Sunday, September 7, 2008

This is....my favourite band of all time.

Oh where to begin.... we could be here for a while!


So I will begin at the very first memory....... it was 1987 and I was in Year 8. My best friends older brother had a licence, and was allowed to drive his mum's mission brown station wagon to pick us up after school. Each and every day, he had the same tape playing in the tape deck.... INXS KICK.

At that stage, I was actually infatuated with Bros (does anyone actually remember them), but it didn't take long before I headed down to the local record shop (before cd's were invented for any youngens reading along), and bought my first ever album with my own money....
So that's when my secret infatuation with Michael Hutchence began, although Jon Farris was (and still is) also a hottie.

Above photo is me with my albums in 1991

In 1990, INXS realeased X (which I also bought on record) and that was probably about the time when I decided to go backwards and collect all of their earlier albums too. It probably took me a year (mainly because I lived in a country hick town miles away from anywhere) so it was only when I was in big towns like Bendigo or Melbourne that I could search the record shops for old albums. I eventually found all of them except for Dekadance.





I also bought anything else I could find relating to members of INXS like the MaxQ album, Dogs in Space movie, video specials, books etc.....

Photos of my bedroom wall in 1991 or 1992 when they were covered in INXS posters.

But of course, the best thing about an obsession with a band is the very first concert. My first ever concert was Jimmy Barnes at the Glasshouse (that's if you don't count Humphrey B Bear back in the 70's) and my second was INXS at The Tennis Centre just after my 17th birthday.

I had to make a deal with my best friend at the time who hated INXS. She would only come to the concert with me, if I agreed to go to see AC/DC with her. We lived in a country hick town with no way of even buying tickets for the concert, so luckily my auntie who lived in Melbourne agreed to buy the tickets for us. We had to catch the V-Line train to Melbourne (about a 4 hour trip) and we stayed at my aunties house.


Original 1991 tickets are still in the photo album..... Looking at the tickets now, I'm just realising what crappy seats we had for INXS (upper KK) when compared to AC/DC (lower E). I was so excited about the concert that I never even realised.



My second INXS concert was 3 years later....Mr CurlyPops and I went to see them at Festival Hall in 1994 (obviously ticket sales had dropped quite a bit to go from selling out 4 shows at the Tennis Centre in 1991 back to 2 shows at Festival Hall in 1994) .

We were planning to buy tickets for the 1997 concert but never got around to it.... then of course, the tour was cancelled a week before it started .

What came next was Rockstar INXS in 2005 and the band chose JD as their new frontman. We went to the concert at the Palais in September 2006 (can't find my tickets) and then again in March 2007.

Of course it's not the same without Michael, but JD is still a great frontman.

I even managed to find my old concert t-shirts (with paint splatters on them). The one on the left (1991) is now 17 years old and the one on the right (1994) is now 14 years old.

I've moved over 20 times and de-cluttered every time but the only collection that I've ever kept are my INXS goodies.
Thankyou to Sharon for filling in for Angela and letting me choose this weeks theme....it was a lovely wander down memory lane for me. I'm heading off to check whether I'm the only obsessed music fan in blogland!


21 comments:

Liesl said...

Loooove INXS. In June 2002 I finally got to see them live (fronted by Jon Stevens) .... in Las Vegas of all places! It was fantastic.

Jenaveve said...

Wow! You were as obsessed as I was! (Different band though). Love the stories and all the collectibles. Best choice of meme so far - I loved this one!! Thanks Cam.

muralimanohar said...

Sub Michael Hutchence for Jack White, and you can call me just as obsessed. :p I wanted to join the meme, but my mom reads my blog, and I am NOT sharing that with her! rofl

Cass said...

Another INXS fan here too. Great concerts.

Cathy {tinniegirl} said...

I loved Dogs in Space. That movie was so cool. I loved INXS too but not with such passion as you! Police and Kiss were my bands of choice and obsession.

Anonymous said...

great walk down memory lane, thanks for the gret theme

Anna-Lisa said...

INXS - my very first concert!!

Betty Jo said...

I remember seeing INXS support Cold Chisel at a pub in Bulleen somewhere.
Michael Hutchence was just a gangley boy.
Although I wasn't a massive fan, I did have an unhealthy interest in the Michael and Paula Yates goings on.Very sad but strange pairing that one.

Reenie said...

Hey Ms Curly Pops.. I was at the movies the other week and saw a trailer for the new movie Hellboy 2 (now, that's not something I'd be interested in at all).. But then I read an article in the paper, and the actor who plays the baddie (a white faced, white haired, really scary looking alien thing) is actually... wait for it....
.
.
.
One of the guys from Bros..
.
.
Apparently he's a pretty good actor, and always does roles where he's some freaky baddie.
.
So there you go.... a bit of 80's music related trivia for your Sunday night...

SadieandLance said...

Another fan with her hand up her. I must confess the love has dwindled over the years though. I went to many an INXS concert including the Kick one and had all the albums although the earlier ones technically belong to dad and are vinyl.

And doesn't everyone remember Bros?

Gillian R said...

Yep...
I would have eagerly nominated myself to be Michael's life partner any day.....
First time I saw he and INXS was at the Australian Made concert in Melbourne, 1987. I went with my big brother and thought going to a concert was the coolest thing you could ever do in your entire life!

Anastasia said...

i do remember BROS haha i heard they were going to reunite! now thats scary!
i too loved INXS...such great music!!

Michelle said...

INXS - now they were such a great band, one of the best ever really. I have so many great memories that include INSX songs!! Love the mixtape, I have it playing right now!

maria said...

Bros, yes remember them "When will I be famous?", "I'm a man yes I am"
(Well I'm not but they thought they were)!
I had a string of bands I loved from a young age - The Osmonds, Shawadywady, The Police, Duran Duran, Wham...................

Lindsey said...

Oh what a fab theme! Thanks sooo much. I'm just having trouble picking one band - every blog I read pulls up another fave.
Loved INXS too. 'Listen Like Thieves' is still a mega album. Michael was just sooo sexy especially live - such a shame. I confess I cried like a school girl when he died. My mate and I marked Black Tuesday on our calendars at work. :o(
I also saw Bros though in an "ironic way" because they were not at all cool. A friend at work had a spare ticket and noone to go with. Honest guv...

Moppers23 said...

Great post, I also love them. they're the best band ever, and well put - Not the same without Michael but JD is a great front man. Here's hoping INXS has got some more rockin' in store for us!

Kirsty said...

One of my best friends from Secondary School tossed her undies at Michael @ the Kick concert.

Drewzel said...

What a cool post!
LOOOOOOOOOVE 'Dogs in Space'!!

Jenny said...

You certainly were a huge fan! I loved them too-thanks for a walk down memory lane!

Lindsay said...

Oh WOW!!!! You are quite the FAN!!! I like INXS too, so I can see why you like them so much!!

Mon @ bpab said...

Yeah, forgot about INXS.... they were a band I got into for a while. I finally did mine today (couldn't miss out!).
Thanks for the great idea!
Have a wonderful day.