That is very odd. I guess Kick must be some sort of exception with Atlantic because of how successful it was?
Show Me (Cherry Baby): It's an entertaining album opener... Love the really cool atmospheric intro (which could be a song in its own right!) and then suddenly leads into the bluesy riff that gets the song underway. Overall, it's powerful statement that says 'We're Back!' and with that, my ears are welcoming back the band with glee.
"Elegantly Wasted" Single by INXS from the album Elegantly Wasted B-side "Need You Tonight" Released 10 March 1997[1] Recorded 1996 Genre Alternative rock Length 4:32 (album version) 3:53 (single edit) Label Mercury Songwriter(s) Michael Hutchence Andrew Farriss Producer(s) Bruce Fairbairn "Elegantly Wasted" is the title track and first single released from the album Elegantly Wasted by Australian band INXS, released in Europe, Japan, Australia, South Africa, Canada and the United States. The song is said to have been written after Michael Hutchence and Bono from U2 went out for a "night on the town".[2] Released as a single on 10 March 1997,[1] the song became the band's fourth and final number-one single in Canada, topping the RPM Top Singles chart for three weeks in May and June 1997. In the United States, the song did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100 due to rules in place at the time regarding commercial releases, but it did reach number 27 on the Billboard Radio Songs chart. The song also peaked at number 48 in the band's native Australia and reached the top 40 in Iceland, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom CD5 INXCD28 – Single 1 – Mercury/UK CD5 574 309-2 – Single 1 – Mercury/Australia/Europe "Elegantly Wasted" (radio edit) – 3:53 "Need You Tonight" (album version) – 3:01 "Original Sin" (Epic Adventure) – 9:38 "I'm Only Looking" (The Morales Bad Yard Mix) – 8:16 CD5 INXDD28 – Single 2 – Mercury/UK CD5 INXDD28 – Single 2 – Mercury/UK limited edition with 4 postcards CD5 574 293-2 – Single 2 – Mercury/Australia Europe limited edition with 4 postcards CD5 MAXCD046 – Polygram/South Africa "Elegantly Wasted" (radio edit) – 3:53 "Elegantly Wasted" (Shagsonic Remix) – 7:56 "Elegantly Wasted" (Shagsonic Dub) – 8:25 "Elegantly Wasted" (G-Force and Seiji Remix) – 6:36 CD5 – PHCR 8396 – Mercury/Japan "Elegantly Wasted" (radio edit) – 3:53 "Need You Tonight" (album version) – 3:01 "Original Sin" (Epic Adventure) – 9:38 "I'm Only Looking" (The Morales Bad Yard Mix) – 8:16 Cassette INXMC 28 – Mercury/Europe "Elegantly Wasted" (radio edit) – 3:53 "Need You Tonight" (album version) – 3:01 Weekly charts Chart (1997) Peak position Australia (ARIA)[5] 48 Belgium (Ultratip Flanders)[6] 7 Canada Top Singles (RPM)[7] 1 Canada Adult Contemporary (RPM)[8] 21 Canada Rock/Alternative (RPM)[9] 3 Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)[10] 100 Germany (Official German Charts)[11] 72 Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 40)[12] 7 Netherlands (Single Top 100)[13] 90 Scotland (OCC)[14] 15 Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[15] 36 UK Singles (OCC)[16] 20 US Radio Songs (Billboard)[17] 27 US Adult Alternative Songs (Billboard)[18] 2 US Adult Top 40 (Billboard)[19] 13 US Alternative Airplay (Billboard)[20] 13 US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[21] 37 US Mainstream Top 40 (Billboard)[22] 22 Year-end charts Chart (1997) Position Canada Top Singles (RPM)[23] 9 Canada Adult Contemporary (RPM)[24] 62 Canada Rock/Alternative (RPM)[25] 37 Romania (Romanian Top 100)[26] 89 ----------------------------------------------------------- I often wonder if the title of this song hampered its sales in some markets. I know in Aus in many areas there was a bit of a feeling that there isn't much elegant about being wasted, after all Cobain suicide was still in the memory, and there were more incidents than just that... I obviously don't know the national psyche, nor the international psyche, but there had been a bit of discourse about these things in the years prior to this release ..... Anyway, I don't actually recall hearing this song, before a few weeks ago when the album arrived at my place. We have a nice breezy bass line and groove, with some funky little rhythm guitar dancing along with it. [Verse 1] Look at all that shines Baby's down on the world and she knows it If your spirit's running Why don't