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Richard Lowenstein

INXS' Working (& Otherwise) Relationship with Richard Lowenstein***
With INXS videos, the same names pop up as director time and time again, especially in the early years. But even towards their final album "Elegantly Wasted", the one constant was Richard Lowenstein.

INXS first worked with Richard Lowenstein in 1984 after being impressed by Lowenstein's work on Hunters and Collectors' seminal "Talking To A Stranger" video clip (seminal if you consider singer Mark Seymour standing in a shower with rubber bands around his head a seminal act. Many do. Michael Hutchence said as much when he presented the video clips on ABC TV's RAGE, introducing "Talking To A Stranger" as a classic). Hutchence, especially, was reportedly enamoured with (envious of) what he saw as the left-wing underground creativity of the Melbourne music scene in which H&C; thrived, and wanted some of that artistry and credibility to rub off on (or at least rub shoulders with) INXS.

Lowenstein was flown to Queensland to direct a video for "Burn For You", which was later completed with footage shot in London. The two parties seemingly came together at a fortuitous point. INXS were on the cusp of international stardom, through incessant touring of the US and UK, and also the increasing accessibility of their music. When called upon to direct "Burn For You", Lowenstein was on his way to the Cannes Film Festival for the screening of his debut feature film, Strikebound. Lowenstein recalls his initial impression of Hutchence, "Michael was like the projection of all my repressed desires to be a rock singer," Lowenstein confesses. "He took to me and my gang because we were from that Melbourne indie scene that he was so fascinated with." (Creswell, p.44)

Lowenstein and INXS were more than sociable collaborators; Hutchence and Lowenstein in particular became firm friends. They met up at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival, where Lowenstein says "We ended up hitting the party scene for 48 hours straight. At the end of it Michael just fell asleep. I had a breakfast meeting with a producer that morning and I dragged him along. He was asleep at the table the whole time. I'm pitching this very serious political thriller and I can tell that it's not going over well, so all of a sudden I say, 'I've got this other idea for a rags to more rags punk movie that's set in Melbourne and Michael's going to be in it.' Michael sort of wakes up, says, 'Yeah, that's right,' and then falls back asleep. The producer says, 'I like the sound of that.' So that's how Dogs In Space started. Once she left, Michael woke up and said, 'What's this about a film?'" (Creswell, p.45)

In JUICE magazine, Toby Creswell called Lowenstein "the translator of INXS into video clips" and contended that Lowenstein "understood and conveyed Hutchence's androgynous body language and his sensuality" better than any other director. (Creswell, p.45)

So why was the pairing, and ultimately the relationship between INXS and Richard Lowenstein so unique?

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