Songoftheday 12/29/12 - The way you move soft and slippery Cut the night just like a razor Rarely talk and that's the danger...

INXS - "The One Thing"
from the album Shabooh Shoobah (1982)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #30 (two weeks)
Weeks in the top-40: 5

Today's Song of the Day is by the Australian new-wave group INXS, who came together under singer Michael Hutchence and keyboardist Andrew Farriss in school in Sydney. Farriss brought along his two brothers, and began gigging in pubs in the late 70s. They released their self-titled first album in 1980, and from it had their first top-40 hit in their homeland, "Just Keep Walking". Their followup, the single-only release, "The Loved One", did even better, making the top-20 there.

When it came time to record their third album, the group had tightened up into a funky new wave rock unit that is epitomized by its first single, "The One Thing", written by Hutchence and Andy Farriss, and produced by Mark Opitz, who has also worked with AC/DC, which helped them get the "big" sound that broke them in America...

The song was their biggest in Australia yet, going to #14, and became their first top-40 pop hit in the US, and was a huge hit on MTV and rock radio, peaking at #2 on that chart.

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The band did even better on tour, opening for the biggest pop acts of the time, and also appearing at the US Festival in 1983...

Up tomorrow: some bashful child's talk.