Why are we here? Are we alone? When will INXS be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame? These are the great mysteries of our time.
During their remarkable heyday in the 1980s and 1990s, INXS collected almost every plaudit on the awards trail.
The doors to the Rock Hall, however, have remained stubbornly shut.
INXS would like that to change. “It’d be a great honour,” says Kirk Pengilly, INXS’ founding sax player, guitarist and backing vocalist. “When you look at who’s in there, to have someone representing Australia would be good.”
For a country with a genuine pedigree in rock music, the Australian contingent in the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame, arguably the greatest single honour for a contemporary act, is paltry, if not embarrassing,
The first inductee from these parts came in 1997, when the brothers Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb, better known as the Bee Gees, were elevated with Beach Boy Brian Wilson and Raffael Saddiq on hand to induct the band. Though born in Britain, the Gibbs relocated to Redcliffe, Queensland in 1952 and the lads started their musical career before the decade was out, performing during breaks in the action at speedways. The rest, is musical history.
It’s a long way to the top, but AC/DC did it in 2003 when they were elevated at a US ceremony with Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler on induction duties. Also, Michael Balzary, better known as Flea, bass player with Red Hot Chili Peppers, qualifies as an Aussie in the Rock Hall. That’s about it.
Love Music?
Get your daily dose of metal, rock, indie, pop, and everything else in between.
The class of 2025 includes OutKast, the White Stripes, Cyndi Lauper and Soundgarden, but, again, no Australians.
INXS are still waiting for the call, despite doing more than enough to secure a nomination.
Formed in Perth in 1977, INXS kicked their way to rock music’s summit with six U.K. top 10 albums (including a No. 1 with Welcome To Wherever You Are from 1992) and five U.S. top 20 albums, a BRIT Award (in 1991 for best international group) and, in 2001, elevation into the ARIA Hall of Fame.
Though no longer an active, touring outfit, the group’s catalogue is a diamond mine. Career streams top 4 billion and their diamond-certified 2011 release The Best Of was one of just three homegrown recordings to crack the ARIA year-end chart for 2024, dropping in at No. 81 – proof that their music has stood the test of time.
To qualify for the Rock Hall, an act must have released their first commercial recording at least 25 years prior to the year of nomination. Also, its panel considers the artist’s influence and impact on the development and perpetuation of rock and roll. INXS ticks those boxes.
“There’s been a movement,” says Pengilly. “There has to be a whole bunch of protocol for it to happen. I don’t know where it’s at.”
That movement has been led by superfans in both hemispheres.
Pushing for induction has been Shanon Steele, Jim Skivalidas and the late Dina Ghram, who as “Team Induct INXS” built a bespoke website and started a petition to Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame president Greg Harris.
Alongside the Rock Hall petition, the team invested in a website at inductinxs.com.
The Change.org campaign carries the clean title, “Induct INXS into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2026”, and at the time of writing is closing in on 19,000 signatures.
Closer to home, a popular podcast, INXS: Access All Areas, led by Haydn Murdoch and Bridgit “Bee” Hewitt, explores the band and their many hits, which include “Original Sin,” “What You Need,” “Don’t Change,” “Burn For You,” and others.
The podcast team hosted a 5th anniversary party this week at Plushtown Studios on the Northern Beaches, which became “a full-blown INXS love-in” when Pengilly dropped by to mingle with supporters.
Pengilly spoke with Rolling Stone AU/NZ on the 40th anniversary deluxe release of Listen Like Thieves, the band’s fifth studio album, from 1985. Thieves stole hearts everywhere, and paved the way for Kick, an album exploded in America.
Listen Like Thieves was promoted with four singles: “What You Need,” “This Time,” “Kiss the Dirt (Falling Down the Mountain),” and the title track, which was accompanied with a memorable cinematic music video, shot by longtime collaborator Richard Lowenstein.
The album peaked at No. 1 in Australia and No. 11 on the Billboard 200, logging more than a year on the chart. By 1997, the year of frontman Michael Hutchence’s untimely passing, the album was certified double platinum.
“It was a very important album,” Pengilly recounts. “I’m just excited by the whole deluxe package. All the extra tracks are really fascinating to listen to. They’ve done such a great job.”
