What INXS album was originally called trash by the president of Atlantic Records?

On August 16, 1977, the Australian band, The Farriss Brothers, later known as INXS, made their debut performance at Whale Beach, a suburb of Sydney. The band would reach global status with the release of their third album Shabooh Shoobah, but the band's sixth album would be called trash by the president of Atlantic Records.

The founding members of INXS were three brothers, bassist Garry Gary Beers, leading composer and keyboardist Andrew Farriss, and drummer Jon Farriss, with lead singer and primary lyricist Michael Hutchence and guitarist and saxophonist Kirk Pengilly. Originally known as The Farriss Brothers, the band would change their name to INXS at the suggestion of the band Midnight Oil, who the band was touring with.

The band's third album, Shabooh Shaoobah, would see global success topping Billboard 200 at No. 46. Prior to this album, INXS was considered an Aussie phenomenon, but with the release of hit singles "The One Thing" and " Don't Change," they would receive worldwide success.

In 1987 the band released their greatest album, Kick, which would reach No. 3 on Billboard 200. After Atlantic Records president Doug Morris gave the album a listen and promptly told manager Chris Murphy, ‘I’ll give you $1 million to go and record another album. This is not happening, this is sh*t!" But Morris was very wrong. Not only would the album chart, but Kick, would release four Top 10 hits, including "Need You Tonight," which topped the charts. The other three singles, "Devil Inside," "New Sensation," and "Never Tear Us Apart," kept the band at the forefront throughout 1988

The video for "Need You Tonight" melds that song with another from the album "Mediate." It is an outstanding video with different types of animation that would win the band five MTV Music Awards, including Video of the Year in 1988. In 2014 the video ranked No. 21 on MTV's 100 Greatest Videos of All Time.

"Mediate" is a nod to Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues," which was the singer's first Top 40 hit in the United States. Dylan used cue card flips in a promotional video for the film Don't Look Back, which inspired INXS' video. This film was a documentary of Dylan's 1965 tour of England.

In 2012, the band's composer and keyboardist, Andrew Farriss, had this to say about Kick in an interview with Music Radar.

""I think what makes the Kick album so dynamic is that we weren't so much interested in what everybody else was doing as what we wanted to do. It's really that simple. Michael and I were extremely focused as songwriters, and the band was very intent on making a series of recordings that we could be passionate about.""

- Andrew Farriss in Music Radar interview

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