You Win Some, You Lose Some

By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Sep 21, 2005 4:49PM

Well, don’t say we didn’t warn you. We may have gotten the final pick incorrect but we did predict that Chicagoan Marty Casey would not be fronting INXS on their next world tour. In retrospect this seems pretty self-evident – as does Canuck J.D. stepping into Michael Hutchence’s considerable leather trousers – but isn’t hindsight always 20/20?

We admit that throughout this whole competition we made the same mistake most other viewers did. We forgot to actually listen to any old INXS albums and instead charted each contestant’s progress the way we would on another show (say American Idol) equally weighing political intrigue with their vocal chops. What everyone seemed to forget, except for maybe Tim Farriss’ magnificent hair, is that the show was basically an audition for whomever could best ape the band’s past sound while providing a vocal conduit for their current compositions.

So with that in mind, does anyone really think Casey would have ever gotten the job? Of course not! To be honest we’re not sure Casey would’ve really wanted the job. Sure, everyone wants to win but sometimes the prize ain’t so great. Realistically speaking Casey dodged a pretty huge bullet since he would have been locked into the role of imitating a dead man and channeling the new songs of a band not just on the decline but actually camping at the bottom of the mountain. Not to mention, can anyone see INXS playing any of Casey’s original compositions? We mean, really.

Casey does seem to have bagged a decent consolation prize, and one that we're sure his band mates in The Lovehammers are pretty excited about, in the form of an opening slot on the next INXS tour. Hopefully the continued exposure will allow him to parlay his fame into something with a decent shelf-life. However things end up working out Chicagoist must applaud Casey for a game well played, a gracious defeat and behaving in a way that befits a true Midwestern gentleman. Also please allow us to offer he and The Lovehammers one last piece of advice:

Please, oh please, do not take Dave Navarro up on his offer to play guitar on your album. We mean, really.