I'm not thrilled with most of the new Katy Perry music. She's trying too hard.
But this song is a refreshing throwback to her earlier stuff. It's like, she spent all those years on American Idol listening to other people cover her first two albums and decided that she wanted to recapture that magic.
Mine is an unpopular opinion. The song did OK in Europe but bombed in the US.
It's a new song, so she's not performed it live much yet, but I can tell you that her fans alredy know the words.
Well, since so many of you love this spooky season so much (I very much do NOT), here's a spooky song for you.
Written by Andrew Farriss and Michael Hutchence, it was the followup single to the breakthrough "Need You Tonight" in the US and became a worldwide hit, again. It uses a super breathy Hutchence vocal over what Farriss called a ""Daytripper"-like guitar sound", which I don't really hear, but hey! I'm a blogger, not a musician. Just enjoy the song.
Look at them go.
Look at them Kick.
This live version should also drive home that, although not the title song from the album, that the band was Kicking all over the place.
Also, the Hutchence stage presence is amazing, as always.
How did INXS become an afterthought on the US charts? The answer may surprise you.
This 1993 single, the lead one from their album Full Moon Dirty Hearts, featured a video that MTV would not air, because it had "controversial images" - specifically Gulf War images, something that was still pretty fresh in the American psyche.
It was, and is, still a great and exciting song. It is a true shame that it was ignored to the extent that it was.
Even though Michael Hutchence passed away in 1997, he still have time to give spirited live performances of this song. Here is the band, performing the song to an excited crowd in 1994.
I was really late writing this today. So, yeah, I dipped into my leftover Hall of Fame bag for this one. Enjoy what was the first major international hit by INXS, Australia's greatest export. Of course, after Vegemite. And Paul Hogan. And koala bears.
The strength of this song in Australia led to record deals for INXS outside of Australia - and their worldwide fame.
Our third HoF inductee was Nirvana. And this is probably the last Nirvana post we will ever make, because we did such a complete job covering them last year.
You see, because they were a short-lived band, due to the untimely death of Kurt Cobain.... well, they aren't making any new music. But this song was released in 2002, eight years after Cobain's death. It was the last song the band ever recorded, in 1994. You can hear the anguish in Kurt's voice throughout.
Our 2nd HoF !nductee was P!nk. And P!nk has been busy.
Th!s song, a 2016 Grammy nom!nee, is P!nk's most recent Top 10 h!t !n the US as of th!s wr!t!ng. A t!e !n to the D!sney f!lm Al!ce Through The Look!ng Glass, the v!sual !s very Wonderland-y.
Mus!cally, !t's P!nk. C'mon now. Sure, she has a b!t of a breakdown partway through, wh!ch !s atyp!cal for her mus!cally. Lyr!cally, !t's P!nk, wh!ch means you can count on a lot of empowerment throughout. The song does not d!sappo!nt on that front, br!ng!ng a really pos!t!ve message.
Last week, we inducted our fourth Hall of Fame artist - INXS. For the rest of this week, I figured we could revisit the other three, because each of them had deeper catalogs than this little blog could tap into during just one week.
We start with the original, Katy Perry, who has also been the most active in releasing music. This song came soon after her HoF induction, in 2013. Co-written by Ms. Hudson, the song has elements of pop, but also trap and hip-hop. Lyrically, it's full of clichés - cold, unfeeling, and still full of passion despite the clichés.
The song ended up being one of her biggest hits - and gave Juicy J his first #1 in the US.
"I was writing lyrics like 'Baby Don't Cry' and 'Beautiful Girl' and lyrics just about how wonderful it is to have something else in your life besides yourself to worry about and think about." - Andrew Farris
This, the fifth single from Welcome to Wherever You Are, was also penned by Andrew Farris, this about his infant daughter. His quote says everything that needs to be said there.
(by the way, if you're looking for the third and fourth singles, we posted them previously in 2012 and on Monday)
This song, the second single from Welcome To Wherever You Are, was wholly written by Andrew Farris as a sweet love song for his six year old daughter, who, not shockingly, he missed when he went on tour. Backed by the Australian Concert Orchestra, the song is about choosing love, even when far away, in the face of adversity.
As has become customary for this little blog that could, when there's a Hall of Fame artist, we give you a little extra, for the loyal readers.
Thus, "Heaven Sent", the first single from what was considered something of a comeback album, the band's eighth (save for their live album, Live Baby Live) and in my opinion, their high water mark, Welcome To Wherever You Are.
This is a high water mark on an album that is already a high water mark. It's a pretty typical INXS song - Michael Hutchence frequently goes to the megaphone vocal trope, as he does on this song, and it's straight-ahead pop-rock - but it is the band at their happiest. They clearly enjoyed making this song, which is lyrically about the beginning of a life-altering love.
This was a song that became a live staple throughout the 1990's for the band. At their last show ever, in Pittsburgh, they performed what has become my favorite version of this song. Hutchence sings the song with more passion and energy than even the original recording - or any pther live version. The rest of the band matches his vigor here.
I had way too much material for just one Hall of Fame week. This is why I'm posting on the weekend.
And I couldn't ignore the biggest INXS anthem of all. Initially not a big hit song, this has become one of their most played and most popular. And it's for good reason - the song is so uplifting and sweet. Opening with one of the most iconic synth solos of the 1980's, it erupts quickly into a full band showcase.
The song is about a love that was lost and found again. I like to think of it as the reclamation of a relationship after a breakup, or maybe finally finding that love after failed attempts. The resolution of happiness and execution of bitterness in the lyrics is referring directly to that love, and the pleas to not change are a wonderful reminder and acceptance to love those who we love just as they are.
