INXS

INXS were formed from The Farriss Brothers, constituted by Andrew Farriss, Kirk Pengilly, Tim Farriss, Michael Hatchence, Jon Farriss and Garry Gary Beers. For the first two years, they had been giving minor performances at pubs to enhance their skills and form their own style based on dance and soul music. After singing a contract with the Deluxe Records, the musicians renamed their band to INXS. The same title was given to their first album, released in 1980. It contained the song Just Keep Walking to enter Top 40 in Australia. It was followed by the tour across the band’s mother country. INXS enlarged their support fast, and their second album, Underneath The Colours (1981), became one of the twenty best in the national charts. It was a sign for the musicians to grow further, and they made an agreement with Atlantic Records. The third studio work, Shabooh Shoobah (1982), was delivered to stores of Australia and far beyond.

In 1983, INXS went on their first USA tour. Their single The One Thing hit Top 30 on the Billboard, and the other one, Original Skin, recorded with slight traces of funk, became the international smashing hit. The following album, The Swing (1984), did not have much success, but preceded the release of Listen Like Thieves (1985), a much better work to change the things around. It did not leave the Australian charts for nearly two years and spawned the single What You Need to run eleventh on the Billboard. However, it was just a step to the best work by INXS to be released in 1987 under the name Kick. This album included the American charts topper, Need You Tonight, and gained the multiple platinum status. The band was very welcome at largest festivals and concerts with crowds of fans and warm support. This release was accompanied by a huge tour lasting more than a year. After it was over, the musicians took a short break and got occupied with the secondary projects. INXS faced a great difficulty releasing the following albums to be evaluated by the highest standards of Kick. Therefore, a good quality album, X (1990), featuring respectable songs Suicide Blonde, Disappear, Bitter Tears, could not be compared with its brilliant predecessor and did not receive good reviews. It did not affect the popularity of INXS, proved by their concert at Wembley gathering 72 000 fans. It was recorded as the live album Live Baby Live to enter the Top 10 in the UK.

The albums, released by INXS in the nineties, were failures. One by one, Welcome to Wherever You Are (1992), Full Moon, Dirty Hearts (1993), and Elegantly Wasted (1997) came to disappoint the audience. The band went through hard times, caused by creativity crisis, but the heaviest blow was Hatchence’s death, as a result of suicide. The musicians found strength to carry on and started looking for a new singer. 2000 through 2004, they had been changing vocalists until finally chose J.D. Fortune, the winner of the Rock Star competition. He sang for the new album Switch (2005), the first studio work in many years to finally meet the public and critical acclaim. It was followed by a successive tour, which became a beginning of the band’s new life. In 2007, INXS went to the studio to prepare another album, which saw the light in 2010 under the title Original Sin. The record pleased the listeners by the traditionally original sound and also it demonstrated some old songs from the flip side – as if the musicians reinvented New Sensation and Never Tear Us Apart. There is no doubt that Original Sin will be enjoyed not only by INXS’ fans, but also by all the connoisseurs of alternative rock.