INXS

1980s

From "Simple Simon" to Shabooh Shoobah

INXS released their first single, "Simple Simon"/"We Are the Vegetables", in Australia and France in May 1980.[1][13][19] The single had its debut TV performance on Simon Townsend's Wonder World.[16] Their self-titled debut album, INXS, was recorded at Trafalgar Studios in Annandale, Sydney, it was co-produced by the band and Duncan McGuire (ex-Ayers Rock), with all songs attributed to the entire band, at the insistence of Murphy.[12][13] Deluxe gave them a budget of $10,000 to record the album, so to keep within the budget they had to record from midnight to dawn, usually after doing one of more performances earlier that night.[13] The album was released in October 1980. It featured "Just Keep Walking" which was their first Australian Top 40 single,[1][4] with the album peaking in the Top 30 of the Kent Music Report for Australian albums.[1][3][4] The album eventually went gold (selling over 35,000 units) but it took a number of years to do so.[12]

I'm not a great fan of the first album. It's naïve and kinda cute, almost. It's these young guys struggling for a sound. All I can hear is what was going to happen later and it's probably an interesting album because of that. "Just Keep Walking" was the first time we thought we'd written a song. And that became an anthem around town. It's funny, I remember kids in pubs saying it and hearing it on the radio the first time. We'd never heard that before.
—Michael Hutchence[12]