INXS: When did you get off the bus?

Full Moon Dirty Hearts. Welcome is sheer brilliance but that was the end of it.

FMDH is a drag of a record, but Elegantly Wasted was surprisingly well put-together and signaled (maybe?) some good things to come.

Oh man, really?

I mean, it wasn't a classic by any means, but it was far more focused and punchy than the flimsy FMDH album.

Listen Like Thieves [1985]
Michael Hutchence's appearance in the film/on the soundtrack of 'Dogs In Space' [1986]
Kick [1987]
The MAX Q album Michael Hutchence recorded with Ollie Olsen [1989]
X [1990]
Welcome to Wherever You Are [1992]

This was the peak of my fandom, just because I was the right age (age 11-20) for it to be the most impactful. When Hutchence died and the solo project/album was released, I decided I didn't want to have anything to do with it. I watched the tv show mostly out of morbid curiosity, but Switch was piss poor and nothing more than an opportunity for them to pay off their houses.

Kick is the pinnacle of their pop nous and everything turned to unlistenable shit IMMEDIATELY afterwards so that's my vote

but I like the Max Q shit and Fat Neck by Black Grape

By Welcome to Wherever You Are Nirvana existed and

I love "Disappear." I liked "Not Enough Time." Never a fan, but they were pros enough to cough up a decent single when least expected.

The album with the most rewarding deep-cuts is probably The Swing, but this is just going off memory. I haven't listened to it in far too long.

I had these records:

Shabooh Shoobah [1982]
The Swing [1984]
Listen Like Thieves [1985]
Kick [1987]

Didn't know until a few days ago that Daryl Hall contributes harmonies to "Original Sin."

after listen like thieves i was going other places.

Wow, I did not know that. Nice!

I stepped off after X. I heard Welcome a few times but honestly, when you think about what came before it:
INXS [1980]
Underneath The Colours [1981]
Shabooh Shoobah [1982]
The Swing [1984]
Listen Like Thieves [1985]
Kick [1987]
X [1990]

...I felt like the albums after that just lowered the bar below what I expected of them, you know? Not that I was a rabid fan by any means, but they stopped being exciting, at least to me.

There's definitely a slide after Kick (X was basically just a less impressive duplicate imo), and I probably stuck with them too long. But WTWYA and Elegantly Wasted are way decent.

i like INXS, i should have some of their albums. would welcome recommendations on what order to get them in.

These four

Shabooh Shoobah [1982]
The Swing [1984]
Listen Like Thieves [1985]
Kick [1987]

If you like those, go backwards first and then go forward.

A couple of the thorough comps released in recent years contain everything you might want. Posters here otm about The Swing and LLT though.

'disappear' is the last thing by them i love as much as their best stuff. welcome to whatever was a decent hit at the time - kept them on alt-rock radio pretty steadily for a year; first time heard the strokes i thought they sounded like 'heaven sent' (or at least what i remembered 'heaven sent' sounding like). of all the acts that had big, sustained success on modern rock radio during the 80s have inxs had the least return to fashion?

yeah, my college station played "Not Enough Time" enough to forget that grunge was knocking on the front door.

there was a brief window even after grunge broke in 92 (probably thru 93, 94?) where modern rock radio was still at least as much holding to the 80s kroq model and clearly running on fumes acts like tears for fears could manage a hit w/ something like 'break it down again'. i've been thinking of starting a poll/thread about when exactly modern rock radio went bad (if it was ever good etc). i'm thinking 95 or 99, but i haven't given it much thought. now i think the format is officially dead right? does billboard still track it?

I was pretty thrilled a few weeks ago when I finally broke down and ordered the non-US region, PAL, DVD of Dogs In Space (finally issued decently, with all kinds of bonus things) and discovered that it plays on my computer without any funny stuff. Still one of my favorite movies ever.

balls, how do you know about kroq?

billboard still has the modern rock chart, although it was changed to "alternative songs" a year or two back (and they finally dissolved the increasingly similar mainstream rock chart and started an overall "rock songs" chart).

start with Kick, obv, al

there was a brief window even after grunge broke in 92 (probably thru 93, 94?) where modern rock radio was still at least as much holding to the 80s kroq model and clearly running on fumes acts like tears for fears could manage a hit w/ something like 'break it down again'.

I've pointed out on other threads: summer and fall '93 were the last times I heard the likes of Suede, the Pet Shop Boys, and Kate Bush on college radio.

When Hutchence died and the radio stations were playing INXS again it hit me that I had had a pretty formative memory associated with each album up to X, even though like I said up thread I was by no means a rabid fan. They were just kind of, everywhere, I guess? I bought Shabooh Shoobah a few years back, and based on the tracklist I remembered 2 or 3 songs...but when I played the album I knew every single song and I honestly don't remember owning it.

ON THAT NOTE - Billboard Number One Modern Rock Hits 1988/1989

shasta i don't know when i first heard about kroq but i'm sure it was something like w/ wfmu or john peel where i'd heard of it years before i actually heard it. to be honest i still haven't heard it - zero interest in 2010 modern rock radio - but at the lab we listen to the kroq's 80s station a ton (as much as fmu or npr), enough to have a newfound deep hatred for oingo boingo. i've downloaded any kroq top 106.7 torrent i've found. one thing i really like looking at those year end kroq charts though are the very early 80s ones where there's still this heavy aor element.

awesome story!

my cousins used to TAPE THE RADIO for me and send me the tapes. is that the funniest thing you've ever heard?

i would specifically ask for Rodney but I would get a mixed bag of Richard Blade and Jed The Fish sometimes.

Got off the bus after X. I still have a lot of love for that and most of the stuff before it. Don't Change is probably my fav INXS song.

A couple of the thorough comps released in recent years contain everything you might want.

nah, the comps will have as much later useless shit as early fun stuff, Johnny Fever OTM re that clutch of four. Start with The Swing or Kick.

I got sick of them after "The Swing", frankly.

Like, shit like "suicide blonde" was terrible.

that was on 'x'

'kick' is great, but after that not so much

'suicide blonde' might have been sorta dud, but 'disappear' was great!

'Hear That Sound' was my favorite track on X. They had a pretty good run of putting some of their best songs as the end of their records.

X always felt like Kick 2 i.e. same but pale. Welcome didn't have the zazz but it wasn't stale either, which is one of the reasons I like it so much.

After "X" there wasn't much more. Although I have never liked them much apart from the odd track ("The Original Sin", "Need You Tonight" and "Disappear" were all great songs)

I was never on the bus, but between '83-87 I'd always look up as it drove by

Just listened to The Swing again this morning and it's just as good as I'd remembered, but it sure does sound like crap. Has it been remastered lately?

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

p much done circa Kick tho i have a lot of affection for "not enough time"

btw i think someone big-upped "to look at you" on some other inxs thread... and they was right

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

to answer a question about remastering that someone asked years ago; everything was remastered in 2011 and it's all on Spotify.

Heard "Beautiful Girl" over the piped-in music in a restaurant back in the day and was sure it was a new Beulah song. They were still kickin' it.