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WASTED

In media reports last week, INXS band members expressed outrage and 'private distaste' over this, the first Michael Hutchence biography. But author Ed St John, working without the 'constraints' of a sanctioned biography, has uncovered stories never told before of a wild, wild life. Read on, and decide for yourself ...

In 1988, singer Richard Clapton witnessed a show in Paris he'll never forget. "I was standing in the wings", he says. "The band had already walked onstage. Manager Chris Murphy said something like, 'Have a good show, Michael,' and Michael just looked at Chris, looked at me, then opened his hand to reveal several Es [ecstasy tablets]. He popped them into his mouth and said, 'Thanks, I will,' then walked out in front of 25,000 people.

"The funny thing was, the band was so good and popular, I don't think anyone noticed. Michael just stood there, high as a kite, saying, 'Je t'aime Paris! I want to f*** you!' and the audience was going nuts."

Michael had a licence to be and do whatever he wanted. Without loosing his charming nature, he was pushing that licence to the limit. "When you're in a band at that level, says a friend, "you can be anything you want to be. You're in a fantasy world. Famous stars and beautiful models you've never even met are coming backstage to party with you. It's all laid out on a platter. You want a gram of coke at 2 o'clock in the morning - there are people who can organise it. People go out of their way to offer you everything. It's very seductive, but very dangerous because there are no limits."

From the early days of his childhood, Michael Hutchence was exposed to the exotic. His father moved to Hong Kong in 1964, and Michael's lifestyle was far beyond the scope or ordinary Australian adolescents. In 1975, his parents separated and his mother moved to Los Angeles, Michael followed and then teen was enrolled in North Hollywood High, where he developed a taste for pot and girls.

But Michael was deeply disturbed by his parents' divorce and by 1976, his father was sufficiently worried to seek sole custody of his sons, Michael came back to his father's house in Belrose, Sydney.

It was there that Michael linked up with Kirk Pengilly, Garry Beers and Andrew, Tim and Jon Farriss to form a band called The Farriss Brothers a year later.

Right from the beginning, they were exposed to drugs, girls and drinking. According to Michael, Kirk even sold pot from the back of his car. "He had this really straight car like your auntie would drive, with Christian books scattered all over the back seat," recalled Michael years later in an interview with UK magazine Q. "He had a guitar case in the back and it would be stuffed full of dope. He'd do business out of the back of the car. The cops would never touch him because they didn't want to get into a conversation about God."

INXS's debut album was produced by Duncan McGuire, who would regularly pass out at the recording console. "He used to take Mandrax all the time," recalls Andrew Farriss. "One night he had a glass of scotch and he knocked it all over the console and we had to pull it apart and try to clean it out. I think it was the same day the multi-track caught fire."

As early as 1981 the band's frenetic pace was taking it's toll. On the road almost constantly, they never had the opportunity to establish the most basic social contacts or personal lives. Michael was only 21 years old.

Nonetheless, he responded positively to fame. "It makes me feel wanted and loved and noticed," he said. But at the same time, this was a lifestyle with the capacity to destroy him. Along with the pot and alcohol, cocaine was becoming a nightly phenomenon, and Michael's behaviour was becoming more erratic and unpredictable, his attitude more arrogant.

"I slept with a lot of women," he recalled. "I was in a hotel room with someone and the bedhead was making too much noise on the wall, so I put a pillow behind it. Then that girl left and another girl came in and asked, 'Whats that pillow for?' And I thought, 'You'll find out in a second.'

"The combination of money, attention and travelling gives you an artificial feeling of power. You start to think you can do whatever you want without being judged."

By 1987, Michael could still be a lot of fun, but he was distancing himself from the band. He had a ready supply of ecstasy, coke and Halcyon tablets for the comedowns. He took to disappearing for days on end, only turning up for a show. Friends and associated started relating stories of an increasingly erratic Michael swanning through hotel lobbies at 3am, his hair limp and greasy after nights without sleep, wearing just a bathrobe.

However Michael had never been a self-destructive drug user. "He was just someone who wanted to explore the whole experience," says a close friend. "He wanted to submit his body and mind to whatever states he could find. He didn't do drugs to kill the pain or kill himself, he did them because he wanted to have more fun."

To the surprise of friends he had a strong sense of control. He could pull back from the brink and was capable of drying himself out.

In November 1989, he began a relationship with Kylie Minogue, getting the first taste of media attention that would plague him later. "Up until Kylie, I'd never really been hassled in the street," he said in 1990. "In Europe, there'd be six cars full of photographers following us the whole time. We needed a racing driver to get us across Paris."

Meanwhile Andrew Farriss had become philosophical about his partnership with Michael - the pair had reaped some terrific results, but he was tired of being let down by Michael's mood swings and his careless disregard of his own creativity.

But for all his success, Michael remained a bundle of insecurity. He had started his career as a curious contradiction of shyness and captivating poise, which only intensified with time and the pressures of fame.

"He really hated being alone," said one friend, "so he'd sit around the studio getting completely wasted, just hanging out with whoever was there after the band went home. The thing was, he wasn't confident in his own talent. He still wasn't sure that he had what it takes."

However, things settled down after his split from Kylie and Michael entered a new period of stability in a relationship with Danish supermodel Helena Christensen. Settling with her in France, he was able to distance himself from the marathon sex and drug sessions of the past. But in late 1992, this lifestyle was rudely interrupted.

In an argument with a cab driver in Paris, Michael was assaulted, sustaining a heavy blow to the head when he fell to the pavement. He suffered headaches, slurred speech and worst of all, complete loss of smell and taste. He began falling into black depressions that would last for days, and was prescribed anti-depressants.

Bass player Garry believes this time was the worst in the band's history. "Michael was being an absolute f***wit," he says. "No one could reason with him. He pulled a knife on me one night while we were recording. It made us angry, but now we know he was reaching out to us."

Two years later, Helena was becoming frustrated by Michael's inability to commit. They'd discussed marriage and plans were underway for a wedding later in the year in Copenhagen. Helena had even gone so far as to buy a $3,000 wedding dress. But Michael was not ready.

He began an affair with Paula Yates. It's unlikely Michael had really considered the consequences of a relationship with Paula - it's unlikely Michael had spent much time considering the consequences of anything he did, come to think of it.

In "stealing" Geldof's wife and children, he had condemned himself to a hell he'd never dreamt of, guaranteeing constant media attention and ruthless vilification.

Michael's manager and bandmates stood back and watched with horror. By late 1995, Paula said, "It has reached the point of Princess Di and I doing alternate weeks. It's like being in the middle of some hideous nightmare."

In September 1996, a police raid on Paula and Michael's London home uncovered a stash of opium and drug pipes as well as pornographic photos and fetishistic sex equipment. Michael's friends weren't surprised. "The only surprise," said one philosophically, "was the idea that he'd leave a stash at the house in the first place. When you were with Michael, you tended to stay until everything was gone."

Back in London, Geldof seized his opportunity, applying for custody of his three daughters. His application was successful, at least temporarily. Michael and Paula claimed the drugs were planted and the charged were eventually dropped. But Michael's drug use was escalating under the pressure.

Asked how he kept sane, he answered, "I'm barely doing it."

Extracts from Burn - The Life and Times of Michael Hutchence And INXS by Ed St John.
Article and related photographs are copyright of New Weekly Magazine 1998.