INXS

It has come to my attention that there is an American television network currently airing a show in which contestants compete to become the new lead singer of INXS. Christ almighty. Somebody shoot me.

Of course, even the most egregious examples of boob-tube poop can occasionally pay unexpected dividends. In this case, I was reminded that I had put together an 80-minute INXS compilation a couple years ago (and not bothered to listen to it since). So out of the vault it came.

Alas, as much as I'd like to say that this music of my youth has aged like fine wine, the more apt culinary comparison would be "cheap cheese." There is something undeniably dated and '80s about the band's sound, even as they dragged their tattered reputation into a new decade (ending ignominiously with 1997's double-whammy of unlistenable LP Elegantly Wasted and Michael Hutchence's suicide at age 37). Listening again after all these years, it's really no wonder that INXS - unlike their capital letter-centric brethren U2 and R.E.M. - were unable to weather the coming of grunge and neo-punk. Beyond Hutchence's legitimately "rock star" voice, there just wasn't a whole hell of a lot to build a comeback on (which makes the aforementioned lead-singer reality show all the more absurd).

All of that said, Kick remains a solid document of 1987, and I can wholeheartedly recommend another six-pack of songs (at least) from their other long-form efforts, including the absolute classic, "Don't Change."

[MP3] [left-click] "Don't Change" [from the LP Shabooh Shoobah, 1982]
[MP3] [left-click] "The One Thing" [from the LP Shabooh Shoobah, 1982]
[MP3] [left-click] "Original Sin" [from the LP The Swing, 1984]
[MP3] [left-click] "This Time" [from the LP Listen Like Thieves, 1985]
[MP3] [left-click] "Mystify" [from the LP Kick, 1987]
[MP3] [left-click] "Never Tear Us Apart" [from the LP Kick, 1987]
[MP3] [left-click] "By My Side" [from the LP X, 1990]
[MP3] [left-click] "Heaven Sent" [from the LP Welcome to Wherever You Are, 1992]