Rock 'n' Roll Personality Disorder: A Twelve Step Plan
-
Artist:
-
Album:I am Searching
5. Keep Searching
If you’ve seen the music doco Falling Light there’s a great line in it from Jeff Buckley’s mother where she says, “I have a picture in my mind that was actually a metaphysical image. That the body of my son was not the speck of dust they pulled out of the Wolf River but the body of his work.”It makes me think back to when Michael Hutchence sang “I Am Searching” with INXS at the 1997 Australian Record Industry Awards. It wasn’t public yet, but he and Paula Yates had been busted in London that same night after their nanny had turned in some drugs she had found beneath their bed to the police. An enormous amount of bad publicity was about to come screaming through the media - possibly incurring loss of custody over Yates’ children. Of course no one knew that at the time, except Michael Hutchence, who sang ‘I Am Searching’ to within an inch of his life. A lot of people in the room felt something strange and intense coming off him, even if they couldn’t put a finger on exactly what the energy was: a feeling of pain and hope, not unlike an elegant prayer unfolding from him physically as he performed. I think it was one of the great singing moments of his career. The next day the Daily Telegraph in Sydney ran a story saying he was yesterday’s news. It’s funny how time plays out. Now Michael Hutchence is eternal news. Damned if I know how INXS could have used the reality TV show Rock Star to replace him. I mean, how can you replace someone who is still ‘there’?
If you’ve seen the music doco Falling Light there’s a great line in it from Jeff Buckley’s mother where she says, “I have a picture in my mind that was actually a metaphysical image. That the body of my son was not the speck of dust they pulled out of the Wolf River but the body of his work.”It makes me think back to when Michael Hutchence sang “I Am Searching” with INXS at the 1997 Australian Record Industry Awards. It wasn’t public yet, but he and Paula Yates had been busted in London that same night after their nanny had turned in some drugs she had found beneath their bed to the police. An enormous amount of bad publicity was about to come screaming through the media - possibly incurring loss of custody over Yates’ children. Of course no one knew that at the time, except Michael Hutchence, who sang ‘I Am Searching’ to within an inch of his life. A lot of people in the room felt something strange and intense coming off him, even if they couldn’t put a finger on exactly what the energy was: a feeling of pain and hope, not unlike an elegant prayer unfolding from him physically as he performed. I think it was one of the great singing moments of his career. The next day the Daily Telegraph in Sydney ran a story saying he was yesterday’s news. It’s funny how time plays out. Now Michael Hutchence is eternal news. Damned if I know how INXS could have used the reality TV show Rock Star to replace him. I mean, how can you replace someone who is still ‘there’?
Comments (5)