INXS

INXS (pronounced "In Excess") are an Australian rock group. The band was formed on 16 August 1977, in Sydney, Australia.

History

Original Six Era

INXS began under the name The Farriss Brothers but the band changed it just prior to the release of their self-titled début album in 1980, INXS, which featured "Just Keep Walking," their first Australian hit single. It's follow-up, 1981's Underneath the Colours (produced by Richard Clapton), became a hit-album in Australia.

In 1982, Shabooh Shoobah was released successfully worldwide. The single "The One Thing" brought them their first Top-30 hit in America, while "Don't Change" became a staple in the set list of college rock bands who played the frat circuit. The album itself entered the U.S. Top-50.

With the Nick Launay produced fourth album, The Swing in 1984, the band received more significant attention from around the world, as "Original Sin" became their first #1 single and an international hit. During that year the song was #1 in Australia (for two weeks at the start of 1984) as well as in Argentina and France, #23 in Switzerland, #31 in the Netherlands and #58 in the U.S. where the single's explicitly political and anti-racism message may have contributed to low airplay. Yet, "Original Sin" (produced by Nile Rodgers) was largely ignored in the UK, where INXS didn't have any success in the charts until 1986 with the album Listen Like Thieves. In the same way, the band's charismatic singer Michael Hutchence gained attention with his MTV-ready looks. INXS, which had started out as a Funk act, gradually moved in a more straight-ahead rock-oriented direction through the first half of the 1980s.

By 1985's breakthrough album Listen Like Thieves the band had perfected a matured sound influenced by the Rolling Stones and Chic but true to the band's original roots in the Aussie pubs. Listen Like Thieves was loved by the critics. In the US the first single, "This Time" stalled at #81 in late 1985, but the band roared out of nowhere with the second, "What You Need", which in early 1986 became a Top-Five Billboard hit, bringing INXS their first breakout U.S. success.

File:Inxs-kick.jpg

CD cover to INXS's album Kick

The band's worldwide peak of popularity came with 1987's Kick, an upbeat, confident album that yielded four Top-10 US singles and several international hits ("New Sensation", "Never Tear Us Apart", "Devil Inside", etc.), including the #1 "Need You Tonight". They toured heavily behind the album throughout 1987 and 1988.

In 1989 Hutchence made an album with Max Q, which received decent reviews, but at best attained a cult status. The rest of the band also took a break to work on side projects, but soon returned to the studio to record their follow-up album titled X.

However, the band had a lot of pressure on its shoulders due to fans and critics alike having high expectations about the follow-up album to Kick. In 1990, INXS released X. It followed in the same vein as Kick, and added harmonica to some songs, but critics and fans considered it a weak follow-up. Nevertheless, X did score two hits in Suicide Blonde and "Disappear" (both Top-10 in the US), and was a Top-5 hit album internationally.

INXS performed at Wembley Stadium on July 13, 1991, during their "Summer XS" tour stop in London to a sold out audience of 72,000 fans. During this show, INXS organized a film crew to shoot their show onto video to come out simultaneously as their live album Live Baby Live (the video was also called Live Baby Live). [Note: Name is said Live (as in "to live your life") Baby Live (as in a live performance).]

1992's Welcome to Wherever You Are was an experimental album using sitars and a 60-piece orchestra while adding a much more "raw" sound to their music. It received critical reviews and went number one in the UK & Sweden and number two in Switzerland, but it flopped in the U.S. The band complained of lack of promotion by their American record label Atlantic Records, but the band did not tour in support of the album because they wanted a long break. The same year a Sega CD game named INXS: Make My Video was released in which players had to cut together their own version of INXS music videos, the game was almost universally panned for being nigh on unplayable.

1993's Full Moon, Dirty Hearts was INXS' attempt to capitalize on the grunge movement, and while it received mixed reviews, it plunged the band further into obscurity in the U.S.A, despite the track "Please (You Got That)" featuring the legendary Ray Charles and title track with The Pretenders Chrissie Hynde. The band made a full video album for the record using unknown Australian students to direct with help by Richard Lowenstein. Full Moon, Dirty Hearts was the last record under INXS' contract with Atlantic, so the label, knowing that the record wasn't selling well, in 1994 brought out the first of many Greatest hits compilations.

Hutchence, meanwhile, remained in the public eye, dabbling in modeling and film acting and dating several models and public personalities including Kylie Minogue, Helena Christensen and Paula Yates.

Throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, INXS was a major force in Australian popular music, leading the way into worldwide popularity for several Australian bands. The band worked closely with several other Australian artists, such as The Models and Jenny Morris, helping to establish their careers. By the mid-nineties, however, their popularity had waned, especially in the US, where their Greatest Hits compilation failed to reach the Top-100. (At the 1996 BRIT Awards, Michael Hutchence presented Oasis with an award, after which their characteristically arrogant guitarist Noel Gallagher remarked "Has-beens shouldn't be presenting awards to gonna-bes".)^[1] In 1997, the group released a comeback album titled Elegantly Wasted, which garnered mixed reviews. It fared respectably in Australia, Canada, France, Great Britain (where INXS had ironically more success in the 90s than in the 80s), Sweden and Switzerland, but floundered in the US.