me make it rain like we used to We run, we hide We wait and we want the good life Aw sure you're right This ain't, the good life [Chorus] Ah, Elegantly wasted Ah, Elegantly wasted [Verse 2] Look at all the crimes Baby's down on the world cause she owns it Making up her life Nothing more, nothing less makes it Voodoo We run we hide We wait and we want the good life Aw sure you're right This ain't, the good life [Chorus] Ah, Elegantly wasted Ah, Elegantly wasted [Verse 3] We look at all that shines Baby's down on the world and she knows it If your spirit's fine Why don't we make it rain like we used to We run we hide We want the good life Aw sure you're right This ain't, the good life [Chorus 2] Ah, Elegantly wasted (you could be right, you could be certain, you could be right) Ah, Elegantly wasted Ah, Elegantly wasted (you could be right, you could be certain, you could be right) Ah, Elegantly wasted (feels like, feels like) [Outro] Elegantly wasted - you could be right Elegantly wasted - you could be certain Elegantly wasted - you could be right Elegantly wasted - you could be right Elegantly wasted - you could be certain Elegantly wasted - you could be right Elegantly wasted - you could be certain Elegantly wasted - you could be right Feels right, feels right Elegantly wasted - you could be right Elegantly wasted - you could be right Elegantly wasted - you could be right Elegantly wasted - you could be certain Just like, just like Elegantly wasted - you could be right Elegantly wasted - you could be right Feels right, feels right Elegantly wasted Elegantly wasted Elegantly wasted...Elegantly wasted Songwriters: Andrew Charles Farriss / Michael Hutchence Elegantly Wasted lyrics © Music Sales Corp Interestingly the battle in the lyrics is the search for the "good life" and not really being sure exactly what that is... Which sadly seems to be a big confusion in the modern world. I really like the punch in of the chords, I think the staccato punch ins work really well, and then we burst into the chorus and it also works really well. Hutchence is delivering a really good vocal full of personality and that certain sort of sleaze factor, that he did so well, when the mood struck him. We get a nice slide guitar break ... and it is interesting the revival of slide guitar we get on a lot of this album, and it works well. There are some interesting drum fills in there too. Anyway, I actually like this as a song, and obviously the folks in Canada did as well
Shagsonic mix We open up with some hats and a few sound effects, that lean towards the drone territory. The bass and drums come in and we move into a dance mix kind of zone. The we just have the hats and bass , and the vocal comes in. We kind of end up somewhere around Nine Inch Nails and a dance mix ..... through the track we get some in and out with the backing track, and it ends up having pretty good musical dynamics.
Shagsonic dub We open with a moderately high pitched synthetic type of drone, and the hats and drums come in. We get the usual things coming in and out of the mix deal, and it does the things that dub mixes do.
Gforce and Seiji mix We get effected drums ... and essentially this seems like it is just a drum track with some atmospheric bits.
Elegantly Wasted A latter-day classic with an infectious groove and a growling, prowling lead vocal. The chorus was supposedly re-recorded late in the day with Hutchence delivering the line "I'm better than Oasis" underneath the lead vocals. The video is also fantastic. The band worked with Walter Stern who directed acclaimed videos of the time by artists such as Nine Inch Nails, Massive Attack and Prodigy.
I'm Only Looking Morales Bad Yard mix This was on some of the 12" singles. There was also the Original Sin remix we recently looked at.
Elegantly Wasted: 4/5. Instantly recognizable as INXS. Should have been bigger. The question is does Michael sing, "I'm better than Oasis" during the chorus as stated above. I secretly hope he is. Ha Good choice for a single, though I tend to skip it anymore after a minute or two. The video for it was telling. Michael was not looking his best, aged, and that black-dyed hair wasn't doing him any favors. Remember it getting a lot of MTV/VH1 airplay here in the States and in Europe. Surprisingly, the sales were awful. Sadly, the general populous were missing out on a good thing.
