INXS: New Singer For The Band 2010?
Late INXS Frontman Michael Hutchence Would Have Been 50 Today... Heavy Sigh
Friday January 22, 2010
Don't let this make you feel too much older than you probably already feel, but today would have been original INXS frontman Michael Hutchence's 50th birthday. The photogenic performer probably would have greeted the milestone gracefully based on his stylish ability both to define and buck '80s trends. Still, Hutchence's 1997 death remains one of the most stinging '80s music losses of all time, as a 15-years-plus career as a rock star seemed like only the beginning for the talented singer. Despite the still-hovering cloud of his early death, Hutchence's surviving bandmates have released heartfelt statements to coincide with the bittersweet occasion of January 22, 2010. It may be depressing to recall just how early Hutchence's voice was silenced, but it's also an opportunity to acknowledge yet again the band's importance as well as the continuing impact of the classic frontman it so generously provided to the entertainment world. Eight years after Michael's death, a television show featured the members of INXS looking for a new singer to succeed Michael. The show, which aired on CBS, was called Rock Star: INXS. The winner was Canadian singer J.D. Fortune. Fortune and the band parted ways in 2009 amidst some controversy.[13] Early life and career Hutchence was born in Sydney, son of Kelland ("Kell") and Patricia Hutchence, but was subsequently raised in Hong Kong. He began performing at the age of eight in a local toy store commercial. He attended King George V School during his early teens. The family eventually returned to Sydney in Hutchence's late teens, and it was there that Hutchence befriended Andrew Farriss at Davidson High School on Sydney's Northern Beaches. Shortly after, Michael and Andrew joined with Andrew's brothers Tim and Jon, as well as friends Garry Gary Beers and Kirk Pengilly to form their first band, The Farriss Brothers, which would ultimately become INXS. When, in 1979, the Farriss family moved to Perth, Western Australia, the rest of the band followed, returning to Sydney soon after. In 1980, the group released their first album, INXS, and put out their first single, "Simple Simon," which was soon followed by their first moderate Australian hit, "Just Keep Walking." During the 1980s, he resided at the apartment block at the end of Kirketon Road, Darlinghurst, Sydney. Hutchence became the main spokesperson for the band and gained a reputation as an enigmatic, sensual frontman, although his close friends and family always maintained he was much more introverted than his onstage persona. A talented lyricist, he co-wrote almost all of INXS's songs with Andrew Farriss, who has attributed his own success as a songwriter to Hutchence's "genius". [edit] Stardom, acting career and romances In 1987, following several increasingly successful INXS albums, Hutchence appeared in the Australian movie Dogs in Space, directed by long-time INXS music video collaborator, Richard Lowenstein. In the film, some events are from Lowenstein's life when sharing a home with friend Sam Sejavka, played by Hutchence. In 1989, he released the album Max Q, a collaboration with Australian post-punk pioneer Ollie Olsen. In 1990, he played Percy Shelley in Roger Corman's Frankenstein Unbound. Hutchence's private life was often reported in the Australian and international press, with a string of love affairs with prominent actresses, models and singers, including Kym Wilson, Kylie Minogue and Helena Christensen. Other brief romances included Berlin lead singer Terri Nunn,[1] supermodel Elle MacPherson, and Go-Go's lead singer Belinda Carlisle.
Song Title: Suicide Blonde
Genre: Rock: Pop-Rock
Don't you know what you're doing
You've got a death wish
Suicide blonde
Suicide blonde
Suicide blonde
Suicide blonde
Suicide blonde was the color of her hair
Like a cheap distraction for a new affair
She knew it would finish before it began
Wow baby I think you lost the plan
You want to make her suicide blonde
Love devastation suicide blonde
You want to make her suicide blonde
Love devastation suicide blonde
She stripped to the beat but her clothes stay on
White light everywhere but you can't see a thing
Such a squeeze
A mad sad moment
Glory to you
Glory to you
Take me there
Take me there
Got some revelation
Put into your hands
Save you from your misery like rain across the land
Don't you see the color of deception
Turning your world around again
That's the story
AMERICA'S DIRTY LITTLE SECRET
BAD BLOOD: THE TUSKEGEE SYPHILIS EXPERIMENT
In 1932 the American Government promised 400 men - all residents of Macon County, Alabama, all poor, all African American - free treatment for Bad Blood, a euphemism for syphilis which was epidemic in the county. Treatment for syphilis was never given to the men and was in fact withheld. The men became unwitting subjects for a government sanctioned medical investigation, The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male. The Tuskegee Study, which lasted for 4 decades, until 1972, had nothing to do with treatment. No new drugs were tested; neither was any effort made to establish the efficacy of old forms of treatment. It was a non-therapeutic experiment, aimed at compiling data on the effects of the spontaneous evolution of syphilis on black males. What has become clear since the story was broken by Jean Heller in 1972 was that the Public Health Service (PHS) was interested in using Macon County and its black inhabitants as a laboratory for studying the long-term effects of untreated syphilis, not in treating this deadly disease. The Tuskegee Study symbolizes the medical misconduct and blatant disregard for human rights that takes place in the name of science. The studies principal investigators were not mad scientists, they were government physicians, respected men of science, who published reports on the study in the leading medical journals. The subjects of the study bear witness to the premise that the burden of medical experimentation has historically been borne by those least able to protect themselves. The government doctors who participated in the study failed to obtain informed consent from the subjects in a study of disease with a known risk to human life. Instead, the PHS offered the men incentives to participate:
