Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: TV Show: Rock Star INXS

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 07-10-2005, 06:51 PM:

I just saw a promo of this CBS TV show, quite fittingly enough on Comedy Central. It is a f**king stupid idea!!!

Basically, this is an "American Idol" copycat show. I hate "American Idol" as it is. The only thing that will get me to tune into that show is if some contestant walks over and beats the hell out the wannabe insult comic, Simon.

Anyway, viewers get to vote on who will be the next singer of INXS. I don't mean to step on anyone's toes, but the general public as a voting collective is about as intelligent as mildew growing in bathroom tile. Yes, our public is that stupid. Don't anyone try to argue with me on this. It is FACT.

Example of our public's voting stupidity? Take the Discovery Channel's recent popularity contest allowing viewers to vote for the "greatest American of all time." They picked Ronald Reagan! Idiots! Shit, even if you were voting for greatest Republicans of all time, Abraham Lincoln easily kicks Reagan's ass!

Our public also provides guys like Jay Leno an unlimited supply of doofuses who don't even know basic geography. They can't point out Japan on a globe. Their idea of "Central America" is Kansas.

So now CBS-TV wants the same collective pool of idiocy to phone in and pick the next front man (or front woman) of INXS? It's just too sad.

Are the remaining members of INXS really deep in debt or something? Are they that desperate to sink so low that they're willing to have millions of dumb-ass Americans pick their next singer? I pretty much thought the band was finished when Michael Hutchence killed himself.

I think the band should break up. It would be better for the remaining members to take jobs bagging groceries than allowing something so lame as having a once legendary rock band be fronted by some Britney Spears wannabe. That's how America will vote. They won't vote for getting another Austrailian born singer with some legitimate swagger and some ability to sing original INXS tunes.

This whole thing is so very far away from that time in the 1980's when INXS was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine and called "the greatest rock band in the world."

Posted by Jon Miller (Member # 163) on 07-11-2005, 02:55 PM:

Regardless of the merit of the band, INXS, IMHO, was closely identified by the late MIchael Hutchence as their lead singer. Any replacement singer, whether scouted internally or through their "Idol"-esque publicity stunt, just won't sound the same as the original.

INXS should have done the same thing Nirvana did when Kurt Cobain committed suicide and folded their tent right after Hutchence decided to join Cobain and others in the great rock band in the sky.

Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 07-12-2005, 11:06 AM:

Cool! The lead singer in a friends tribute band will be on the show, I'll be checking it out for that.

Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 07-13-2005, 12:30 AM:

quote: Jon Miller
INXS should have done the same thing Nirvana did when Kurt Cobain committed suicide and folded their tent right after Hutchence decided to join Cobain and others in the great rock band in the sky.

They didn't just fold up, they moved on as well. Didn't they become "foo fighters"?

And what of gun's n roses/stone temple pilots becomeing "velvet revolver"?

Rage against the machine becoming "Audioslave" with former soundgarden frontman.

Musicians need to move on, not stay with what they know. Grow, experiment, not keep with what USED to be.

Led Zeppelin could not continue after the death of their DRUMMER! I mean if thier drummer was as much a voice as robert plant, then why is mr. hutchence so replaceable by these posers?

Now with ACDC, when bon scott died, they did get a new singer, and upped the voltage, true acdc style, it worked.

This thing is truly a bad joke.

Ciao

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 07-13-2005, 01:08 AM:

I can see one possability here not saying what they are doing as far as the tv thing is the right thing to do but one has to realize that Michael Hutchence Died in 1997 and the peak of the bands popularity was in the late 80's early ninties. They are probably trying to get the attention of the young people. The band by all means has the right to carry on and re-establish themselves and find a singer but the TV thing is not the best way to go about it. The band was formed by Tim and John Farriss and originally called The Farriss Bros. Band when they formed in 1977 and later changed their name to INXS in 1979.

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 07-13-2005, 01:41 AM:

From the Drifters to AC/DC, R&R frontmen have been replaced & bands continued to have hits. Please god of moderation, do not let this thread be hijacked into a debate over Van Halen with David Lee Roth or Sammy Hagar.

The bands in the Big Band era didn't fold when their star vocalists, instrumentalists, etc. identified with the band were changed.

Foo Fighters isn't the remainder of Nirvana; it was started by Dave Grohl, Nirvana's drummer, after Cobain died.

Velvet Revolver isn't Guns-n-Roses without Axel Rose; it's actually the last permutation of a bunch of guys from different r&r bands that were restless while the members of their 'regular' bands couldn't get together for albums, touring, etc. & formed the Neurotic Outsiders. They called each other up & put some stuff together to do some club gigs: John Taylor from Duran Duran, Duff McKagan from GnR, Steve Jones from the Sex Pistols, & Matt Sorum who played with both GnR & The Cult. As time passed, the group shook apart with Taylor going back for a DD reunion, Sorum had a tour with The Cult, guys became unavailable, etc. Then Sorum & McKagan had no more band when they wanted one again, so they got hold of Scott Weiland from Stone Temple Pilots for vocals & auditioned for a guitar frontman & came up with Dave Kushner.

It's just a bunch of musicians trying to keep busy & have fun.

Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 07-13-2005, 07:15 PM:

Most of these guys probably don't know how to do anything else other than write and play music, so I dont think it's a horrible thing that they want to stay in the business, and what better way to get attention like this for the band.

Posted by Steve Scott (Member # 630) on 07-15-2005, 11:37 AM:

The thing I've noticed from the TV spots is these contest singers aren't anywhere near the style of former frontman Hutchence. They've got them singing top-40 classic rock rits from the Stones, Clash, et. al. CBS seems to be pandering INXS to the crowds of aging baby boomers and their Target-store-Pink-Floyd-T-Shirt wearing children, just to pick up after Idol stepped off the air for the time being.

I accept that the band has the choice of where to move stylisticly after Hutchence's death. But is this move to suggest that Hutchence was the sole visionary that wanted to shape alternative music, and the rest of the band just played his music with a smile? I don't believe it. INXS must have been one of several bands sweet-talked by Les Moonves and the rest at CBS into giving up innovation for arena-rock justice. The execs heard that NBC was making Hit me Baby One More Time, and they freaked out.

It probably could have been any number of bands sitting in their current spot. But being a fan of their original material, the show looks sad and segregatory. A new group of TV watchers get to separate INXS' fan base into the old and the new, permanently creating an old and a new band. Sorta like Genesis I guess, but that was before my time.

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 07-15-2005, 02:06 PM:

Funny thing about Genesis is that it was originaly fronted by Peter Gabriel and then Phil Collins stepped from behind his drum set and took over volcals. It was pretty much as if nothing changed.

Oh by the way, 3 of the performers each had to sing a different INXS song, these three had the lowest vote count from the online fans, in order to keep from being sent home by the band.