Friday Night Videos: INXS - A Tribute to Michael Hutchence

INXS was born in Australia in 1980. Originally part of the "new wave" music scene, INXS became one of the most popular bands of the 1980's and early 1990's, and left a musical legacy that surely will stand the test of time.

Neither their self-titled debut nor their second release Underneath The Colours made much noise on the world-wide music scene, but with the growth of MTV and the new art of the music video, their third release Shabooh Shoobah brought some success in America and around the world. Two singles from Shabooh Shoobah, The One Thing and Don't Change were successful in America, and the band was was very well received as the opening act for fellow Australians Men at Work. Additionally, three songs from Shabooh Shoobah were on the soundtrack to the 1984 movie Reckless which starred Darryl Hannah and Adian Quinn.

A great part of the success of the band was their lead singer and public frontman, Michael Hutchence. With a look and performance style often compared to Jim Morrison of The Doors and Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones, Hutchence had a pure, clean, distinctive voice. Coupled with the band's unique sound which included Tim Farriss' punchy Telecaster guitar licks, a solid rhythm section comprised of percussionist Jon Farriss and bassist Garry Beers, the rhythm guitar and alto saxophone stylings of Kirk Pengilly, and keyboards played by primary songwriter Andrew Farriss, Hutchence quickly became a pop icon and as well as an unassuming sex idol.

INXS' third release, The Swing, brought their first #1 single on the Australian charts, Original Sin. The band toured relentlessly and was rewarded with seven awards from MTV. The album also hit #1 in Australia, but was not extremely well received in Europe. Critics called INXS "depressingly definitive example of excruciating, boring, incredibly unimaginative MTV rock." However, The Swing ultimately went double platinum, and the band forged on.

One year later, in 1985, they moved closer to the forefront of the world's music scene with the release of Listen Like Thieves. With performances at the MTV video music awards, Live Aid, and worldwide concert tours in support of their rapidly released albums, INXS was now reaching more and more fans and selling more albums. While still critically panned by European critics, INXS was garnering great accolades from American critics, including Rolling Stone which wrote "INXS rocks with passion and seals the deal with a backbeat that'll blackmail your feet." Additionally, in 1985 Musician magazine lableled INXS "The best live band in the world." Listen Like Thieves topped the American charts at #11 and brought them their first top 5 hit with "What You Need."

If there were any questions remaining about the popularity of INXS, their 1987 release Kick certainly answered those questions with great resolve. Kick brought INXS their first #1 U.S. single, Need You Tonight, as well as three other top 10 hits, Devil Inside, Never Tear Us Apart, and New Sensation. They continued to be a huge success on the then-relevant MTV, sweeping the 1987 awards show, including the "Video of the Year" award for their "Need You Tonight/Mediate" combination video, which became a signature image of the band.

Their follow-up to Kick was titled X, and reached #5 on the U.S. charts. X brought four singles, including two that reached the Billboard top ten. The band was touring in front of enormous sellout crowds, and in late 1991 they released the album and accompanying video Live Baby Live, which was recorded in front of nearly 75,000 at Wembley Arena.

INXS' popularity had peaked and was beginning to decline. Over the next two years they released Welcome To Wherever You Are and Full Moon, Dirty Hearts, but despite critical acclaim and many guest appearances by other top performers neither brought the success to which the band had become accustomed. The band decided to take some time with their families. Hutchence remained in the spotlight to some degree through occasional modeling and acting.

In 1997 INXS released a comeback album entitled Elegantly Wasted. It met mixed reviews, and topped out at #41 on the U.S. charts. During this time, Hutchence was entangled in some personal problems having to do with a relationship with British television host and writer Paula Yates, who happened to still be married to musician Bob Geldof.

Sadly, on November 22, 1997 a generation lost one of its idols, music lost a great performer, and the world lost a troubled yet compassionate man as Michael Hutchence died of what was ultimately ruled a suicide.