Of course, because Michael Hutchence is no longer with us, there were a finite number of times he performed this song. This performance, from September 27 1997 in Pittsburgh PA, is sad in hindsight, knowing that it was the final time he'd sing the song - he would be dead exactly two months later. Still, even though it's only audio, you can hear his stage presence, even in his exhaustion.
In 2011, Kirk Pengilly and Andrew Farris - not typically lead vocalists - took the vocal duties for a slower, deeper version of this song they co-wrote. It is a fitting tribute.
Right now, most of you are wondering what the hell this is.
This was the debut single by INXS in 1980. Notice the more new wave sound - a little more punk-edged. Originally only released in Australia, their debut album, which featured this song and many others written by all six members of the band, made it internationally in 1984, after the band started having some hits in Europe and the US.
This song wasn't a hit. It was six guys looking for a sound. It is frantic and fun and simple.
This song isn't one I had ever really enjoyed by INXS. It is NOT a song I really enjoyed all that much. It's not bad, mind you - but modern Vienna waltzes weren't my thing in the 1980s. It was a pretty big hit, and one that was inescapable in 1988, between radio and heavy MTV rotation.
But then, I got a girlfriend, and of course the song took on a new meaning. The girlfriend and I didn't last forever, but the song resonated for our time together. It's a classic love song for the ages, with a great arrangement by Andrew Farris.
The song also resonated again in 1997, when INXS lead vocalist and lyricist for this song, Michael Hutchence, passed away. The five remaining members of INXS, as well as Michael's brother, Rhett, served as pallbearers. What song played as they carried the coffin from the cathedral? This one.
So, at the end of the day, because of its romantic meaningfulness and its meaningfulness to fans of INXS, it grew on me. I hope it grows on you, too.
The band's first US Top 10 hit, "What You Need" hit #5 on the Billboard charts. It was written by Michael Hutchence and Andrew Farris under record label pressure - they were looking for a hit. The men delivered in a big way.
Lyrically, the song is a pep talk. It's literally JUST a pep talk. Musically, the six-piece all have their featured moments in a high-energy way. Visually, the video is done using a rotoscope animation technique.
In 1997, INXS lead vocalists Michael Hutchence died in what appears to have been an accidental suicide. After a few years of hiatus, they did what any normal band would do in their circumstance.
That, of course, is hold a reality television competition to find a new lead vocalist. And they found a vocalist that had a similar bravado to Hutchence - a homeless man from Toronto who went by the name J.D. Fortune (it wasn't his real name).
This song, the only top 40 hot of the J.D. Fortune era, was co-written by Andrew Farris and several of the contestants, includin Fortune. In my opinion, it absolutely holds up against the hits from 1980s-era INXS.
I'm not one to bury the lede. This was INXS's biggest hit. The opening single from the Kick album in 1987, the Andrew Farris/Michael Hutchence classic about living in the moment was a #1 hit around the world and set the band up for superstardom.
More than that, it moved the band a little away from the rock band mentality and more into a zone where it was OK to use electronic instruments to augment their sound. It made them a richer, deeper, and, ultimately, more popular band.
The song is more about the video, which won 5 MTV Video Music Award. It was directed by Richard Lowenstein and used photocopied images to accomplish the visual effects.
I'm pleased to induct Australian icons INXS into the Wicked Guilty Pleasures Hall of Fame. This week will feature a LOT of INXS.
Why are they the choice this year?
Because they released in a relatively short time so many iconic songs and videos. Were they particularly highbrow? No. They're a band that did release more complex and nuanced music than it might have looked on the surface, but still was mass-market sexy.
Their 1992 album, Welcome To Whereever You Are, came at the start of the tail end of their time as a prominent band, but did account for several singles and went platinum in its own right. It is my favorite INXS album, for a lot of reasons. The songwriting was top notch. Michael Hutchence had reached the pinacle of maturity in his performance.
This video was never released in the States, and, well, it's something else. The song was the 4th single from the album, Written by Hutchence and Andrew Farris, the song is cool and sexy, with all six musicians getting their due, but no one dominating. It is a perfect encaptualation of the genius of INXS.
INXS famously found a new lead singer after the death of Michael Hutchence on a reality TV show. We'll talk a lot more about that over this week, but I wanted to touch on this because it's relevant. New vocalist JD Fortune came with a slightly different bravado, but still held his own with this song.
On this blog, we've had three Hall of Fame inductees - Nirvana, P!nk, and the first, Katy Perry. When we inducted Katy Perry, she had only TWO albums released.
TWO.
We had so much material JUST from what she had released thus far, we left stuff OUT.
This song, from her landmark 2nd album Teenage Dream (this version technically from Teenage Dream; The Complete Confection 2012 reissue), was one of those outtakes. This, the fourth single from that album, was also her 5th #1 hit in the US, and the 4th from that album, making it (at the time) only the 7th album to achieve that milestone - it would go on to produce a 5th #1 single, only the second album to ever achieve that (Michael Jackson's Bad being the first). (The Complete Confection would spawn a 6th #1, by the way)
So, on the strength of two albums, Katy Perry was a Hall of Famer in our eyes. History has already been kind to both Katy Perry and to Teenage Dream. And this collaboration with Kanye West is quite interesting and a bit of a departure from the rest of the album, taking a harsher edge tone.
Katy still performs this song live - but this is one of the FIRST times she ever did.
We finish our week with one of the band's biggest hits.
I have to admit, when I first heard Nevermind, this was my favorite song on the album, and I was thrilled it was released as a single. It isn't still my favorite, but it's still great.
We've done a good job highlighting all the members of the band this week except for Krist Novocelic - and this is a great song to point out the bassist, who tends to not get a ton of attention. He's an excellent bassist in a band with a genius in front - and this song highlights just how reliable his work was.
