"The Gift" is the first single released from Australian

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

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 ...

's 1993 album, ''

Full Moon, Dirty Hearts ''Full Moon, Dirty Hearts'' is the ninth studio album by Australian rock band INXS. It was released on 1 November 1993, through East West Records in Australia and in the United Kingdom by Phonogram's Mercury Records label. It was followed by the ...

''. The song was written by Jon Farriss and

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 ...

. Upon its release, it reached number two in Portugal, number six on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Album Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in Ma ...

chart, and number 16 in Australia. The music video was banned by

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

due to featuring controversial content.

Music video

The music video for "The Gift" dramatises issues ranging from war and terrorism to famine and pollution with the band appearing to crash through the TV screen in anger. The video was banned by

owing to its use of Holocaust and Gulf War footage. In an interview with the director and long-term collaborator Richard Lowenstein: "The video uses harrowing visuals in order to portray man's ability to create havoc and destruction. The message behind the video is to show how as viewers, we have become accepting of, and increasingly apathetic to images of gross human suffering and violence."

B-sides

The B-sides on the first of two UK CD Single releases include two remixes of "The Gift", a live version of " Heaven Sent", and a cover of Steppenwolf's " Born to Be Wild", which was specially recorded for the April 1993 launch of

Virgin Radio Virgin Radio launched in the United Kingdom in 1993. In 2008, Virgin Radio UK was sold to TIML, a subsidiary of The Times of India group, and the name was changed to Absolute Radio; the Virgin Radio name was not included in the sale. In 2001, ...

in the UK.

Track listings

CD single 1 (INXCD25) # "The Gift" # "The Gift" (Bonus Beats mix) # " Born to Be Wild" CD single 2 (INXCT 25) # "The Gift" # "The Gift" (extended mix) # "Heaven Sent" (live) CD single 3 (Atlantic 85722-2) # "The Gift" # "Born to Be Wild" # "The Gift" (extended mix) # "The Gift" (Bonus Beat mix) # "Heaven Sent" (live) 7-inch vinyl and cassette single (INXS25) # "The Gift" # "The Gift" (extended mix)

Charts

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gift 1993 singles 1993 songs Atlantic Records singles East West Records singles INXS songs Mercury Records singles Music video controversies Song recordings produced by Mark Opitz Songs written by Andrew Farriss Songs written by Michael Hutchence