— Marc Andrews
INXS last appeared in this space just over three years ago when I was covering the 1983 crop of Singles of the Fortnight, back when there was still no indication that they were going to become one of the world's biggest rock bands. Yet their prospects were looking up in North America while in Europe they were still a long way's a way from being accepted. It seemed to take the bulk of the decade for them to become superstars but their lead vocalist certainly made the most of it when his time finally came.
Moving ahead to 1990, Michael Hutchence, the Ferris brothers, Garry 'Gary' Beers and Kirk Pengilly had reached a creative and commercial peak with the Kick album and they were now left with the problem of how to follow it. They weren't the most experimental group to begin with and Hutchence's work on the Max Q project in 1989 may have undercut the need for him and his mates to move on in their day job. By the early part of '91 people at my school began making fun of INXS because their songs all sounded the same but in a pop universe in which George Michael was becoming ever more serious, Madonna was becoming pervy and dance music was changing by the minute, for once there was something reassuring about always sounding the same.
Since appearing on the cover of Smash Hits a year earlier, Hutchence had begun dating Kylie Minogue, the same Australian pop star and pinup that the rock 'n' roll heart throb had been drooling over in the middle of his interview with Lola Borg. Their relationship is credited (or blamed) for bringing about her transformation from girl-next-door to sexKylie but Minogue took the first step in that direction when she appeared topless in the Aussie film The Delinquents. Though naturally fair haired, she nevertheless sported a wig in the movie which she would describe to her new paramour as "suicide blonde". Yes, it seems she was indeed connected to the song, Marc.
"Suicide Blonde" not only involves "Kyles" but it represents the transformation that occured in Hutchence's private life at the same time. While INXS' notoriety was already beginning to decline a bit — particularly in the US — his status as a tabloid star was on the rise. Eighties Hutch was much more mysterious: I picture him dating chic young women in Hong Kong who wouldn't have been very well known outside of Kowloon; others may imagine him gallivanting with some lovely Aussie girls. In truth, he was already seeing some celebrity starlets but these dalliances were still kept hidden from the press. By the nineties he was seen with a series of attractive women in various corners of the globe. Matters were harmless while he was seeing Minogue but he began to take a dark turn during his subsequent relationship with supermodel Helena Christensen. Meanwhile his group increasingly became a sideline to his glamourous but troubled life.
There's also a new found sense of lust in his work from this point forward. The tragi-romantic poet that he aspired to be crops up here and there in INXS' eighties' material but less emphasis was placed on it in the following decade. Future singles like "Taste It" and "The Gift" enhance the aggressive sex drive of "Suicide Blonde". Yet while carnal desires dulled Marvin Gaye's output, this new fervor worked, giving his songwriting an extra edge. It certainly helped that Hutchence was in a good space creatively in 1990. As I have stated before, Max Q opened him up. He became a stronger vocalist and he proved adept at other styles. While INXS were always a tight unit, the musicians had been slow to adapt to the singer's new approach. 1990's X album has some terrific singles but it is frequently bogged down by uncertainty and inconsistency. The band really started to respond with the excellent Welcome to Wherever You Are and the underrated Full Moon, Dirty Hearts albums. If his sex drive was harming his personal life, it didn't affect his day job.
In this way, "Suicide Blonde" captures INXS still sounding like the INXS of old with a few subtle changes, which is precisely why Marc Andrews is so taken with it. Charlie Musselwhite's harmonica solos are on the surface the kind of thing a tired old act running low on ideas might resort to but for the fact that they're sampled and edited to sound like DJ turntable scratching as played on a mouth organ. Always confident on the mic, Hutchence gives one of the finest performances of his career while his bandmates give it all the authority and power it deserves.
Just seven years separates INXS' first Smash Hits Single of the Fortnight from their second (and, presumably, last). Jump forward another seven years and Michael Hutchence was nearing the end of his life. The group released Elegantly Wasted (their final album with their original lineup) and then went on a world tour. At what would turn out to be his last live performance, Hutchence sang "Suicide Blonde" as the group's last encore of the night. The song would soon become a bittersweet reminder of his death but it now stands as one of many top singles from a gifted but complex artist who provided us Generation Xers with many happy memories. He is still very much missed.
Finally, this is the first go at evaluating the singles from fellow Australian Marc Andrews. He had graduated from the top pop mag's Antipodean edition to the big time. He is also one of several new arrivals to ver Hits who would gradually replace the old guard that I had been familiar with. Nineties Smash Hits would become a very different beast from what youngsters such as myself had been used to but at least they always had some of the best music writers in the business.
~~~~~
Also Reviewed This Fortnight
Steve Miller Band: "The Joker"
"Crosstown Traffic" was featured in a Wrangler jeans commercial and it flopped on re-release; "The Joker" was used by Levi's and it went to number one. That's justice for you. British chart nerds aren't fond of this one because it supposedly denied Deee-Lite the rightful chart topped they supposedly deserved which makes me glad that I never had a stake in choosing between a pair of charming and goofy singles. Great as "Groove Is in the Heart" is, I can't say it's better than "The Joker". Much more country than I remember it being, it unexpectedly fades as Steve Miller is in the middle of repeating earlier verses but that's just about its only blot. A great song to singalong with just as "Groove Is in the Heart" will get you on the dancefloor. They're both winners and should have shared the top spot.
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