Ten Years since Michael Hutchence Death

Contrary to popular belief there are any number of bands from the 80s and 90s I have enjoyed and would travel and cancel stuff to see... INXS was amongst those.

Despite "Listen Like Thieves" being the album our inconsiderate flatmate Chris made us put on every afternoon while he got ready for ten minutes to go out again... we really did enjoy the music, the fan worship and the hot summer nights at Newcastle Workers or other outdoor Festivals taking in INXS live with the Farriss brothers, Garry Gary Beers and Kirk Pengilly... and the svengali Michael Hutchence.

If you read those early articles you were reminded that when INXS first got going in Perth and then moved to Sydney they were still under age and needed special permission to play pub gigs around the country.

They did have a unique sound and tragically and interestingly a 'larger than life' lead singer in Michael!!

He is the quintessential example of 1990s rock n roll excess and the unhappiness of wealth and fame masked by drug and alcohol abuse where fundamental happiness and filfilment seemed unattainable!!

Michael lived through the dramas of a relationship with Kylie Minogue [and her supposed loss of innocence] the supermodel Helena Christenson, singer Belinda Carlisle and others and with the late Paula Yates who left Bob Geldof to live with Michael!!

He moved in that rock star stratosphere...

His mysterious death in a Double Bay Motel room was very sad. Was it taking his own life or being caught out in a known sexual practice of faux hanging yourself to prolong your experience. I guess we'll never hear the full story of Kym Wilson and boyfriends time with him that night and the phone calls to London with lots of shouting!!

For all his faults and struggles he was a larger than life character on the world stage...

I still remember the tribute by U2 at their Pop Mart Sydney concert the night the thunderstorms persisted until claering to produce a hot pink cloudy sky during the rendition of "Never Tear Us Apart" from close friend Bono!! It was eerie and poignant!!

The Hutchence family had strong connections with the Forrest Kirk Uniting Church in Sydney's north and I've been shown the sappling planted in the grounds as part of a family memorial for Michael!

Personally I have no axe to grind with JD Fortune but what INXS have become through Rockstar and the addition of a new singer [following Terrence Trent Darby and Jon Stevens] is just a bit sad and is not INXS in my humble view... good luck to them!!