"The Stairs" is the fifth single by INXS

INXS

INXS are an Australian rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. Mainstays are Garry Gary Beers on bass guitar, Andrew Farriss on guitar/keyboards, Jon Farriss on drums, Tim Farriss on lead guitar and Kirk Pengilly on guitar/sax...

 taken from their album X

X (INXS album)

X is Australian rock band INXS's seventh studio album, released in 1990. It peaked at No. 1 in Australia, No. 5 in the United States, No. 2 in the United Kingdom, No. 5 in Switzerland and No. 10 in Sweden. The album contains four hit singles, "Suicide Blonde", "Disappear",...

. It was only ever released in The Netherlands to coincide with the release of the Live Baby Live

Live Baby Live

Live Baby Live is Australian rock band INXS's first live album. It was released in 1991 and features tracks recorded in Paris, New York, Chicago, London, Dublin, Glasgow, Rio de Janeiro, Montreal, Spain, Switzerland, Melbourne, Sydney, Philadelphia, and Las Vegas. The album has sold over one...

album and as such is an extremely rare and valuable collectors item. The song was written by Andrew Farriss

Andrew Farriss

Andrew Charles Farriss is a rock musician , best known as the keyboardist and main composer for the Australian band INXS.-Career:...

 and Michael Hutchence

Michael Hutchence

Michael Kelland John Hutchence was an Australian musician and actor. He was the founding lead singer-songwriter of rock band :INXS from 1977 to his death in 1997, a period of twenty years. Hutchence was a member of short-lived pop rock group Max Q and recorded solo material which was released...

 as part of the sessions for the X album in 1990.

Michael Hutchence explained in an interview with Newsday in February 1991, that "'The Stairs' is the most ambitious song I've ever written", The tune is about singular city life: "Building to building / street to street ...".

An extended version of the song was used by NBC-TV over the closing credits at the end of their broadcast coverage of the 1996 Olympics.

A re-recorded version with current lead singer of the band J.D. Fortune

J.D. Fortune

J.D. Fortune , is a Canadian rock singer and songwriter. He was the winner of the 2005 CBS reality television series Rock Star: INXS, and fronted INXS until August 2011. - Early life :...

 was released on the 2010 album Original Sin

Original Sin (INXS album)

Original Sin is the twelfth studio album by the Australian rock band INXS. It was released on physical media on 16 November 2010 by Epic Records, Atco Records and Polydor after having been released digitally on 28 October 2010. Original Sin features covers of their earlier songs, with each song...

B-Sides

The B-sides are the studio version of "The Stairs" from the X album and "The One Thing (Live)", also taken from the Live Baby Live album.

Track listing

• Netherlands CDS

Tracks:

1. "The Stairs (Live)"
2. "The Stairs (LP Version)"
3. "The One Thing

External links

• http://www.inxsweb.com/discography/singles/x_s.shtml