113. INXS - Kick

This album was the culmination of my mental affair with Michael Hutchence. Ever since Shabooh Shoobah and The One Thing, I had been carrying on a sordid affair with him in my mind. Here I was a (mostly) grown woman, and I was swooning like I hadn't swooned since I had that poster of Leif Garret on my bedroom wall. Hutchence was sultry. He pulled off sexy in that smoky, decadent way that is usually reserved for raspy voiced women in cocktail dresses.

Unlike my swooning of the past, this one involved the music as well. It wasn't just him and his hair and the way he looked. It was the combination of his looks, his voice and the music that all together was an orgy for the senses. Seeing the band live was a treat. Hutchence's stage presence was magnificent. He was mesmerizing and entertaining. He was part rock and roll and part lounge singer crooning to groupies. Even the guys were mesmerized by him.

This album had the most hits for the band and I think made the best use of Hutchence's voice, showing off both the power and sexiness of it. While songs like Devil Inside and Need You Tonight/Mediate are great reminders of the awesomeness of the band, it was Never Tear Us Apart that left its mark on me. At this point in my life, I had graduated from singing with a fake microphone (broom handle, thumb) in my room to singing with a fake microphone (cigarette, thumb) in my car. I'd put that song on, roll up the windows because nobody but me needed to hear this, turn the volume all the way up and drive, drive, drive until I wore my voice out singing it over and over. I was off kilter and off key and sounded like the bastard love child of Yoko Ono and Kim Carnes, but I owned that song when I was in the privacy of my Mustang.

I think I need to take a car ride now.

Favorite song: Never Tear Us Apart
Michael Hutchence bio