DEDICATIONS

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Over the years, several bands and artists wrote and dedicated songs to honor, or grapple with the loss of, the charismatic INXS frontman Michael Hutchence.

U2

U2 wrote the 2000 track "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of". Frontman Bono has described it as an imagined, argumentative conversation with his late friend about the tragic nature of suicide.

U2's lead singer Bono wrote the lyrics about the 1997 suicide of his close friend Michael Hutchence, lead singer of the band INXS. The song is written in the form of an argument about suicide in which Bono tries to convince Hutchence of the act's foolishness. Bono characterised the song as a fight between friends, which he felt guilty for never having with Hutchence. As Bono said in 2005: "It's a row between mates. You're kinda trying to wake them up out of an idea. In my case it's a row I didn't have while he was alive. I feel the biggest respect I could pay to him was not to write some stupid soppy song, so I wrote a really tough, nasty little number, slapping him around the head. And I'm sorry, but that's how it came out of me."

DURAN DURAN

Duran Duran released "Michael, You've Got a Lot to Answer For" on their 1997 album Medazzaland.

Written by lead singer Simon Le Bon, the track is a personal, acoustic-leaning ballad dedicated to his close friend, INXS frontman Michael Hutchence. The song was recorded in 1996 and officially released in October 1997, just a month before Hutchence tragically took his own life in November 1997. Because of the tragic and sudden loss, Le Bon initially found the song too difficult to perform and cut it from the band's touring setlist, though they have brought it back as a tribute in subsequent years.

SMASHING PUMPKINS

Smashing Pumpkins released "Shame" on their 1998 album Adore, which Billy Corgan wrote in the immediate aftermath of Hutchence's death to encourage a friend facing a dark, irreversible decision.

"Shame" was partly inspired by the tragic death of INXS frontman Michael Hutchence. Billy Corgan has shared that the song's lyrics reflect a meditation on what you might say to a friend facing a dark, irreversible decision just ten minutes before they made it. The song was written very quickly and recorded live in just three hours, capturing a raw, immediate emotional state.

THE CHURCH

The Church released "This Is It" on their 1998 album Hologram of Baal, which reflects on the heartbreak surrounding Hutchence's final hours.

The Australian alternative rock band The Church recorded "This Is It" for their eleventh studio album, Hologram of Baal, released in September 1998. The song serves as a poignant reflection on the final hours of INXS frontman Michael Hutchence prior to his death in Sydney in November 1997. Written by band members Steven Kilbey, Peter Koppes, Martin Willson-Piper, and Tim Powles, the track muses on the emotional isolation, sudden turning points, and inner turmoil that Hutchence may have experienced in his hotel room. With lyrics such as “Split-second difference, one tiny percent / Yeah, he came and he went,” the song hints at the tragic circumstances surrounding the rocker's passing.

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