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January 1998
January
29, 1998
More details
are emerging on the forthcoming Michael Hutchence solo record. With ex-Gang
Of Four member Andy Gill producing, Michael recorded nearly 16 tracks,
including "Get On The Inside" and "A Straight Line." In addition, Michael
also did extensive work with Danny Saber of Black Grape and Tim Simenon
of Bomb The Bass fame. In all, some 25 songs are in various stages of
completion, according to INXS manager Martha Troup. Read the entire story
at Addicted
To Noise.
Greatest
Hits moves up five spots to #34 on this week's Australian ARIA Album
Chart.
January
27, 1998
The World
Entertainment News Network reports that a three-way feud over Michael's
ashes between mother Patricia Glassop, father Kell Hutchence, and lover
Paula Yates was so fierce the trio eventually agreed the only way to keep
everyone happy was to split Hutchence's remains into three. As reported
previously, one third of ashes were thrown from a boat into Sydney Harbour
by his father Kell, and brother Rhett on what would have been Michael's
38th birthday. Michael's mother and Yates were not invited to the ceremony
that also included the other band members. Speaking from her Surfer's
Paradise home in Queensland, Australia, Glessop said "I am extremely upset
at being left out". Yates is now eagerly awaiting the arrival in Britain,
by special delivery, of her allotted third of the ashes.
The
Box video request channel currently has a page dedicated to the Don't
Lose Your Head video. It features three stills from the clip and a
section for comments on the video.
January
22, 1998
Happy 38th
Birthday Michael! Earlier today, Michael's family and the band gathered
in a private ceremony and spread Michael's ashes in Sydney Harbor.
Greatest
Hits moves down one spot to #39 on the Australian ARIA Album Charts.
January
19, 1998
Michael's
38th Birthday would have been this Thursday, January 22nd. Vh-1 will be
re-airing "INXS Rocks The Rockies" to commemorate the day at 5pm EST and
then again at midnight. In addition, MTV Europe will air a Michael Hutchence
documentary at 23.00 (11pm) CET.
January
17, 1998
An Excess
of INXS has been named today's Entertainment "Hot Site" by Starting Point! Thanks to all
of you who voted!
Greatest
Hits moves down eight spots this week to #38 on the Australian ARIA
Album Charts.
January
15, 1998
The RIAA
continues to award certifications on INXS' back catalogue. On January
9, Live Baby Live and Greatest Hits were both certified
platinum (1 million copies sold). Congratulations to the band! For those
of you keeping score, INXS' awards are now: Shabooh Shoobah (Gold),
The Swing (Platinum), Listen Like Thieves (Double Platinum),
Kick (Sextuple Platinum), X (Double Platinum), Live Baby
Live (Platinum), Welcome to Wherever You Are (Platinum), and
Greatest Hits (Platinum).
Elegantly
Wasted scanned 565 units this week, down 26% (198 units) from last
week. RTD sales are at 160,578. The top three markets were Chicago (55),
New York (33) and Los Angeles (30). Full Moon, Dirty Hearts scanned
37 units this week, down 38% (23 units) from last week. RTD sales are
148,322. Top three markets were Los Angeles (11), New York (7), and Boston
(2).
January
11, 1998
The Sunday
Telegraph today reports that Michael saw a doctor in the Los Angeles
deluxe hotel he was staying at barely a week before his death. Dr Shapiro
confirmed he had seen Hutchence on request, but declined to comment on
his condition at the time. Dr Shapiro said he was ethically bound not
to discuss a patient's treatment, but added "what I took care of him for"
had nothing to do with the singer's death.
According
to the docket at Glebe Court in Sydney, the toxicology reports are set
to be released on February 6 by the coroner's office.
Greatest
Hits is currently ranked at #30 on the Australian ARIA charts, up
eight spots from last week. In other chart news, Savage Garden's "Truly
Madly Deeply" has become the first Australian single since INXS' "Need
You Tonight" to hit #1 on the US Billboard Charts.
And finally,
kudos to the Denver Post -- they named Elegantly Wasted
the 12th best song of 1997.
January
6, 1998
U2 lead
singer Bono has revealed in an interview with Q Magazine that Michael
had talked to him recently about suicide. Commenting on the difficulty
of dealing with the loss of a friend, Bono said, "We were flying between
shows and someone called and told me. (Long pause) I still haven't figured
out quite how I feel about it. I don't know whether I'm angry or guilty....You
always think if it's a mate that there was something you could have done.
I still find it hard to figure it all out, because I had a conversation
with him not that long ago where we talked about something like this,
and we both agreed how dumb and selfish it would be, and Hutch was not
at all selfish." Bono said that he and Hutchence were neighbors in France
and that their personality differences helped to fuel their friendship.
"He was a nice guy to be around. He was very light, whereas I don't think
I'm the easiest person to be around, so we balanced each other out. But
I hadn't seen him for a while, because we were both off doing our thing.
I'm finding the whole thing very hard to understand...."
January
4, 1998
Michael
Hutchence appears in the forthcoming indie film Limp, which was
shot in Vancouver last year. He has a cameo as a record producer, and
filmed the part when the band was in town last September. Director Duane
Lavold's film is about an artist who gets a middle-class girlfriend, and
then becomes respectable and impotent, hence the title.
The Recording
Industry Association of America conferred the following awards to INXS
on December 16, 1997: Listen Like Thieves and X were both
certifed double platinum (sales in excess of two million copies) and The
Swing and Welcome to Wherever You Are were both certified platinum
(sales in excess of one million copies). Kick was recently certified
sextuple platinum (sales in excess of six million copies) in October 1997.
January
1, 1998
Happy New
Year! I don't think there's anyway it could be worse than this past one...
Michael
Hutchence has left most of his $12.5 million (Australian) fortune to Greenpeace
and Friends of the Earth according to Australian music industry columnist
Christine Eliezer. The remainder of his estate has apparently been willed
to daughter Heavenly Heraani Tiger Lily, with little, if any, provisions
for Paula Yates. Eliezer cited an INXS spokesperson as saying that Hutchence
had less than expected accumulated wealth because he had quietly given
away much of it to various charities over the years. His favorite targets,
said the spokesperson, were those pertaining to sick and underprivileged
children.
The video
for Elegantly Wasted made the Top 10 on MTV Latino's Top 100 of
the year! A big thank you to everyone in Latin America for making the
album such a huge success! In addition, the single made #20 in the year-end
South African charts.
Greatest
Hits is at #38 on this week's ARIA Album charts. It has just been
certified double platinum in Australia. |