In memory of one of my favorite performers of all time, tonight I offer three different videos. First from The Swing is a fun number about world peace and the need for all of us to learn how to love one another called Dancing On The Jetty, performed live for a German TV network. Second, from 1987's Kick but recorded in 1997 shortly before his passing is a live performance of Devil Inside that shows the passion and exuberance of a great performer. Finally, again from Kick is a unique unplugged version of Never Tear Us Apart, the song that was played at Michael's funeral.

I saw INXS perform live five times. They absolutely were one of the best live bands I have ever seen. They truly had the ability to bring their sound from the studio to the stage, and they were electric in their chemistry.

Rest in peace, Michael.

Sinner's Prayer

Rush Limbaugh Interviews Sarah Palin

Tuesday Rush Limbaugh interviewed Sarah Palin for a full one-half hour of his show, less a "prosperity time-out." I believe there are three important points to take from today's discussion between El Rushbo and the former governor of Alaska.

First: while she certainly was on what some might consider "friendly turf," she certainly knew her stance on the issues.

At the "Saddleback Forum" presidential debate held by Rick Warren during the 2008 campaign, one of the most notable things of that event was Barack Hussein Obama's constant "hmm's" and "uhh's" while he pondered and searched for just the right answer. The left constantly made excuses for this long, drawn out approach to answering such simple policy questions as his position on abortion (his record is clear) and gay marriage (again, he's been consistent).

We now see clearly that Obama is lost without a teleprompter. While she may not always have every answer, I believe Mrs. Palin is much more capable of thinking on her feet and would be better prepared, for example, for situations like the recent terrorist attack at Ft. Hood.

In my opinion, the hallmark of a great candidate from either side of the aisle is knowing exactly where you stand on any issue. To quote Glenn Beck; "Say what you mean, and mean what you say." Palin certainly had no trouble responding to the questions Limbaugh offered today, and in that respect presented herself as a formidable voice for "Common Sense Conservatism."

Second: she seems to have a more focused approach to her speech.

Whether is was excitement and nerves, or perhaps an untrained person just being herself with a bit of a different cadence than many from the "Lower 48" including the media elites who took her to task, Sarah Palin today seemed much more controlled and organized in her speech. I also noticed this in the clips I have seen from the Oprah Winfrey interview.

Palin still clearly does not have the prim and proper Ivy League perfection to her sentence structure, and she still uses more "natural" words like "yeah" and has that funny use of the word "too" that drives liberal elites nutty, but amidst the strength of her knowledgeable commentary, an unbiased listener might find those quirks more endearing than irritating.

It is my belief that if Sarah Palin has spent some time working on her grammatical cadence and structure, it will be of incredible benefit to her with independents and moderates from both parties, because her common sense ideas are most definitely in line with the core values of America.

Third, and perhaps most important: She speaks with great respect for America.

Everything Sarah Palin has had to say about America has always been positive. This does not mean that she sees things through rose colored glasses. Rather, she has the ability to take serious current issues and find viable Conservative solutions.

Regarding the economy, she states that things are "bad, it's really bad" but follows that up with facts as to why (Bernanke's announcement of weak job prospects) and then immediately offers the common sense solution: "We need to cut taxes on the job creators. This is all about jobs, creating jobs. We have to ramp up industry here in America, and of course reduce the federal debt, quit piling on and growing more."

Regarding energy, she approaches it as both an economic and national security issue as she discusses "The regimes that can control us via energy, using it as a weapon against us, potentially." When asked her response to Vice-President Biden chiding her about "Drill, Baby, Drill," Palin replies "What is complicated about tapping into abundant, safe domestic supplies that could provide stability for our country and security for our country? I know Alaska has billions of barrels of oil underfoot, and we have the natural gas that's waiting to be tapped, too; and other states do, too. It's not that complicated. It's political, and that's what is the shame in this, is that for political reasons we're not allowing to tap these domestic supplies."

