"Don't Lose Your Head" is the third single from the album ''

Elegantly Wasted ''Elegantly Wasted'' is the tenth studio album by Australian rock band INXS. It was released on 15 April 1997, and is the final album recorded with lead singer Michael Hutchence before his death in November that same year. The band had spent A ...

'' by

INXS INXS (a phonetic play on "in excess") were an Australian rock band, formed as the Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney. The founding members were bassist Garry Gary Beers, main composer and keyboardist Andrew Farriss, drummer Jon Farriss, gu ...

. Released in Europe (Germany and The Netherlands) and Japan at the end of 1997. The song was written by

Michael Hutchence Michael Kelland John Hutchence (22 January 1960 – 22 November 1997) was an Australian singer and songwriter. He was the co-founder, lead singer and lyricist of the rock band INXS from 1977 until his death in 1997. The band sold over 50 ...

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. He released his debut solo album in 2021. Career Andre ...

and recorded by the band in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

during the summer of 1996. Although it was never officially released as a single in the United States, INXS released "Don't Lose Your Head" as a promo tie-in with 1997 film ''

Face/Off ''Face/Off'' is a 1997 American science fiction action film directed by John Woo, from a screenplay by Mike Werb and Michael Colleary. It stars John Travolta as an FBI agent and Nicolas Cage as a terrorist, who undergo an experimental surg ...

''. A Radio Edit version of the single was remixed by

Tom Lord-Alge Tom Lord-Alge (born January 17, 1962) is an American music engineer and mixer. He began his career at Unique Recording in New York. Subsequently, he was the resident mixer at what used to be known as "South Beach Studios", located on the ground ...

to clean up the opening lyrics; "You wake up in the morning with a starfuck for a friend" to "You wake up in the morning with a dealer for a friend".

Background

According to an interview in the

News of the World The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national "Tabloid journalism#Red tops, red top" Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling ...

Sunday Magazine, the lyrics for "Don't Lose Your Head" were aimed squarely at "

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment Liam Gallagher William John Paul Gallagher (born 21 September 1972) is an English singer and songwriter. He is the lead singer and co-founder of the rock band Oasis (band), Oasis and fronted the rock band Beady Eye from 2010 to 2014, before starting a succes ...

with whom Hutchence had many disagreements over the years. Nicolas Cage was spotted at INXS'

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

show for the Elegantly Wasted Tour on 25 September 1997. Hutchence dedicated " What You Need" and "Don't Lose Your Head" to the actor, and also climbed up to Cage's balcony during "

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

Use in ''Face/Off''

In addition to being used as a promotional tie-in song for ''Face/Off'', the song itself plays on Castor Troy's (

John Travolta John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor. He began acting in television before transitioning into a leading man in films. List of awards and nominations received by John Travolta, His accolades include a Primetime Em ...

) car radio as he is driving through Sean Archer's neighborhood for the first time with his new face.

UK release

"Don’t Lose Your Head" was pressed as a UK promo single but, upon Hutchence's death, it was immediately withdrawn. Around 500 copies were originally pressed but destroyed almost instantly. Although the single did appear commercially in other territories such as Japan, its purpose for the UK market was primarily as a marketing tool for ''

''. Again the single continued with the band's unique UK catalogue numbering system and received the number INXCJ31. With so few copies pressed in the first place, followed by the stock’s destruction, an extremely small number – estimated to be less than 50 – actually escaped the burner, thus making this the rarest INXS CD pressing of all time, even rarer than the withdrawn set of 3 UK CD singles of Searching which preceded it, that were due to be released but for Hutchence's death.

B-sides

As well as the new mixes of "Don't Lose Your Head", the CD Singles included live versions of previous hits recorded on the Promotional Tour for the ''Elegantly Wasted'' album.

Music video

A performance-style video was directed by

Nick Egan Nick Egan (born 4 July 1957 in London, England) is a British visual design artist and director of music videos, commercials and film. He graduated from the Watford College of Art and Design with a DGA in 1976.

and included clips from the movie. While on tour in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, the band was asked by the producers of ''Face/Off'' to shoot a video for the song. The video was shot inside a large plane hangar on an airstrip located in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

. Egan has also worked with INXS in the past on such projects as art direction and design on the '' X'' and ''

Kick A kick is a physical strike using the leg, in unison usually with an area of the knee or lower using the foot, heel, tibia (shin), ball of the foot, blade of the foot, toes or knee (the latter is also known as a knee strike). This type of ...

'' albums.

Track listings

CD Promo – INXCJ31 – Mercury/UK (Withdrawn) # Don't Lose Your Head (Radio Mix) (3:34) # Don't Lose Your Head (Leadstation Solid Gold Mix) (4:27) CD Promo – MECP 283 – Mercury/US # Don't Lose Your Head (Radio Edit) (3:34) # Don't Lose Your Head (LP Version) (4:02) CD5 – 568 039-2 – Mercury/Australia/Europe # Don't Lose Your Head (Radio Mix) (4:02) # Don't Lose Your Head (Leadstation Solid Gold Mix) (4:27) # I'm Just a Man (Live in Belgium, 4 April 1997) (5:11) # Kiss the Dirt (Falling Down the Mountain) (Live in Belgium, 4 April 1997) (3:54) CD – 568 038-2 Mercury/Europe # Don't Lose Your Head (Radio Mix) (3:34) # Don't Lose Your Head (Leadstation Solid Gold Mix) (4:27) CD5 – PHCR-4073 – Mercury/Japan # Don't Lose Your Head (Radio Mix) (3:34) # Don't Lose Your Head (Leadstation Solid Gold Mix) (4:27) # Never Tear Us Apart (Acoustic Version) (2:31) # Elegantly Wasted (Live in Aspen 1997) (3:52) # Need You Tonight (Live in Aspen 1997) (3:06) # I'm Just a Man (Live in Belgium, 4 April 1997) (5:11)

Charts

References

{{authority control 1997 singles INXS songs Songs written by Andrew Farriss Songs written by Michael Hutchence Song recordings produced by Bruce Fairbairn 1997 songs Mercury Records singles