The first half of Never Tear Us Apart: The INXS Story, the two-part mini-series that tracks the story of one of Australia’s biggest and most successful rock exports hit screens on Sunday night.
Having long teased fans with the production, cast, and footage of the blockbuster new INXS telemovie, now that the Channel Seven-aired production has hit audiences, it’s done a fair amount of moving and shaking for the band it’s centred around, boosting more than just INXS’s profile. We break down the various ripples that have been made since Never Tear Us Apart splashed onto TV.
Huge Leap For INXS Album Sales
The first major result of the premiere of the new mini-series has been a resurgence in sales of INXS’s back catalogue. In fact, the morning following the Sunday premiere, 40% of all the albums in the Aussie iTunes Top 20 Chart belonged to INXS, as The Music reports.
Three variations of The Very Best compilation occupies three separate parts of the iTunes Top 10 – including the 20-track single disc version sitting at #1, while the two and three disc sets sit at #6 and #7 respectively, which may well be the first time a band has achieved such an accolade in the Apple music store’s history.
Landmark 1987 album Kick shot to #2 while the band’s Live At Wembley Stadium ’91 record was close behind at #4. Just outside the Top 10 was 1982 LP Shabooh Shoobah, at #13, followed by The Swing at #14, and 1985’s Listen Like Thieves sitting at #20 – putting a total of eight INXS albums in the Top 20.
The digital sales were also enough to translate into the week’s overall ARIA figures, with sales of INXS: The Very Best putting the band (and Michael Hutchence’s image) at #4 on the Albums Chart – landing behind Lorde’s Pure Heroine, The Jezabels’ second album The Brink, and at #1 MKTO’s self-titled LP.
If next Sunday’s second half of Never Tear Us Apart lands with the same impact, it could very well see INXS dominating the charts for a second week.
A Tenth Of Australia’s Population Tuned In
The telemovie opening didn’t just overcome its TV competition, it utterly dominated the ratings. Nearly 2 million people (just under a tenth of the Australian population) watched the premiere.
The staggering 1.974 million viewers was 200,000 more than the next best rated show, which happened to be Sunday Night – the Channel Seven current affairs programme that aired ahead of the INXS special, as The Music point out. It also trumped any Winter Olympics ratings and what was seen as its main competitor, with Channel Nine’s series on Schapelle Corby managing to reach just over 1 million viewers for its screening, despite the media furore created by the convicted drug smuggling Aussie being granted parole from Indonesian prison.
All in all, a lot of Australians were far less interested in the tale of pot strapped to a boogie board than the highs and lows of one of rock’s greatest frontmen.
…But the critics weren’t dazzled
While twitter was filled with generally positive reactions to the re-telling of the path to Kick becoming a beacon of INXS’s star power on the path to #1, reviews of the show weren’t as enamoured with the series’ portrayal.
The Guardian took the tone of many media critics, levelling the show’s shortcomings towards its formulaic approach, an underdog biopic story that has been seen many, many times before on the big and small screen. But noted “the series hits its stride when it loosens up a bit and focuses on the band’s backstage camaraderie.”
The telemovie was derided as a “confusing melange of old footage spliced with contemporary production and actors who don’t always convince,” by The Sydney Morning Herald, in a write-up with the brilliantly biting title of ‘Never Tear Us Apart is Home and Away with better music.’
The series didn’t fair much better with Andrew P Street. Writing for FasterLouder, Street’s take on the opening episode was its fascination with familiar rock story cliches (particularly the sex, recording triumphs, the sex, 80s shorthand, and oh yeah, the sex); summarising that “the script is inept, the soundalike re-recordings of INXS hits soulless, the acting laughable, and the drama nonexistent. Bring on part two.”
It was still better than Sunrise’s INXS Karaoke Stunt
No matter what people thought of the tele-movie itself, it was a much more enjoyable experience than the sight of Sunrise host David ‘Kochie’ Koch – described as ‘the world’s biggest INXS fan’ – tearing apart the mini-series musical namesake two days out from the series premiere. On national television. In shades.
There’s a five-year business plan to turn INXS into a super-brand
“We have been sitting on one of the greatest rock’n’roll stories ever for so long now,” said INXS manager Chris Murphy last December, who also served as co-executive producer on Never Tear Us Apart. Murphy also appears on-screen, portrayed by Love My Way actor Damon Herriman, as an advantageous go-getter for the band, and the re-telling of that rock and roll story could have a new chapter, with the manager indicating he has a five-year business plan to turn the INXS name into a super brand.
Speaking to News Corp Australia (via Brisbane Times), the man who guided the Aussie rockers to their biggest international successes says there’s already tentative plans for a full length film, a feature documentary, and even a Broadway musical in the works based off the positive reception of the telemovie. All part of a plan to help restore Michael Hutchence’s cultural (and financial) legacy.
Murphy and guitarist Tim Farriss are also reportedly set to jet to London to sell Never Tear Us Apart: The INXS Story to international markets interested in screening the rock biopic to overseas television screens.
Part 2 of Never Tear Us Apart: The INXS Story screens on Channel Seven this Sunday.
