw them here in Johannesburg on the 4th of June. I still have clear memories of that concert and, of course, what happened a few months later. INXS live was one of the best bands I ever saw live, to this day. The band were incredible but Hutchence was just otherworldly. And it seemed he gave 110% on that stage. I vividly remember them playing Need You tonight, at the end of which Michael collapsed onto the floor, lying on his back, breathing heavily into his mike. The band went into (of course) Mediate and he sang it like that, lying on his back, on the stage. Goosebumps and incredible memories. Incredible.
