#atozchallenge: INXS

A to Z Challenge 1 Minute

You might wonder why I chose as my theme "words starting with in- followed by the letter of the day." Now you know…

INXS started in Australia in 1977 as The Farriss Brothers, and the core of the band was Andrew (keyboards and main composer), Jon (drums), and Tim (guitar) Farriss. The other members were Garry Gary Beers (bass), Kirk Pengilly (guitar and saxophone), and Michael Hutchence (vocals). They had their first #1 single in Australia with "Original Sin" in 1984, and achieved international success with songs like "Suicide Blonde," "Need You Tonight," "Never Tear Us Apart," and "The Devil Inside."

Sadly, Michael Hutchence hanged himself in November 1997. The band continued to appear with guest singers like Jimmy Barnes, Terence Trent D’Arby, and Russell Hitchcock, before Jon Stevens, former singer with Australian band Noiseworks, took over. In 2005, they participated in the TV show Rock Star: INXS, a show similar to American Idol, which chose Canadian singer J. D. Fortune as the new vocalist. Fortune stayed with the band, on and off, until 2011, when Ciaran Gribbin took over on vocals. In a show at the Perth Arena in November 2012, they announced that they would no longer be touring.

Here are five of their more popular songs, for your musical enjoyment.

  1. Never Tear Us Apart
  2. Need You Tonight
  3. New Sensation
  4. Suicide Blonde
  5. Devil Inside

Do you have a favorite INXS song?

Published by John Holton

Internet disc jockey, lover of old TV (especially the commercials), inveterate wise guy.

Published

32 thoughts on “#atozchallenge: INXS”

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  3. I have their tape cassette and played it u til it broke so I got another. I need to buy the CD
    I wonder if Hutchence was trying to geta heightened sexual experience. It’s stated that people who try to hang themselves but not to die, do it for sexual pleasure. This is why David Carradine died

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    1. I met Michael Hutchence many years ago (sometime in the 70’s) and found him to be disarmingly quiet.
      My own favourite (I am not a great fan, to be honest) was always the cover of ‘The Loved One’

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  11. I know the band by name and I know I’ve listened to some of their music over the years in Blogosphere but I couldn’t tell you a single song they did, though. It was nice to hear this playlist.

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  13. Huge fan of INXS. I went to one of their concerts in October 1990 (a really small venue in Hervey Bay, Queensland, Oz) and they filmed crowd scenes for one of their videos.Great concert. Michael Hutchence knew how to entertain.

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