Tuesday, April 10, 2012

I is for INXS

Let's face it possums, as Dame Edna might say, we all want to visit Australia. But has anything cool ever come out of the place?



Although cities like Sydney may be cosmopolitan, it seems to be an exception to the rule. The stereotypical view of Australia involves red earth, flies, spiders that attack you from the toilets in the outback and Crocodile Dundee types who don't take kindly to Sheilas in their bars.

INXS were clearly an exception to the rule, although they started off life with the less than cool name the Farriss Brothers.

A name change and the lead singer Michael Hutchence changed all of that. "Hutchence was the archetypal rock showman. He exuded an overtly sexual, macho cool with his flowing locks, and lithe and exuberant stage movements," commented rock music historian Ian McFarlane.



When he dated Kylie Minogue it was the nearest Australia had to a celeb couple. He also dated the model Helena Christensen.

Hits included Need You Tonight, Never Tear Us Apart, Disappear and Suicide Blonde.

The band, or at least the volatile Hutchence - was undone by a suicide blonde. Paula Yates, the infamous British TV presenter and rock chick first met him on her sofa on Channel 4's rock magazine program The Tube in 1985.

Being married to Bob Geldof didn't stop Paula stalking Hutchence with a vengeance for a decade until she finally got her man.

Geldof and Paula already had three kids - Fifi Trixibelle, Peaches Honeyblossom and Little Pixie. Paula and Hutchence felt they had to have their own daughter with a silly name and Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence (known as 'Tiger') was born in July 1996.

There was no happy ending. Apparently, missing his child Hutchence committed suicide in 2007. Yates bitterly contested the verdict, arguing Hutchence was seeking sexual gratificaiton by hanging himself with a belt in his hotel room - perhaps the first time in history somebody has tried to argue auto erotic strangulation as a more preferable way to go.



It seems that rather a lot of the artists featured in this A-Z challenge have met premature ends. Inevitably Yates later died of a drug overdose.

Curious fact about INXS - The name INXS was inspired by the English band XTC and Australian jam makers IXL. Which is only slightly less glamorous than being named after a fish canning company. See A is for ABBA.









13 comments:

  1. We must be on the same wavelength today b/c i posted Suicide Blonde to my Facebook, while I was putting it on a mix tape (yes that's right I said TAPE! I still make them!! lol).

    ReplyDelete
  2. I like your A-Z bands theme! And I like INXS, too. Sad story, though.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Like I've said before Michael Hutchence reminded me of a milder version of Jim Sex-On-Legs Morrison.

    HAWT!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. It's unfortunate that for so many, being successful in the music world and having a life that ends in tragedy seem to go hand in hand.

    ReplyDelete
  5. *Sigh* I was in love with Hutchence. If only he had met me first... ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. You mean to tell me all those times I danced to Need You Tonight, I was grooving to INXS? I know, my music knowledge is practically nonexistent. That's why I'm really appreciating your A-Z series.

    xoRobyn

    ReplyDelete
  7. Love INXS! Your blog theme this month is awesome David. You're one of my kind ;)

    ReplyDelete
  8. They were a good group. Such a shame how things ended for Hutchence. How many great musicians have we lost before their time?

    Great post. Thanks for sharing.

    Good luck with the rest of the challenge.

    ReplyDelete
  9. INXS! I can still remember the first time I heard Suicide Blonde. I had to pull my car over and LISTEN. But I'm a nerd to the nth degree and sometimes music makes me lose my mind.

    Michael Hutchence always reminded me of Jim Morrison. The stage sexuality I mean. And maybe the hair. That last part was me trying to be funny. Apologies.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ha,ha Jo Jo - you must be almost as old as me! Thanks for the visit Jenny. Oh yeah Jim, Scots Lass. He did got to pot a bit, tho

    ReplyDelete
  11. There does seem to be a bit of a link Daisy. I think that's where he went wrong Li.

    ReplyDelete
  12. lol Robyn - hope I can provide a quick musical overview although I am desperately out of touch with modern stuff. Ditto Tracy. Thanks David and thanks for visiting

    ReplyDelete
  13. ha - that is funny Debrorah - Michael seemed a bit unstable tho, after a head injury when he was knocked off his bike he tried to beat up lots of people - as ya do

    ReplyDelete

On Blog PTSD

Now then. What the heck. It seems I had forgotten about my blog completely rather than just neglecting it this time. To return after so long...