A final thought - she never referred to "The American People." She always spoke of Americans. As fellow blogger DC at Goomba News Network wisely pointed out just about one month ago, "Using "American" as an adjective instead of the damn noun that it is allows such scalawags to avoid calling people "Americans" -- a stronger word that conveys an identity in and of itself."

In my opinion, Sarah Palin definitely conveys a strong identity in and of herself. She may not be our next president, but she most certainly should be a force in American politics for many years to come.

Part one of three:



Part two of three:



Part two of three:



Transcript from Rush's website here.

Straight Talk From Sarah Palin

Displaying the personality of a true American patriot (as opposed to our current Narcissist-in-Chief), Sarah Palin offered up some seriously straight talk in an interview with Barbara Walters, including offering Barack Hussein Obama a four on a scale of one-to-ten.

ABC has transcribed portions of the interview in an article on their politics page. Some excerpts:

"There are a lot of decisions being made that I -- and probably the majority of Americans -- are not impressed with right now," said Palin, the former governor of Alaska. "I think our economy is not being put on the right track, because we're strayed too far from, fundamentally, from free enterprise principles that built our country. And I question, too, some of the dithering, and, hesitation, with some of our national security questions that have got to be answered for our country."

[...] She scored a major blow to Obama in August when she wrote on her Facebook page that under Obama's plans, the fate of the elderly and her son Trigg, who has Down syndrome, would be determined by 'Death Panels' In his address to the joint session of Congress, the president lashed out at the charge, made by Palin and others, calling it "a lie, plain and simple." When asked by Walters if it was Obama who was lying, Palin said: "He is not lying, in that those two words will not be found in any of those thousands of pages of different variations of the health care bill. No, death panel isn't there. But he's incorrect, and he is disingenuous."

[...] Palin has also become a vocal supporter of the tea party movement, calling it "beautiful." This group of protestors, however, is staunchly against the bailout package, which Palin and McCain both supported in their campaign.

"Yep. That very first bailout, yes. Now we have learned, too, it didn't fulfill the promises that were made by Congress, and by the White House, that bailing out these businesses that were 'too big to fail,'" Palin said. "That did not put our economy back on the right track. So we learn from our mistakes. The tea party movement, beautiful. It energizes our country. More power to these people who are showing up there."

[...] The former governor wouldn't directly address the burning question of whether she wants to be the president, but she did not completely close that door either.

"That certainly isn't on my radar screen right now," said Palin. "[But] when you consider some of the ordinary turning into extraordinary events that have happened in my life, I am not one to predict what will happen in a few years."

"My ambition if you will, my desire, is to help our country in whatever role that may be, and I cannot predict what that will be, what doors would be open in the year 2012," she said.

As for whether she will play a major role, Palin replied, "If people will have me, I will."

Read more here...

Politician

This video cracked me up... and conveniently happens to be set to one of the greatest songs of all time. Written in 1968; clearly it will be fitting as long as there are politics.

Ginger Baker on percussion, Jack Bruce on bass guitar and vocals, and Eric Clapton on guitar. Because they were the cream of the crop in British blues and jazz during the mid to late 1960's...

Politician. Cream. Enjoy.

Obama Does Not Want 'Political Theater'

Huffington Post readers are rejoicing today, as in another clear display of sickening hypocrisy, The Vacationer-in-Chief today announced that he does not want to create "political theater" and therefore is urging Congress to delay any investigation into the Islamic terrorist shootings at Ft. Hood.

On an eight-day Asia trip, Obama turned his attention home and pleaded for lawmakers to "resist the temptation to turn this tragic event into the political theater." He said those who died on the nation's largest Army post deserve justice, not political stagecraft.

"Political theater." Hmm.

So, Mr. Vacationer-in-Chief, if you wish to avoid "political theater" then I assume you would agree that having Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other conspirators of the September 11th tried in New York City is exactly "political theater," and therefore you will order your Attorney General Eric Holder to have proper Military Tribunals held for these worthless scumbags at Guantanamo Bay where they belong? Otherwise, will you please tell me why are you willing to risk American lives in the city that is already terrorist target number one in the world?

