KICK INXS

I used get made fun of for liking INXS in High School, because all my friends thought they were not a cool band. I also was told that the music sucked and the reason they made it big was because it was an accident that we did not have enough music from down under represented in our musical culture. One friend claimed the only band worth hearing from Australia was AC/DC. I disagreed and went on my way to hear an original and more mature sounding band in INXS.

Who would have thought a band like INXS would come full circle. Today it was announced that Beck and his wonderful Record Club would cover INXS Kick. It must be hip again to look back at the 80's and do such a thing. I mean in 1987 when the album came out it was new and fun and had great elements of college rock and true rock and roll without all the 80's sound around it. I remember going to the store to pick it up. It was my first "new vinyl" buy in my life. Sure I had a few records in 1987, but I never actually went to the store and bought a new wrapped in cellophane before and that day I bought two. I bought Joshua Tree as well.

What made me like Kick more then Joshua Tree, that remains a mystery I heard and saw U2 so many times I needed something new and fresh. INXS was not that new or fresh, but it was new to me. I heard the first single on the radio and thought it rocked. It was fun at first, but then I realized I wanted to take this excitement on my bike rides. I was going to tape the record, but my best friend had the cassette. I asked for the tape. At first he did not want to let it go. He too had a liking to INXS as I did. It took some muscle, but my best friend let it go. He went away to college in upstate New York and he let me play with his tapes and few CD's that he had.

In the years liking INXS I was an outcast. I mean a musical outcast. I listened to all types of music, but the tape I always went to was the Kick album. It eventually fell off my musical spectrum and I went on to other things, but every once in a while I went to the tape to remember my 14th year of my life. It was an era that I just listen to happy music with happy results. I actually still have a soft spot for INXS. Even when Michael Hutchence died tragically in November of 1997.

So when you hear Beck cover INXS remember this story. This album had four number 1 songs. It may seem a bit dated, for 2010 standards, but back in 1987, it sounded great and fresh and new. I would not place in a top 100 of my favorites, but every once in a while, it transports me back to 1987. A wonderful album from an era that music was still waiting to find its place before it got good again. It's no Joshua Tree or Appetite for Destruction, but had some Kick to it. Enjoy!