People say he was like Jim Morrison or something, but he wasn't moribund and a bit of a lagoob like Ol' Jimbo was. They both know how to use their hips, and they had good hair. And there's a lot more to it.
But watching performances of theirs, whether it be the US festival in '83, I remember seeing that very soon after it was happening and, "Oh, that's an Australian band playing at this massive festival." I guess as a band, as well, they just wanted it, really wanted it. And they had some real songwriting nous. They could do that big stage thing. And when that got lambasted and looked down upon when oiks like us were coming up, I thought, "But we want that. We just kind of don't know how to do that." To find that, in that pop world, someone who had what people would deem rock 'n roll is, in many ways, a really fantastic combination.
A person like him that's still a great performer at any time, from the get-go until he died... You just couldn't really keep your eyes off him. There was an ARIA Awards, maybe 1996, and INXS were performing. I think they did Elegantly Wasted at the show, I think. And I was excited to see them, I was a fan. And we were being touted as the hot young things, and so backstage I ran into Michael, and he kind of looked drawn and tired, but still very handsome. And I can't remember the exact conversation, because I get starstruck like anybody, and he said, "Oh, good to see you again." And he said also, "I guess it's your year." And I said, "I don't want it to be our year, I'm just glad to be here," or something like that.
But, yeah, the months before, though, were just absolutely pillared. INXS and Michael, if not personally, then a specter of it, was being absolutely lambasted by elements of the Australian press that now go, "Oh, wasn't he just the greatest rockstar?" He got given, and the band, after the Concert for Life, and there seemed to be this feeling that they were of another era, and it was though they were big and flash, and that wasn't what rock 'n roll was nowadays.
Now kind of knowing what went on, the skullduggerous nature of what went on around that, I just think everyone coming out and talking about Michael the way they do now, I think, "Just remember the way you behaved back then. Some of you could hang your heads in shame, really."
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