POP MUSIC REVIEW : Good Fortune and Mediocre Rock in INXS

The three teen-age girls from Canoga Park couldn’t believe their good fortune Friday night at the Forum. They had been waiting ages to see their favorite rock group, INXS, and now they had these great seats.

Shriek !

The trio jumped up and down and hugged as they gazed at the stage only about 25 rows away--the stage where INXS would be performing in little more than a hour.

Letting go of each other long enough to slip on the black INXS T-shirts they had bought at a souvenir stand, the three fans then locked arms and tried to dance to the swaying rhythms of Steel Pulse, the British reggae group that opened the show.

But their hearts weren’t in it.

The girls were impatient for INXS, the hugely popular Australian group whose latest LP, “Kick,” has sold more than 2 million copies in this country since November.

During a socially-conscious Steel Pulse number, the fans couldn’t contain their enthusiasm any longer. They shouted the name of INXS lead singer Michael Hutchence, who was still back in a Forum dressing room.

“Michael, we love you!”

Asked at intermission why they liked INXS so much, the members of the trio declared, “Michael is so sexy” and “great dance music.”

Finally, Martha Hernandez, 17--said, “They’re the band of the ‘80s.”

If so, let’s be thankful 1990 is only 18 months away.

INXS is a better-than-average arena-rock band, with more musical ambition and style than the Whitesnakes and Ratts of the world.

But it is easy to let a trace of class and an intoxicating rush of popularity lull you into thinking a band is more distinguished than it is.

Despite its popularity surge, INXS (pronounced in-excess ) is not the band of the ‘80s--not even close in a decade of such compelling best sellers as U2 and R.E.M., and such invigorating underdogs as the Jesus and Mary Chain and the Sugarcubes.

For all its commercial clout, INXS is better viewed as the ‘80s edition of Bon Jovi.

Though it too rose to prominence in the ‘80s, New Jersey-based Bon Jovi relies on a safe, easily-digested synthesis of rock characteristics rooted in the ‘70s: soft-core heavy metal and a Springsteenian populism. It is backwards-looking.

INXS, by contrast, serves up a similarly conventional and middle-brow vision, yet wraps it in seductive, ‘80s dance-floor currents. The result is a band that appears to be timely and fresh.

Even Hutchence’s clothes on stage Friday underscored the band’s topical, up-to-the-moment image: a trendy, loose-fitting suit at the start (call it casual chic) and tight bicycle racing pants at the end (call it athletic chic).

If the wardrobe suggested the modern man, Hutchence’s teasingly sexy movements and vocal drawl in the show’s early moments seemed surprisingly reminiscent of a ‘60s rock hero: Mick Jagger. The model was not altogether inappropriate because several of INXS’ recent songs have a bluesy, Stones accent.

While the Stones’ influence gives the band some musical character and tradition, it does little to establish much fresh identity. The numbers that work best for INXS are the ones with the most aggressive dance-floor punctuation, songs like “Devil Inside” and “Need You Tonight.”

Unfortunately, those numbers don’t stand up well to examination. One reason is that INXS’ strongest element--these frequently funky dance grooves--are so narrowly designed. There’s little of the invention and individualistic fibers of a sophisticated dance-oriented rival such as New Order or a purely visceral pop entry such as the Pet Shop Boys.

The band’s themes don’t help overcome the limitations of its musical scope. Some of the sextet’s early material--most notably “Original Sin,” a look at interracial romance--had a passionate and provocative edge, but the themes have tended in recent years to be fairly anonymous statements about conflict and desire.

The lyrics aim for an abstractness, but the result is often vagueness. “Meditate,” one of several songs from the new album included in Friday’s two-hour set, is an exercise in rhyme that aims for some sort of illuminating juxtaposition along the lines of U2’s “Bad,” but it falls far short.

Among the clumsy, free-form images: “Recreate or detonate/ Annihilate, Atomic fate.”

Things don’t improve much when the group tackles a concrete subject, such as “Guns in the Sky,” a (thankfully) rare excursion into politics, or “Calling All Nations,” a hammy bit of global good cheer.

INXS is likely to continue delighting audiences--in the 25th row and beyond--but its chances of making a significant impact on rock itself--the test of a truly great band--seem far more doubtful.

Steel Pulse, the opening act Friday (and again with INXS on Saturday at the Pacific Amphitheatre), received a warm response at the Forum, but its presentation was greatly hampered by the absence of colorful lead singer David Hinds, who ran into immigration problems trying to enter the United States last month, said band manager Andy Bowen. The band is hoping to resolve the situation before the end of the tour with INXS.