Songoftheday 6/7/17 - Got some revelation put into your hands, save you from your misery like rain across the land...
from the album X (1990)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #9 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 9
Today's song of the day comes from the Australian alternative rock band INXS, whose album Kick from 1987 ended up being the pinnacle of their career, landing four top ten pop hits in America with "Never Tear Us Apart", "New Sensation", "Devil Inside", and the #1 "Need You Tonight". After a break where lead singer Michael Hutchence recorded an album with side-project Max Q which had a top-10 modern tock hit in the U.S. with "Way Of The World", the group returned with their seventh studio release X in 1990. The first single from the set would be the guitar-led rocker "Suicide Blonde". Written by Hutchence and bandmate Andrew Farriss and named for a wig that then-girlfriend Kylie Minogue had to wear while filming a movie, the blues-rock jumper was aimed straight for rock radio, eschewing any pretense that then "softened" their sound to go "pop"...
"Suicide Blonde" became the band's sixth top ten pop hit in the States in October of 1990. The track was a huge success on rock radio, spending four weeks at #1 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart and one more on their Modern Rock list. The 12" remixes climbed to #25 on their Dance Club Play chart as well. Internationally, the record topped the chart in Canada (2 weeks) and New Zealand, and reached #2 in their native Australia, #3 in Ireland, #9 in the Netherlands, #11 in the UK, and #23 in Germany and France. In 1991, INXS was nominated for a Grammy Awards for Rock Group/Duo performance, losing out to Aerosmith's "Janie's Got A Gun".
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Here's the band performing the song live at the MTV Music Video Awards in 1990...
Next up, in a much bigger venue at Wembley Stadium in London in 1991...
...and finally, from a TV appearance on Later with Jools Holland in 1994...
Up tomorrow: Hair metal band soars to the skies.
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