Those of you who are fans of both know this is true, especially during the very late 80's going into the early 90's. Its no secret that Michael and Bono were almost best friends, but members of INXS pointed out to Michael at this time period to "hold back" on what you are telling Bono. Anyone who picks up "welcome to Wherever you are" by Inxs knows this is true, listen to tracks off Achtung Baby and realize where Bono was getting this sudden direction in style, I mean the u2 track "the Fly" should just be labeled INXS. The sad thing is that michael regarded "welcome" as their best album, as did critics, as did loyal fans, but of course this started their "fade" in america, and started Michaels "troubles".

lastdecember said:

DAMN now i hate bono even more than i did before! and thats allot o hate!

Love love love welcome, flawless album, should sold as much as Kick, but you know how fickle the music buying public is...

Except by the point Welcome came out, Achtung had been out for almost a year. And the fact that U2 began working on Achtung in 1990 in Berlin, even before X by INXS came out.

"Mysterious Ways" sounded like an INXS song, I'll grant you that. But "The Fly" is U2's attempt to write an industrial song.

If the singers were such good friends, they obviously had some respect for eachother and probably could not help but be inspired by eachother's work.

PS; b-side of The Fly; Alex Descends Into Hell For A Bottle Of Milk//Korova

That's the industrial sound they went for that was maybe somewhat too 'different' from their previous work to end up on the album. The guitar makes me wanna sing Suicide Blonde, so I get where you think U2 might have borrowed something. But I think it is just making music in the same era and both being fans of the same kind of music/artists; like Prince and Rick James.

I actually think the INXS influence is more recent: Elevation definitely sounds like an INXS song. Didn't Bono front INXS for a few gigs as a tribute to MH?

Axchi696 said:

you saved me a bunch of keystrokes!

i'm starting to think EVERYONE ripped off EVERYONE with you now..... frankly it seems that's all i seem to read

Axchi696 said:

The Fly is a total INXS song, the distorted vocal, the delivery, everything about it to the guitar riff. Inxs demos for the welcome were done well before Achtung was even complete and X was already in the can and out at that point. Members of INXS didnt want Michael letting Bono hear every single thing they were doing because they knew it would get back to Eno and the flood. they were all good friends at the time, but u2 wanted to change their direction with the turn of the decade, and Inxs's sound clearly was influenced on them.

Sdldawn said:

you're not the first to say that!

Sdldawn said:

Well if you listen to them side by side and have all their albums not just "Kick". Listen to enough music 24/7 and you will hear chords, progressions etc..all used over and over, whether its pure theft, mutual admiration, or just Bono and michael being good friends and two bands going in the same direction, and one getting the credit and the other getting the "80's band" label.

HamsterHuey said:

they were good friends through all this time, but its well known that members of Inxs didnt want Michael letting demos and directions out, good friends is one thing, but business is business.

lastdecember said:

Well, they were from the same era, it's not surprising that they would sound similar at times. As far as U2's status vs. INXS's, U2 has survived, literally. People associate INXS with the 80's because MH is dead.

Also there is an important difference. As pretentious as U2 is, they tried to write important music. INXS was a great band (certainly musical equals of U2, if not better), but I don't think they touched on important issues beyond Original Sin. They did good pop stuff. U2 wrote anthems and took on world causes.

NDRU said:

Agreed on that. That is what is so great about that era, there were bands and catalogs, u arent going to see that anymore. Inxs will always be the underrated ones mainly because no one really dug into their work for the most part unless it was on the radio and a single, u2 is more known as "album artists" and the funny thing is that during that 1989-1994 period when u2 was still big up and down, and inxs was dieing out in america, Inxs had the better albums by far, and im a fan of both since day one, so its not like im playing a favorite here, i think all in all, Inxs had better albums.

that explains the Kylie/Bono connection.

I can´t comment on this cause I really don´t own any studio album of these two bands, but I do like INXS and I have their greatest hits album.

Anyways, Mike Hutchence was hot.

U2 "achtung baby" released november 19, 1991
INXS "welcome to" released august 3, 1992

listening to "communication" i always thought that song was a
complete U2 Achtung Baby rip off. as were some other indeas on
the "welcome to wherever you are" album

Well, as a fan of both bands, I think this is a load of crap. INXS and U2 were both influencing each other at this time. LOTS of other bands from this time period could be said to be doing the same. I've heard comparisons with both of these bands to:

Duran Duran (Simon was also quite close to MH and Bono)
Crowded House
Lone Justice
Depeche Mode
Simple Minds
Tears For Fears
REM
The Calling
Sinead O'Connor
Terence Trent D'Arby

...just to name a few off the top of my head. The fact of the matter is, both bands were popular at the same time, and had a lot of the same influences. The singers being friends was, obviously, a factor that led to them sharing ideas. Still, INXS had a very distinctive sound that set them apart, and there is no denying that their tunes were much more funk-based than that of U2 (tell me that U2 ever did anything remotely similar to "Need You Tonight". That tune has way more in common with Prince than it does ANY of the other bands). "Welcome to Wherever You Are" was one of (if not the absolute) best albums INXS ever did, but I chalk its lack of Stateside success to poor promotion on the record company's part, not to U2 somehow beating them out the gate with a similar album.

I always felt that U2's Achtung Baby borrowed more from Michael Hutchence's side project Max Q than in did from INXS.

With Max Q, Michael let dance music influence his rock. This was always how I felt U2 went too.

Achtung Baby was U2 with a slight injection of funk. Just as Michael had done in 89.

IstenSzek said:

As stated before by Inxs members they were demoing tracks for the "Welcome" album as far back as 1990, and Bono and Michael talked alot and michael shared alot of what they were going for, this was before Achtung. The influence is clearly there, listen to "The Fly" and the distortion vocals and the breath vocal, that is PURE Michael Hutchence delivery.