In anticipation of our upcoming Pedestrian Coach session with CM Murphy – the main man responsible for creating one of Australia’s biggest exports, INXS – we thought we’d do a bit of research and see what little known facts we could dig up. Like did you know keyboardist Andrew Farriss first met Michael Hutchence in high school when he broke up a fight between Hutchence and another student?
One great dies, another is born
According to INXS legend, Andrew, Jon and Tim Farriss along with Michael Hutchence, Kirk Pengilly, and Garry Gary Beers formed a band on the very same night Elvis died. They named themselves the rather bland, The Farriss Brothers.
They had a shit name until Midnight Oil came along
Noticing how terrible their name was, Midnight Oil’s manager Gary Morris suggested they change their name to INXS – inspired by English band XTC and Australian jam makers IXL.
INX-CHRIST?
Along with the change of name, Morris tried to turn the boys into the world’s biggest Christian rock band – promoting the drug-and-alcohol-free, no-sex-before-marriage lifestyle. Michael Hutchence prooooobably had a bit to say about that suggestion.
Their manager had no idea how to manage a band
Once INXS said a polite ‘fuck no’ to being the Hillsong band of the ‘80s, Morris passed the boys onto his mate CM Murphy. Three songs into hearing them for the first time, Murphy was all, “this is pretty funky and that long-haired guy is uber weird” and signed up to be their booking manager, as he had no idea how to manage a band. Turns out, he did alright.
‘Original Sin’ was produced and recorded by Nile Rogers
After catching them in Toronto, Nile Rogers approached them to record a track. Originally called ‘Brand New Day’, Rogers recorded ‘Original Sin’ live in his studio in New York without the band even realizing it.
Their record label hated Kick
After recording their sixth album in Sydney and Paris, the boys sent if off to their US label Atlantic Records who absolutely HATED it. They even offered the band $1million to go back to Australia to make another record but the boys stuck to their guns. When Kick was released in October 1987, it reached #1 in Australia, #3 in the US and #9 in UK – making it their most successful album.
The riff for ‘Need You Tonight’ was a lightbulb moment
As songwriter Andrew Farriss was stepping into a cab bound for the airport, the riff for ‘Need You Tonight’ just popped into his head. He told the cabbie he’d forgotten something inside and quickly ran in to record the riff, returning an hour later to a very pissed off driver. The song went on to reach #1 on the Billboard charts.
If you want to learn how to become the next INXS or would like to know how to manage the next INXS, sign up to be coached by CM Murphy HERE.
