In the fall of 1985, I was going to NDSU in Fargo. And when I say “going” I mean I was enrolled. When I should’ve been “going” I found myself at the music store in the mall. This might be the reason I was asked to leave after one year. Who knows, after all, it’s all politics.
Anyway, one day I found myself captivated my one of the new releases that was blaring over the sound system. It was “Listen like Thieves” by INXS. I couldn’t believe that every song was great. That was rare. Back then bands would try for two maybe three songs that they would released as singles, then take a dump on the rest of the album. But I didn’t hear a song I didn’t like, so I bought it the cassette. I liked the group so much that I did some research to what else they’d released. The one song that caught my ear was from 1982 called “Don’t Change”. I remember seeing the video on MTV a lot, but it upset me because they tossed their instruments at the end of it. I wanted a guitar, but couldn’t afford it and here these guys are just tossing them like dirty underwear. But when I listened to the song without the video I realized it was good. It was from the album called Shabooh Shoobah, not a big seller, but the song was considered the band’s first hit.
The band exploded with the LP “Listen Like Thieves”, then went nuclear with the follow up “Kick”, but it all started with “Don’t Change”.