Suicide Blonde

"Suicide Blonde"
Single by INXS
from the album X
B-side "Everybody Wants U Tonight"
Released August 1990 (1990-08)
Format
Genre Alternative rock, funk rock
Length 3:53
Label Mercury
Songwriter(s) Andrew Farriss, Michael Hutchence
Producer(s) Chris Thomas
INXS singles chronology
"Mystify"
(1989)		 "Suicide Blonde"
(1990)		 "Disappear"
(1990)

"Suicide Blonde" is the first single from the INXS album X. It reached number two in Australia, number nine in the United States, and number 11 in the United Kingdom. In Canada and New Zealand, the song reached number one.

Writing and recording

The song was written by Michael Hutchence and Andrew Farriss of the group INXS, after the band had gotten back together after a year-long sabbatical in 1989. The song was named after a woman who had bleached her own hair because she had "dyed" by her own hand and who was "love devastation". It is rumoured that Hutchence's then-girlfriend, Kylie Minogue, gave him the inspiration for the title while working on her 1989 film The Delinquents. Minogue was required to dye her hair platinum blonde for the role.

The recording of "Suicide Blonde" showed some new and older influences on INXS. Jon Farriss's drums show the influence of dance music especially the acid house sounds popular in the UK. Similarly, the blues harp intro on the track, performed by Charlie Musselwhite, was sampled rather than recorded live. The main riff in the song is a simple rework of the driving funk riff in the band's 1984 single "Original Sin," produced by Nile Rodgers - same key, same riff. This has come to be known as Rodgers' signature riff and can be heard from the 1970s heyday of Chic ("Soup for One") to the mid 1980s Duran Duran pop hit "Notorious," also produced by Rodgers.

The track became poignant after Hutchence committed suicide on 22 November 1997, and his lover Paula Yates died of an overdose on 17 September 2000, after attempting suicide in 1998.

Chart performances

The track was released in September 1990 throughout the world. In the US, the track reached a peak of #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped both the modern rock and mainstream rock charts. A dance remix of the track received wide airplay on US top 40 stations, reaching the top 10 of the dance chart. In the UK, the track reached a peak of #11 while it reached #2 in their homeland of Australia1 and #1 in Canada.

Track listings

Charts and certifications

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Suicide Blonde", in various singles charts Lescharts.com (Retrieved 10 April 2008)
  2. ↑ "Image : RPM Weekly - Library and Archives Canada". Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  3. 1 2 "Single top 100 over 1990" (pdf) (in Dutch). Top40. Retrieved 12 April 2010.
  4. ↑ German Singles Chart Charts-surfer.de (Retrieved 10 April 2008)
  5. ↑ Irish Single Chart Irishcharts.ie (Retrieved 10 April 2008)
  6. ↑ Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  7. ↑ UK Singles Chart Chartstats.com (Retrieved 10 April 2008)
  8. 1 2 3 4 Billboard Allmusic.com (Retrieved 17 September 2008)
  9. ↑ http://wweb.uta.edu/faculty/gghunt/charts/inxs.html
  10. ↑ 1990 Australian Singles Chart. aria.com. Retrieved 17 September 2008.
  11. ↑ "Top 100 Hit Tracks of 1990". RPM. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
  12. ↑ "END OF YEAR CHARTS 1990" (in Dutch). RIANZ. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
  13. ↑ St John, Ed; INXS (1992). INXS: The Official Inside Story of a Band on the Road. Mandarin. p. 76. ISBN 1-86330-207-7.
  14. ↑ "American single certifications – INXS – Suicide Blonde". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH. 

(1) US chart details from Allmusic.com UK chart details from Everyhit.com, Australian chart details from ARIA and Wikipedia INXS article.

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