I'm sure the inspiration for the lyric was the famous description of Keith Richards as "the world's most elegantly wasted human being" in the '70s (forget which rock writer coined it). EDIT: Looks like it was the NME in 1974.
The bass and drums drive the title track relentlessly forward. Michael delivers a strong (if opaque) vocal here, there’s a nice little guitar solo, and the result is one of the album’s better tracks.
This was also on a couple releases in 1993-1994 and it’s a good one. I mentioned it back when we covered this song for FM, DH and it’s a bit darker and downtempo for a dance floor mix, which makes it really cool in my book. It does the song justice.
Now you’re talkin’! This is a great mix. I hear something resembling INXS-meets-Madchester here, and their best move is keeping that great bassline even though they play around with the rest of the sounds. Who named this remix? Austin Powers?
Elegantly Wasted (the song) One final entry in the “damn these guys always had a great title track” category. One reason to badmouth X - no title track! Anyways, this one comes ambling into the room with the cowbell and that bassline, and you know you are in for a treat. The blues-based distorted slide guitar solo is well done too - just what this song needed. Some people dock this a notch or two down in their rating because the chorus seems flat to them, but nah - it’s perfect. And “elegantly wasted” is a great descriptive phrase, perhaps of MH himself at this point in time. This song’s got the swagger though. 100%. Listening more closely to this album the past week I have to acknowledge the production by Bruce Fairbairn is well-done and suits the music. INXS may be paring things back a bit here and aiming for a “safer” sound, but the stellar bass playing is easily heard and there’s a well-constructed soundscape for each track. I’m sure it’s more complicated that this, but the sound of the album largely feels like a well-recorded group just playing some songs in the studio. I’m sure that’s not really the case in terms of how they recorded it, but it’s very well done. Side note: Seriously?! This song didn’t chart in the Top 100 in the US because it ...... referred to drug use or something? Just because it said “wasted” in the title? I guess they should phase done like Crosby Stills & Nash and made a double entendre with the word as in their song “Wasted On a the Way” from 1982? Of all the reasons not to let a song chart in 1997 I can’t believe it - that’s nuts.
I would assume it’s the whole catalog through ‘93. The 2002 reissues were also on Atlantic: https://www.discogs.com/INXS-X/release/1502100
They should have just released a “ special US remix” and titled it “Better Than Oasis”, in order to meet US chart requirements. Problem solved.
Amazingly, the first time (and only time) I heard “Elegantly Wasted” not on my CD player was when the video debuted on MTV. I remember because I was shocked MTV was still playing any music videos at that time! Anyway, the band, and Michael in particular, looked aged, but the band’s particular style and swagger that seemed missing from Full Moon, Dirty Hearts had returned, so I was very optimistic! Boy, did that turn out to be unfounded as apparently I was one of approximately 12 Americans to buy this album. This song deserved WAY better. It’s pretty great on it’s own, but it’s also so darn radio-friendly, I still can’t fathom how this song bombed like it did.
I actually heard it a fair amount but I suspect INXS performing at that all-day radio fest may have had something to do with it.
— U2 also were going through a rough patch that year, along with Duran. They were deemed ancient, old. The “old” bands were better than the bands in the charts could ever be...
I’m glad you said this, and I agree 100%. Specifically, I tie U2’s Pop and INXS’s Elegantly Wasted together in my mind. Not because they sound the same or anything, but because they both came out in 1997, and I was in my senior year of college and starting to feel pretty old(!) with how radio had changed through the 90’s. Bands like U2 and INXS weren’t really getting any attention anymore… I still thought they were creating great art, but the world really seemed to have moved on to VH1 grunge lite bands and boy/girl dance bands by then. Life is cruel.
1997... Hmm, I had to look and remind myself. Some great albums in 97.... But the billboard top albums is a bit wishy washy 1 spice girls 2 no doubt 3 celine Dion 4 space jam soundtrack 5 jewel 6 leann Rimes 7 wallflowers 8 notorious b.i.g. 9 tonight braxton Not really my thing for the most part