Guestbook

Rest in love and peace. Love forever.

This day sneaks up on me every year, and suddenly it feels like 1997 all over again. My life changed in 1983 when I first saw Michael dance across the stage at Radio City Music Hall. I was 13. I was in love. In awe. And my teens and twenties would have been so different had I not discovered INXS. Of course I only knew the Michael I saw on stage and the Michael with whom the media had a circus. There was so much more than that I am certain. I still wish he was here, sharing snippets of himself with us all. I would gratefully take whatever he had to give. I miss him in this world. I miss all the joy he brought. I know millions of fans do too. And I'm sure his family still misses him every single day. I only hope he is, wherever he may be, at peace. Love you always MH.

Apologies that I’ve already posted my story, deep in a Facebook thread, but I thought I’d reshare it on this anniversary day.

I’d been a huge fan of INXS since first I heard Listen Like Thieves. Michael was SO enigmatic and he became the soundtrack for my youth. We all know this first part of the story.

Over the years, I went to all the UK gigs. Starting with the Kick Off Tour at the Hammersmith Odeon ‘87 just as KICK was taking off (supported by Sinead O’Connor). Summer XS, Get Out Of The House, Strangest Party @Brixton etc etc. I particularly loved Max Q and WTWYA was the pinnacle of the INXS albums IMO.

But, fast forward on to Elegantly Wasted....and sadly I was feeling disenchanted with the band. I liked the new album but I could probably sense the tensions within the band (now very well understood...) and I detested the tabloid circus. It just didn’t seem to be about the music....and our wonderful frontman.

That mid June morning in London ‘97, the negative press had finally taken its toll on me. It was with a very heavy heart that I looked at my pair of tickets to the INXS show at Wembley Arena that night. Over breakfast, I told my girlfriend that I just didn’t fancy the gig. I had recently finished my PhD & was starting a new career. It was time to “move on from INXS and put my youth to rest”.

My girlfriend was aghast & tried to talk me around...but my mind was set. As I walked to work that morning, I felt sad but convinced that I really didn’t want to see the band without the positive aura that I loved them for. Mind made up, I entered a private hospital on Harley Street....for the first day of my new job.

The morning past uneventfully. I popped to Regents Park for lunch and was feeling relaxed. Starting my afternoon shift in the pharmacy and I’m filling a prescription...... Typing the name in the computer: “Mr M. Hutchence.” 🤭.

Sure enough, peering through the hatch, there was Michael, sat alone in our dispensary waiting room. Michael had been referred to one of our top ENT surgeons and now I was filling meds for his cold. 😳

With my new boss watching, I had to keep it very professional. But, after counselling Michael on his medications, I couldn’t resist quietly mentioning that I had tickets to the Wembley show that night. Michael came across as shy....but he was patient with me and smiled warmly at hearing this. He told me that he was really looking forward to playing London again and that he’d put on a good show for me that night....now he had the medicines!

I went home that night, excitedly told my GF and went to the gig. And loved it. It wasn’t quite a sell out....but a large crowd and good atmosphere. Michael’s voice was in it’s prime at this point....and the meds I gave him had clearly done the trick! The band was TIGHT, the Elegantly Wasted songs sounded fresh....and Michael seemed on top of his game. I went home thrilled.

We sadly lost Michael just a few short months later.

I think back and can’t imagine how I’d now feel if I hadn’t gone to the show that night. So happy that I kept the faith and went to the gig....thanks to my chat with Michael that afternoon.

For those that have made it this far in my post: thank you. And, you may be interested that Michael mentions his voice problems that day, when interviewed by MTV: recorded just before that Wembley show.....and just after meeting me.

RIP Michael: glad that our paths briefly crossed.

27 year's...
Rip my hero 😢
Always by my side....xx

Since 1997, every year, November 22nd is such a sad, sad day for me. We lost a beautiful, gentle soul when we lost you, Michael. Though you live on in film, books and especially your music, a light went out in the world which will never shine again. 23 years on since your passing and you're still missed so much by so many and you always will be. You were so special and so loved. Thank you for sharing your gift with the world and thank you for just being you. Miss you so much. xxx

23 years missing your voice and smile. Celebrating my birthday without you. Keeping your memories alive with your music. You will never be forgotten as long as I can share your music. Rest peacefully. Love and Peace.

Love. From Nelia.

It’s difficult to write appropriately about someone who you realize that you know nothing about, yet who has had the minutiae of their too short life dissected frequently by fans and media over many years. You see their face daily on social media. You chat with other fans and are sometimes fortunate enough to hear precious anecdotes from family members or friends who knew them well. But you really don’t know the person. You don’t know what they thought, how they truly felt, nor did you get to experience the various subtle nuances of serious conversation with them. In short, you just don’t have a clue as to who they really were.

