INXS (New Wave/Rock)

(Thanks to Kaleid)

INXS (pronounced "in excess") are an Australian rock and new wave group. The band was formed on 16 August 1977, in Sydney, Australia.
INXS began under the name The Farriss Brothers, which was created at Davidson High School, New South Wales, and originally consisted of Michael Hutchence, Andrew Farriss, Garry Gary Beers, Tim Farriss, Kirk Pengilly, and Jon Farriss.

The band changed their name to INXS prior to the release of their self-titled debut album in 1980, which featured "Just Keep Walking," their first Australian hit single. Its follow-up, 1981's Underneath the Colours (produced by Richard Clapton), became a hit-album in Australia.
In 1982, Shabooh Shoobah was released successfully internationally, reaching #52 on the Billboard 200 and #46 on the Hot Pop Albums chart.

With the Nick Launay-produced fourth album, The Swing in 1984, the band received more significant attention from around the world, as "Original Sin" (produced by Nile Rodgers) became their first #1 single and a highly popular song worldwide with fans and reviewers.
During that year the song was #1 in Australia (for two weeks at the start of 1984) as well as in Argentina and France, #11 in Canada, #23 in Switzerland, #31 in the Netherlands and #58 in the U.S.

By 1985's breakthrough album Listen Like Thieves, the band had perfected a matured sound influenced by Led Zeppelin and XTC, but true to the band's original roots in the Aussie pubs. Listen Like Thieves was highly approved of by critics.

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, including "New Sensation", "Never Tear Us Apart", "Devil Inside", and the #1 "Need You Tonight". They toured heavily behind the album throughout 1987 and 1988. The video for the 1987 INXS track "Mediate" (which played after the video for "Need You Tonight") duplicated the format of Bob Dylan's video for "Subterranean Homesick Blues," even in its use of apparently deliberate errors.

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 good critical reviews and went number one in the UK & Sweden and number two in Switzerland, but had difficulty finding an audience in the U.S.

1993's Full Moon, Dirty Hearts received mixed reviews and included a track called "Please (You Got That)" which featured 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.

The band took time off to rest and be with their families. Michael Hutchence remained in the public eye through modeling and film acting. His personal life included 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.

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.

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.

Since Hutchence's death, INXS continued, using Terence Trent D'Arby, Russell Hitchcock 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.

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.

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.



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. Shortly after, in September 2006, the band and Epic parted ways.

After the success of the Switched on World Tour, the band is currently working on their new album. J. D. 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 to Hell. Other demos of songs that have been written include "Death of an Elephant", "Lullaby", "Everybody Says Goodbye" and "Product of the System".Fortune has not confirmed whether the band has a new label worldwide or not.

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

INXS toured Australia and New Zealand in March 2007, with Simple Minds and support band Arrested Development.

Fortune is currently working on a solo album “Death of a Motivational Speaker.”

In August, 2007, INXS has reported what is termed as a "medical issue" on Garry Beers' hand. This announcement came at the cancellation of an August 31, 2007 show in Cleveland, Ohio in which [INXS.com] stated "Due to ongoing medical issues with Garry Beers' hand, the band's doctor has urged the band to not play more than three shows in a row or risk permanent damage to Garry's hand."

According to the RIAA, INXS have sold 15 million units in the United States alone, becoming the 3rd highest selling Australian Music Act in the United States, behind AC/DC and The Bee Gees.

Discography

Studio albums:

1. 1980 - INXS
2. 1981 - Underneath the Colours
3. 1982 - Shabooh Shoobah
4. 1984 - The Swing
5. 1985 - Listen Like Thieves
6. 1987 - Kick
7. 1990 - X
8. 1992 - Welcome to Wherever You Are
9. 1993 - Full Moon, Dirty Hearts
10. 1997 - Elegantly Wasted
11. 2005 - Switch
(12. 2008 - TBA)


Live albums:

1. 1988 - Live USA
2. 1991 - Live Baby Live
3. 1997 - INXS: Live in Aspen - February 1997
4. 2004 - INXS: Live at Barker Hangar


Compilation albums:

1. 1982 - INXSIVE
2. 1994 - The Greatest Hits
3. 2001 - Shine Like It Does: The Anthology (1979-1997)
4. 2002 - Definitive INXS/The Best of INXS
5. 2002 - The Years 1979-1997
6. 2002 - Stay Young 1979-1982
7. 2004 - INXS˛: The Remixes
8. 2004 - Original Sin - The Collection
9. 2006 - Taste It : The Collection


EPs:

1. 1983 - Dekadance
2. 2004 - Bang the Drum