On 22 November 1997, Hutchence was found dead in a Sydney hotel room under suspicious circumstances. The coroner who performed his autopsy ruled his death a suicide. Some speculate his death was actually an accident, the result of autoerotic asphyxiation.

Transitional years

Since Hutchence's death, INXS continued, using Terence Trent D'Arby and Jimmy Barnes as temporary lead singers. New Zealander, Celebrity Treasure Island host and former lead singer of Australian band Noiseworks, Jon Stevens began singing with INXS in 2000. INXS played as one of the headline acts at the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Stevens was officially named a member of the band in 2002. However, he left INXS in 2003 to pursue a solo career, only recording a contractual obligation song called "I Get Up", released as a single (which charted in the Top-100 on the Australian ARIAnet Singles Chart) in the same year. The song was also used in the Rugby Union World Cup 2003 and the EA Sports Rugby 2004 video game.

In 2001, INXS was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association Hall of Fame. In total, the band has received three Grammy nominations over their 30 year career.

Rock Star: INXS

INXS returned to the news in 2004 when it was announced that a new reality television program titled Rock Star: INXS would feature a contest to find a new lead vocalist for the band. The show, which had its debut on the CBS network 11 July 2005, (on VH1 in the UK and on FOX 8 in Australia), featured 15 contestants vying for the position of lead singer. The show was executive produced by Survivor's Mark Burnett and hosted by Brooke Burke and former Jane's Addiction and Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Dave Navarro.

File:Inxs-switch.jpg

Cover art for INXS's Switch album

On 20 September 2005, J.D. Fortune (born Jason Dean Bennison, but uses his mother's maiden name of Fortune) of Oakville, Ontario, Canada won the eleven-week competition, which culminated in his singing the Rolling Stones's "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and INXS' "What You Need" in the finale of the show to become the new lead singer of INXS. He has recorded the new album with producer Guy Chambers and went on a world tour with INXS in 2006. Runner-up Marty Casey was the opening act during leg one of the world tour, along with his band, The Lovehammers.

During the Rock Star: INXS competition, the contestants were challenged to write the lyrics and melody to music written by Andrew Farriss. Originally this challenge was divided up into two teams. When Fortune did not see eye-to-eye with his team (that included Casey), he decided to venture out on his own and write his own lyrics. At first Fortune's move seemed to have doomed his chances to win the competition (because it was perceived he couldn't work in a team), but it was this move that resulted in his creation of the lyrics to "Pretty Vegas". This song became a favourite of both fans and INXS and played a major role in Fortune being able to win the competition ^{[citation needed]}. This single was released 4 October 2005 and reached #5 on the iTunes Store ranking of top downloaded songs on its first day, débuted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at #37, and became a huge radio airplay hit in Fortune's native Canada.

INXS, v.2.0

On 29 November 2005, the band's first album in eight years was released, entitled Switch. It was released in the United States via Epic Records. In September of 2006, INXS would part ways with Epic Records.^[2]

After the success of the Switched On World Tour, the band is currently working on another album. JD Fortune has stated that he is writing new material on the road. One such song is called "Angel Skin" which talks about a man descending down to Hell. Other demos of songs that have been written include "Death Of An Elephant", "Lullaby", "Everybody Says Goodbye" and "Product Of The System". [2]J.D. Fortune has not confirmed whether or not the band has a new label worldwide.

In 2007 the Farriss Brothers were inducted into the West Australian Music Industry Hall of Fame.

INXS will be touring Australia in March 2007, with Simple Minds and support band Arrested Development.

Although several rumours have spread about of the possibility of the band changing its name back to "The Farriss Brothers," JD Fortune and Kirk Pengilly of INXS have reportedly stated that this is simply a rumour and the band's name will remain the same.

^[3]Fortune is currently working on a solo album “Death of a Motivational Speaker.”

Trivia

The band was formed on 16th August 1977, the day on which Elvis Presley died.
The single "Afterglow" from the album Switch was used for the television advertising/promotion in Australia for the 2006 Melbourne Cup.
The single "Kiss the Dirt (Falling Down the Mountain)" was used in the game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
The single "The One Thing" was featured in the game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories
The single "New Sensation" is on the soundtrack to the movie "40 Days and 40 Nights"
On 9 and 10 November 2006, INXS played two concerts to sold-out crowds at Mile One Centre in St John's, Newfoundland. Per capita, Newfoundland has bought more of INXS's CD Switch than anywhere else in the world ^{[citation needed]}. It is one of only two places that INXS had back-to-back tour dates on their North American tour.
The current album Switch released in November of 2005 has sold over a million world wide.
"Never Tear Us Apart" can be heard in the director's cut version of the movie "Donnie Darko" during the opening scene. .

Discography

For a complete discography, see INXS discography.

References

External links

Official sites

Database entries

Fan sites

[1] Reported at [1]

[2] ttp://www.billboard.com/bbcom/search/google/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003123856

[3] ttp://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,23663,21455851-5007184,00.html

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