Top 10 INXS Songs

Another Band that I cannot believe I’ve never done a Top 10 for. They’ve been a favorite of mine since 1982 when I bought a copy of Shabooh Shoobah at Licorice Pizza. I’d never heard of them until a friend at school told me about them. We were sitting on the sidelines during 8th grade P.E., our favorite place during that period since both of us was terrible at sports. Music was our sport really, the one we were great at. We sat there talking about Music and Bands we liked. She’d told me about KROQ, and I’d told her about Tower Records on Sunset Blvd. I’d been lucky enough to have gone a few times with my Mom and her friends.

My friends in High School were Music Obsessives like I was. We were the Music Girls and we spent lunch flipping through Music magazines, talking about Songs we’d taped off of KROQ, and Videos we’d seen on MTV. We all had our favorites, but there was a lot of crossover between us. Our big combined Music love went to Duran Duran, Adam Ant, Billy Idol, Spandau Ballet, Depeche Mode, and INXS.

1984’s The Swing was everything to me. This and 1985’s Listen Like Thieves will always be my Favorite INXS Albums. I knew every Lyric to every Song on both Albums and had quite the growing crush on Michael Hutchence. Honestly, all us Music Girls did.

A few years later my best friend at the time and I would find the Movie Dogs In Space with Michael Hutchence. The Video Store around the corner from my house, Video Sky, had a copy and pretty much every Saturday we’d rent it along with Sid and Nancy and Modern Girls.

The Summer after Kick came out my friends and I finally got to see INXS play live. We sat on the grass at The Pacific Amphitheater and danced and Sang-a-Long to ever Song. After this Album everyone seemed to know who they were. Their Music Videos were on all the time, and their Songs were getting heavy rotation. Friends of mine were even in the video for “Devil Inside”, which was filmed in Balboa, California.

The next few Albums all wound up in my collection. I didn’t love any of them quite as much as The Swing and Listen Like Thieves, but there were many Songs that I did love. They made their way onto Mix Tapes and CD’s, especially “Beautiful Girl” and “Not Enough Time” from 1992’s Welcome to Wherever You Are. My oldest daughter was born in 1992 and I used to Sing “Beautiful Girl” to her, even though the Song became more synonymous with the eating disorder campaign it was attached to, then a Lullaby/Ode to a baby girl.

The eating disorder meaning was very relevant to me at the time, as the eating disorder I’d struggled with during my teen years had gotten exponentially worse in my twenties.

I think all of our crushes on Michael Hutchence continued, well past our teen years and into our twenties. He was some kind of beautiful, that’s for sure, and he had a slinky way of moving that recalled Jim Morrison when he was on stage. And we all loved his voice. I know I did.

His death was shocking. He was one of the first from “my generation” to go. It was heartbreaking and unbelievable. The Music though, it has always lived on, and so many of the Songs are part of my long list of all-time, forever Favorite Songs. Coming up with only Ten of them was tough, as I have so many I love, but I gave it my best shot.

What are your Favorites?