KICK by INXS (1987, Phonogram)

I was never a fan of INXS. Being a kid growing up in the ‘90s they seemed like one of the embarrassing out-of-date ‘80s rock bands that just were not cool. A poor man’s U2 with a singer desperate to be Jim Morrison. My feelings towards them were typified by something Noel Gallagher said to Michael Hutchence when Oasis were presented with an award at the 1996 Brit Awards. Gallagher rather ungraciously, received his Best Video award for ‘Wonderwall’ by saying “has-beens shouldn’t be presenting awards to gonna-bes”.

But I owe a big thanks to my pal Oli who suggested that I go back and check this album out. He said it was good. But seriously, it’s so good. KICK contains five fantastic stadium rock singles; the slinky ‘Need You Tonight’, ‘Devil Inside’, ‘New Sensation’, ‘Mystify’ and the huge ballad ‘Never Tear Us Apart’, the latter being one of the two songs played at Hutchence’s funeral. The other being the heartbreaking ‘Into Your Arms’ by his friend Nick Cave.

Amazingly given the huge success of the album - over 6million in the US alone - Atlantic Records hated the record when they first heard it. According to INXS’s manager Chris Murphy: “They hated it, absolutely hated it. They said there was no way they could get this music on rock radio. They said it was suited for black radio, but they didn't want to promote it that way. The president of the label told me that he'd give us $1 million to go back to Australia and make another album”.

It seems incredible. This is a pretty perfect collection of pop rock ‘n’ roll with at least five flawless singles and should be part of every collection. If you wanted an INXS greatest hits, you may as well buy this. It’s all their best songs are on one record.

One thing I’d also discovered as part of this review is that U2’s beautiful ‘Stuck In A Moment You Can’t get Out Of’ was actually written by Bono about a fictional conversation he would’ve had with his friend Hutchence, as an intervention, to talk him out of his (alleged) suicide. I’ve always thought the lyrics were some of Bono’s best, but if you go back and read them now with that knowledge in mind, they seem especially poignant.
All the talk about Hutchence’s relationships and tragic death have overshadowed what a great rock front man he was. Give KICK a listen and remind yourself.

‘NEED YOU TONIGHT’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-rv2BQa2OU

‘NEVER TEAR US APART’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vr-I5xX_BFk

‘MYSTIFY’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMi5KU0UjYE