Please, Sir Emperor, explain to me why you believe that having Jihadists-on-parade in an American civilian courtroom in New York City is proper? Is that not "political theater?" Do we not risk the exposure of every trade secret our CIA operatives have if we allow proper full discovery, as would be allowed in any other civilian trial, which is exactly how you wish to treat this?

Mr. Obamessiah, I watched this video and was absolutely sickened by the amount of "political theater" that it is, in and of itself.



"Political theater" was your speech before the Tribal Nations Conference, where you rambled for nearly two minutes and gave "shout-outs" before addressing the Islamic terrorist shootings at Ft. Hood.

"Political theater" was you stating that we need not "jump to conclusions" about the events of that day, when you were so quick to declare the Cambridge Police force "acted stupidly" when arresting a race-baiting Henry Gates, then called for a "beer summit" to gather the two men together so that you could play "Healer-in-Chief."

"Political theater" was when you once again you call this Islamo-Fascist a "fellow Service member" of the fallen. My friends, those who have real life experience in such matters, beg to differ.

"Political theater" is when you discuss the fact that there is an ongoing investigation into the "motives" of this Islamo-Fascist. His yelling "Allahu Akbar" as he kills thirteen brave Americans and wounds dozens of others, and scars lives forever - that tells me all I need to know, thank you very much.

"Political theater" is you stating that you "will insist that the full story be told." You can't make up your mind whether or not we need to send help to our brave troops in Afghanistan, but this time you will be able to stand firmly on a belief? Bah.

"Political theater" is the fact that every single time you speak, it becomes all about you, what you did, your accomplishments. You, you, you, you, you. How about paying some attention to all that is going on around you, like unemployment? Try reducing taxes on small businesses so that owners can employ more people and buy more raw materials so that they can produce goods to sell for a profit.. oops.. there's a problem. Can't have profits now, can we...?

"Political theater" is stating that there needs to be a "full review of the sequence of events that led up to these shootings" and that the purpose of this review is to find out who had information about the Islamo-Fascist attitudes this terrorist had, and hold them accountable. Dear Leader, what do you say we address you, your political party, and the media - and all the political correctness that exists in America today? We can't call a spade a spade, therefore an Islamo-Fascist is now just a crazy person or a nut-case?

Excuse me, but I must call bullshit when I see it, and Dear Leader, you and your media are exactly bullshit. Those accountable are not members of our Armed Forces; they are victims. Yes, I know you can't tolerate that thought, Dear Leader, but our great military had been exactly victimized by leftist propaganda, softness, and political correctness to the point that now we have thirteen dead and dozens wounded, and little boys and girls growing up without Mommies and Daddies because you will not say that there is a War on Terror.

"Political theater" is the idea that you, Dear Leader, and your leftist Euro-pansy friends want to find George W. Bush guilty of "war crimes" when the truth is that George W. Bush was ten times the man that you will ever be. And now you say you want to avoid "Political theater?"

Go back to Chicago, Mr. President.

I'm sick and tired of you and I don't have any desire to ever see your face again. You, sir, are a criminal, and your crime is treason. You have made every effort to harm the sovereignty of this great nation, destroy our economy, shame us, and lie to us. You seem to have such great disdain for every single last fiber of our being that at times I almost wonder if you actually understand what America is and what you are doing to the greatest nation on God's green Earth.

You, sir, are pathetic.

Obama's Four Year Vacation Continues

Since he's clearly not wishing to act as the leader of the free world, I've decided that Barack Hussein Obama must be on a four year vacation.

Remember the time the Vacationer-in-Chief went to Saudi Arabia and met the king? Wow, that sure was fun...



Well, now The Vacationer-in-Chief is off in The Land of the Rising Sun, and it appears he met the Emperor. One important distinction worth noting: unlike ours, the Emperor of Japan has clothes.