I wish I had known Michael Hutchence now that I have read so many books about him, and watched so many interviews, movies, and tv specials about him. There is obviously so very much more to the man than what you can share on paper or video. To have known him, befriended him, or just to have shared space in this world with this remarkably beautiful, sensitive, brilliant, unfettered, sensual, and compassionate human being, would have been a blessed thing for me.

He was so much more than what I first saw and listened to in the mid-‘80’s, when my jaw dropped to the floor the first time I experienced the “Need You Tonight” video on MTV. It was so easy to be captivated by this man who looked and moved unlike any person I had ever seen before, and his come hither grin in that video, still to this day, sets my old heart on fire. There was something about him that was so incredibly different. As I discovered more INXS music and more videos, Michael’s charisma, sensuality, and youthful exuberance were uplifting, and breathed life into my otherwise dull existence. He was a captivating man and when he was on my TV screen I couldn’t look away. I listened to my INXS cd’s non stop and still have the various mixed tapes that I made for my car and my Walkman.

I was lucky enough to see INXS in concert in Philadelphia, March 1991 for the X Factor tour and am proud to say that at least I was in the same building one time in my life with this remarkable man. It was by far the best concert I ever attended both because of the incredible integrity and professionalism of INXS and Michael’s unmatchable stage presence. I was completely swept off of my feet along with everyone else in the audience, and by the end of the concert my usually restrained self had screamed herself hoarse, unable to resist Michael’s charms, tossing hair, and sexy vocals. He was sex on legs and I swear he had every girl and woman firmly in his pocket that night.

When I heard that Michael had died and read about the circumstances surrounding his death, I turned away. I didn’t know what we know now about his terrible struggles. I didn’t know who he truly was besides a gloriously talented rock God blessed with a unique voice and the most gorgeous hair I had ever seen on any human being, and who was now deceased at a young age like so many other rock personalities. I hadn’t even scraped the surface of the deep waters the made up Michael’s inner self. How could I, a mere fan, do so? With Michael’s death, INXS and their music sadly faded away into the background of my life.

With the publication of Tina Hutchence’s books and Richard Lowenstein’s movie “Mystify”, I was reunited with my love of INXS’s music and was introduced to the “real” Michael, or as close as I could get through books, a movie, and videos. With the acquisition of Richard Simpkin’s book I gained another perspective about Michael, presented lovingly by a true and dear fan. This Michael Hutchence was a person, just like you and me, who although he could probably have walked on water, was still humble, sometimes insecure, and experienced all of the typical emotions that we do. He wasn’t a god up on a pedestal or a pretty face on a Rolling Stone magazine cover. He was a real person and fame and fortune often obscure this. The media paints their own picture. Fans paint their own picture. The man himself gets blurred and becomes a figment of our imagination. Without these loving tributes by those who knew him best, the true man is lost.

I am so glad that people who knew Michael intimately have shared him with the world. I am so grateful for their candid photos, their retelling of personal stories and conversations, and their setting the record straight regarding Michael’s last few years and moments here with us. Without their sharing these precious memories, I would never have had a glimpse into the soul of this marvelously talented and beautiful man.
I am so grateful for these tribute pages and the people who share everything “Michael” on a daily basis. Although I can never really know Michael, this is as close as I will get, and for that , I will be eternally grateful. He was just so much more of everything and I am so fortunate to have been able to share this earth even for a short time, with a man like Michael Hutchence.

RIP dear Michael.You will never be forgotten.

Michael,
Been listening to your music a lot lately. Been a crazy year and in this crazy year your feel good music, like the song new sensation is what I need sometimes when everything in this year has been so negative and bleak. I miss you Michael. Come here every year at this time to let you know you’ll never be forgotten by me. Your music got me through a lot in my life and continues to this day. I can’t thank you enough for that. Miss you .

Gone but never forgotten! We love and miss you! 💜
#MichaelHutchenceLegend 💙

We miss you

November 22nd 1997: the last popstar left this stage. But, Michael, you've never been just a singer. You were an artist, and the artist's duty isn't to give up to despair, but to find a way out the futility of existence. I think you fulfilled this dream successfully, as we're still hearing your music and thinking about you in 2020. I wish I could say to you how much I appreciate your ideas, but in the meantime I'll just apply myself into making everyone know your songs. The world misses you, may you rest in peace Michael.
Love, Fabrizio.

Remembering a beautiful soul today. Thank-you Michael for all the memories and your music that will be playing out today. Hope you are at peace with your loved ones. X