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Elegantly Wasted

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Untitled

Elegantly Wasted is the 10th studio album by the Australian rock band INXS. It was released on April 15, 1997. It is notable for being the final album recorded with lead singer Michael Hutchence who committed suicide in November 22 of that year.

See ''Bang The Drum'' EP for two songs that didn't make the final cut of the album.

Track listing

  1. "Show Me (Cherry Baby)" (4:16)
  2. "Elegantly Wasted" (4:32)
  3. "Everything" (3:13)
  4. "Don't Lose Your Head" (4:02)
  5. "Searching" (4:04)
  6. "I'm Just a Man" (4:48)
  7. "Girl on Fire" (3:55)
  8. "We Are Thrown Together" (5:36)
  9. "Shake the Tree" (4:10)
  10. "She Is Rising" (5:24)
  11. "Building Bridges" (3:57)
  12. "Shine"

Singles

  • "Elegantly Wasted" (Mar 1997)
  • "Everything" (May 1997)
  • "Don't Lose Your Head" (September 1997)
  • "Searching" (never released)

Trivia

  • The Japanese regular edition and Australian limited edition release of the album features the bonus track "Let It Ride".
  • Listen to the chorus of the song Elegantly Wasted and you hear the background vocals saying "I'm better than Oasis. The reason being was because of this: as it's written in the official INXS autobiography, INXS: Story to Story.

In 1996 at England's Brit Awards (the U.K. equivalent of the Grammys), Michael presented Oasis with Best Album, which they won for (What's the Story) Morning Glory?. When the notorious brats arrived at the podium, Noel Gallagher looked at Michael and said that a has-been shouldn't be presenting awards to "gonna-bes." Months later, in Dublin, while Andrew and Michael were visiting with their friends U2 and putting the finishing touches on the album demos, Michael met Bono one night at a pub, where Oasis singer Liam Gallagher showed up. The three front men sat down, drank freely, and as the night wore on, young master Gallagher became quite intolerable. As he's wont to do, Liam grew incomprehensible, belligerent, and very, very loud. Finally Michael had had enough. "Hey, man, why don't you shut up and sit down, you're being a fucking asshole," he said. "We're just trying to have a good time, what the fuck are you doing?". Liam garbled a threat, stood up, and got in Michael's face. And Bono got between them keeping the peace as only he could, until Liam calmed down. The next day, photos of Liam and Bono nose-to-nose appeared in tabloids everywhere and mistakenly reported that the two nearly came to blows. No punches were thrown, but the incident put an end to the night.

Michael left the pub and returned to the studio, where he ran into Andrew, who was off to bed. "He said, 'Man, don't worry, you don't need to stay, I just want to rerecord some background vocals. I don't think I did a very good job of them today,'" Andrew recalls. Michael and the engineer spent the next hour or so doing just that, adding layers to the chorus of the album's title track, "Elegantly Wasted." No one realized exactly what Michael had done until six months later in Chicago, while Andrew and Michael were doing press at a radio station.

"I've been listening to this chorus over an over-great song, by the way, guys-but I've got to ask you, are you saying 'I'm better than Oasis?' I swear I hear that on the background vocals," the DJ said. Andrew's face flushed while Michael sat in silence, smirking like the cat who swallowed the canary. Andrew stuttered the best response he could: "Well, no, the chorus, as far as I know, is 'I am elegantly wasted'. I'm not sure what you're hearing but that's what we're singing...Right, Michael?".

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