"Original Sin" is a song by Australian rock group

INXS INXS (a word play, phonetic play on "in excess") were an Australian Rock music, rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. The band's founding members were bassist Garry Gary Beers, main composer and keyboar ...

, released as the first single from the band's fourth album, '' The Swing''. It was written by

Michael Hutchence Michael Kelland John Hutchence (22 January 1960 – 22 November 1997) was an Australian musician, singer-songwriter and actor. Hutchence co-founded the rock band INXS, which sold over 75 million records worldwide and was inducted into th ...

and

Andrew Farriss Andrew Charles Farriss (born 27 March 1959) is an Australian rock musician and multi-instrumentalist best known as the keyboardist, backing vocalist, and main composer for rock band INXS. Farriss released his debut studio album in 2021. Care ...

, and produced by

Nile Rodgers Nile Gregory Rodgers Jr. (born September 19, 1952) is an American musician, record producer and composer. The co-founder of Chic, Rodgers has written, produced, and performed on records that have sold more than 500 million albums and 75 million ...

. Released as a single in December 1983, it became the group's first single to reach the Australian top 10, reaching No. 1 in early 1984; it was the group's only No. 1 hit in Australia. The song also reached No. 20 in Canada and No. 58 in the US.

Composition

Pengilly said, "Michael wrote the lyrics and each time I ask him what they mean I get something different. The main theme of it really is — it's almost a hippy song! — it's about everyone joining together, and it's also about people's desires, and waking up the next morning and finding them washed away."

Details

Daryl Hall Daryl Franklin Hohl (born October 11, 1946), known professionally as Daryl Hall, is an American rock, R&B and soul singer and musician, best known as the co-founder and principal lead vocalist of Daryl Hall and John Oates (with guitarist and ...

sings the chorus with Hutchence. During an interview in Australia, Hall said Nile Rodgers called him and asked him to sing on the song. Rodgers had participated in remixing the single "

Adult Education Adult education, distinct from child education, is a practice in which adults engage in systematic and sustained self-educating activities in order to gain new forms of knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values. Merriam, Sharan B. & Brockett, Ralp ...

" for

Hall & Oates Daryl Hall and John Oates, commonly known as Hall & Oates, are an American pop rock duo formed in Philadelphia in 1970. Daryl Hall is generally the lead vocalist; John Oates primarily plays electric guitar and provides backing vocals. The two ...

the previous year. For the

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

, two versions exist, both were filmed in Japan and features INXS singing on motorbikes as a fairground is set up and taken down around them. The alternate version (in fact the original one) show an Asian woman appearing at certain moments and its end is different. In 2010, INXS rerecorded "Original Sin" with American vocalist Rob Thomas and Cuban female rapper DJ Yalediys as a dance single. It is featured in the 2010 INXS tribute album ''

Original Sin Original sin is the Christian doctrine that holds that humans, through the fact of birth, inherit a tainted nature in need of regeneration and a proclivity to sinful conduct. The biblical basis for the belief is generally found in Genesis 3 (t ...

''.

Reception

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' said the song "is a politically clever track which dreams of a racially equal and peaceful world, while also working as a tight dance single." In February 2014, after the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

airing of '' INXS: Never Tear Us Apart'' mini-series, "Original Sin" charted again in Australia via download sales. It peaked at no. 61 on the

ARIA Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

. In January 2018, as part of

Triple M Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 40 radio stations broadcasting a mainstream rock music format and 5 digital radio stations. The network dates back to th ...

's "Ozzest 100", the 'most Australian' songs of all time, "Original Sin" was ranked number 58.

Track listing

7" single Track listing 12"/CD Maxi single Track listing

Chart performance

Weekly charts

¹Kash vs. INXS – Dream on Black Girl (Original Sin)

Year-end charts

References

{{INXS 1983 songs 1984 singles INXS songs Number-one singles in Australia Number-one singles in France Song recordings produced by Nile Rodgers Songs written by Andrew Farriss Songs written by Michael Hutchence Warner Music Group singles Songs against racism and xenophobia