Modern Rock Tracks No. 1s - INXS and "Suicide Blonde"

Following the huge success of its 1987 hit album "Kick," INXS tops the Modern Rock Charts for the first and only time with a song about dyed-blonde hair

INXS - “Suicide Blonde”

Weeks atop the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart: 1 week (September 22, 1990)

Billboard Hot 100 chart toppers during this time:

• Wilson Phillips - “Release Me” (9/22/1990, 2 total weeks)

There’s so much I want to write about INXS. They’re just a fascinating band overall, and even though this will be the only chance I get to write about a Modern Rock Tracks #1 hit from this band, I’m certain they will come up again at some point. (Actually, they’ll probably be appearing here again sooner than you’d think, since one of their tracks has a prominent spot on my workout playlist as I continue to “run up the charts” as part of my training regimen.)

It’s fitting that I get to put this article together mere days after the anniversary of lead singer Michael Hutchence’s death. As Kevin Alexander recently wrote in tribute to Hutchence:

Hutchence has been gone 26 years now, but his legacy lives on. The band’s records continue to sell, and their songs still see decent rotation.

Alexander is not wrong: Two of INXS’s biggest hits, “Need You Tonight” and “Never Tear Us Apart” both have more than 300 million streams on Spotify, which is a solid number for songs more than 30 years old. Indeed, the band’s lowest number of visible streams on Spotify is “Original Sin,” which still generated 53 million plays as of the writing of this article. Those are pretty good statistics for a band whose lead singer passed away more than a quarter-century ago.

Somewhere in the middle of those numbers sits the band’s only MRT #1, a solid earworm first single off the band’s first album in the 1990s: “Suicide Blonde.”

One thing I need to get out of the way right off the bat is my beef with Australian bands and harmonicas, and how the early to mid-’90s seemed to be the heyday of over-the-top harmonica playing in alternative-pop hits. You may recall my mild tantrum over Midnight Oil’s grating overuse of the harmonica in my review of “Blue Sky Mine,” another chart topper from another beloved Aussie band. And the thing is, I’m still not crazy about the harmonica in “Suicide Blonde,” but something about it seems less off-putting. Maybe it’s because the harmonica has an electronic strobe-like effect added to it so it sounds much more futuristic and cool, but I’m far less offended by it.

That doesn’t mean it isn’t overwhelming and unnecessary at times. It feels like the harmonica bits just exist to extend the song’s runtime further than necessary, which is really where I land with this song. It’s a great dance song, and I can’t imagine being anywhere near a dance floor and being disappointed hearing this track blaring through the overloud speakers, but for pure radio listening or general-purpose enjoyment, it kind of wears out its welcome early.

I think it’s a fair criticism for a song that’s effectively about Hutchence’s then-girlfriend Kylie Minogue dyeing her hair a level of blonde that it was dubbed “suicide blonde” because she dyed it on her own, or so the story goes. With a title like that, you might think the song would have a more sultry or potentially morbid association, but no, it’s about hair.

Maybe there’s a bit of sexiness to the song if you look deep enough. I’m not convinced that Hutchence is singing about the hair being particularly bad when it’s dyed a deep blonde; on the contrary, he seems to be both attracted to it and blinded by it, spiritually and literally.

Suicide blonde was the color of her hair
Like a cheap distraction for a new affair

She stripped to the beat but her clothes stay on
White light everywhere but you can't see a thing
Such a squeeze
A mad sad moment

But subject matter aside, the song does deliver a strong percussive beat, led by Garry Gary Beers and his hypnotic lead bass. It’s easy to get sucked into the song and lulled into a bit of a hypnotic trance, not unlike someone who is blinded by the power of outrageously blonde hair. And if the song were cut by a solid minute or so into a tight three-minute package, I think it would stand the test of time even moreso than it already does. I blame the overuse of the harmonica.

I neither love nor hate “Suicide Blonde,” and I’m not alone in that regard. The track has a healthy following on Spotify, with nearly 75 million streams as of the time of this writing. On the music charts, this song peaked at #9 on the mainstream Hot 100, the band’s fifth consecutive top-10 hit on Billboard’s flagship chart. It topped the charts in Canada and New Zealand, and reached #2 on the Australian charts, the band’s seventh top-3 hit in their native land.

It stinks that we didn’t get to see where INXS, led by Hutchence, could have gone had they continued through the ‘90s into the modern day. Alas, things took a turn for the worse in 1992 when Hutchence suffered severe brain damage from an altercation where he hit his head on pavement, losing his sense of taste and smell. The years that followed were unpleasant, with periods of aggressive behavior and depression that ultimately led to him taking his own life on Nov. 22, 1997. At the time, the band was riding a continued wave of popularity with the release of their album “Elegantly Wasted,” with the lead single of the same name managing a top-15 peak on the MRT chart.

It’s inarguable that “Suicide Blonde” belongs in the conversation as one of INXS’s biggest and most well-known hits. Whether it belongs in the same discussion of all-time great tracks like the ones that came off of their “Kick” album is a matter of debate, but INXS took full advantage of their popularity to drive a pretty decent track to the top of the charts, a feat they wouldn’t repeat but likely should have, given the depth and breadth of their work.

Rating: 6/10

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Chart Check: A look at other notable MRT chart songs from this time period

This is the toughest time to find noteworthy tracks to spotlight outside of the #1 hit. Many of the tracks in the top 10 of this week’s chart were already featured in this space, or are former/future #1 hits. It doesn’t help that songs at this time were only topping the charts for a single week, a trend that mercifully starts to become less frequent once we get through 1990 (a year in which 23 unique songs top the MRT chart).

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“Hippychick” by Soho: Soho’s best-known hit, “Hippychick,” has a funky vibe more in line with the zeitgeist of pop music at the turn of the decade, which is why it succeeded in becoming a #14 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. That said, it was able to find a place in the alternative mainstream as well, and while it didn’t chart as high on alternative radio, it still managed a respectable #16 peak behind INXS. The Cuff sisters bring a strong vocal presence to the track, and while none of their other songs made a big impression on the charts, this one will likely be remembered fondly for those nostalgic for the time.

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“The King Is Half Undressed” by Jellyfish: I never heard of San Francisco rockers Jellyfish before I typed these words, but I have to admit I really dig this track from their debut album “Bellybutton.” I’m not sure which influences I hear in this song but I hear a lot of them, and I enjoyed it far more than I might have expected just based on the title. This one peaked at #19 on the MRT chart behind “Suicide Blonde,” but may have deserved better.

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“Love Or Something” by Bob Geldof: I continue to learn new things about artists as a result of this project. I looked at the name Bob Geldof and didn’t think much of it, until I learned that he’s primarily responsible for organizing Live Aid, Live 8 and Band Aid. Oh, and he co-wrote “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” AND he is Irish punk-rock royalty for his work with Boomtown Rats. However, his prominence did not lend itself to solo success with the release of this track, which peaked at #28 on the MRT chart. That said, it’s a fun track.

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