Today marks the anniversary of Michael Hutchence's death (January 22, 1960 – November 22, 1997), so I would like to remember him with one of the most famous songs by his band, INXS: the power ballad Never Tear Us Apart.
The song, released in June 1988, is the fourth single from the 1987 album Kick, an album that also contained Need You Tonight and that definitively consecrated the band worldwide.
The lyrics of Never Tear Us Apart were written by Michael Hutchence for Michele Bennett, his girlfriend from 1982 to 1987 and his friend until his death.
The video was shot in Prague and won the award for best video at the 1989 Australian Music Awards.
Never Tear Us Apart was played in the background at Michael's funeral while his brother Rhett and the other members of the band carried the coffin out of St Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney.
In 1999, Tom Jones recorded a cover of the song for his album Reload in duet with Australian singer Natalie Imbruglia.
INXS re-recorded the song in 2010 with vocals by Ben Harper and Mylène Farmer, a French singer who rewrote part of the lyrics in her language. The band included the song in their album Original Sin.
Many artists have remembered Michael over the years. Among them, I want to mention U2. In 2000, Bono remembered his friend Michael with the song Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of, included in the album All That You Can't Leave Behind and released as a single in January 2001. The lyrics talk about Michael's suicide and are structured as a conversation in which Bono tries to convince his friend of the folly of his act.
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