Mystify: Michael Hutchence (2019) - full transcript
Ghost Pictures and Passion Pictures and a documentary feature about the troubled heart and soul of Michael Hutchence, lead singer and songwriter of INXS.
Woman: Double-eight, 6-9-5-4.
Man: Nice.
Woman: Sydney, Australia calling.
Parlez-vous anglais?
Man: Oui.
Woman: H, Harry. U, uncle. T, Tommy.
C, Charlie.
Man: Slowly, please.
After c, Charlie?
Woman: H, Harry.
E, Edward.
N, Nelly.
C, Charlie.
E, Edward.
Hutchence.
Man: Hutchence?
Woman: Yes. Michael hutchence.
Michael hutchence.
Man: Hold the line, please.
Woman: Go ahead.
Michael: Hello.
Donald: Hello, Michael?
Michael: Donald! Good morning!
Donald: Good morning.
Clear the hallway please...
Clear the hallway please...!
J inxs: Never tear us apart
J don't ask me
j what you know is true
j don't have to tell you
j I love ya precious heart
ji
J I was standing
j you were there
j two worlds collided
j and they could never
tear us apart j
The amount of experience
that you go through
in doing what we do
is many lifetimes.
The problem is holding on
to a fixed point
for long enough
to understand it.
That's the difficult part.
J exorcise the devils
in my mind j
Michael: I think to be without
at least one love in your life,
someone to love you.
To be lonely, I think,
must be terrible.
I always remember him
sitting on the floor
in Andrew's bedroom,
saying, "mr farriss, I'm
determined to play something."
Which brought roars of laughter,
because it was apparent
he couldn't and shouldn't
bother with an instrument.
Michael: Got into a fight
at school.
Walking around like an
english prat from Hong Kong,
going, "where's my class?
What's going on here?"
Got picked on in a fight
and Andrew came over
and pulled me out.
Andrew sucked me into
playing music.
Yeah.
I'm sorry, you just have to give
all these buckets of charisma
out to people, y'know...
And that, of course,
was the beginning
of the famous six.
Timothy, Andrew,
Jonathan, kirk pengilly,
garry beers.
And I'm Michael.
Dennis: Michael was not
a happy lad.
He did not have
a happy background.
He used to spend a lot of time
at our house.
He was never in any hurry
to go home.
I'll simply leave it at that.
Michael: I just used to watch
'em and hang out with them,
and it was fun, you know?
Andrew gave me a microphone
and said, "do you wanna sing?
I'm trying out these drummers."
And that was the beginning
of the end.
Michael: Hey, Simon,
where are you?
J inxs: Simple Simon
J Simon found love, in love
he thinks he found himself
j only has a heart for her
and her alone j
Michael would show me
lyrics he'd been working on.
I said "these are great.
What's your inspiration?"
He said, "oh, well,
I've had some times"
"where I've had to question
things, so I read books."
"Hermann hesse's siddhartha"
"and kahlil gibran's
the prophet."
There was something different
in the way he looked at things,
the way he was able
to articulate it.
I knew he was someone
really interesting.
I usually can only write about what
um.. Seems to apply to myself
or my surroundings
or my friends, or whatever.
So um...
It must be that way,
I must have...
I'll have to explain it
that way.
J inxs: The loved one
j walking like
j talking like
j wanting like
j she comes... j
Michael: I used to hang out
with ananda.
She was a poet.
A very young poet.
Kind of advanced
for her years, really.
She got me into
all this beat scene,
ferlinghetti and Ginsberg.
The power of words
became apparent to me.
On that night,
I was in full slave get-up,
with all the
leather criss-crosses.
Hardly anything on at all,
except for a collar and a lead.
I was with my boyfriend
at the time,
then I met Michael,
and sometime, very soon after
that, I was just with Michael.
He turned out to be
a very sweet-natured person.
He didn't have a lot of rules,
he just wanted you to be happy.
There's no aphrodisiac like
being listened to sincerely.
He had a genuine artistry,
an artist's eye and sensibility
about the world and himself.
We read books together
and we used to listen
to lyrics together
and work out what they meant.
Oscar wilde, Charles bukowski,
and Dylan Thomas,
under milk wood.
I remember him reading
the picture of Dorian gray,
and he really loved that image
of there being
a picture somewhere
where all your evil
and bad living shows up
and you remain youthful
and sweet.
J well, I love her so j
ananda: Michael used to say
that he didn't know
what love was.
So, I would go, "I love you,"
and he would go,
"t don't know what love is."
J anytime I say j
ananda: During that time,
men in suits kept turning up.
Band management,
they seemed to have lots
of plans for these young men.
I go down to
the stagedoor tavern.
This little band comes on stage.
Next minute, this quirky,
little, skinny guy came on
and I was like, "hmm."
So I went backstage and
introduced myself to them.
I said, "ok, guys, this thing
about management,
"t'll only do it on the basis
that we do it internationally."
Michael's hand went up
like a schoolkid.
He goes, "yes! I'm in!"
So, I said,
"ok. It's gonna very serious.
"I'm gonna work you guys
like dogs."
We played and played
and played everywhere.
Hundreds of shows a year.
Until the record companies
had to sign us,
'cause we had
such a big audience.
Molly: When are you touring?
- We are touring right now.
- This Monday we start.
- Right
and we take off for about
two or three weeks, everywhere.
And it was
five, six shows a week.
Melbourne on a Saturday, back
to do a Sydney show on Sunday.
Two shows on a Sunday.
Michael was just
one of the guys.
One big happy family.
Michael always just had
that aura about him.
The other five guys felt that,
as well.
He always had star qualities.
It was just a matter
of getting that to the world.
When Michael began to realise
and get the confidence
that he could sing things
he believed in,
that's when it all really
started to happen for us.
He really wanted
to be a real artist
of some kind,
working towards
a lifelong body of work.
He was working very practically
towards becoming famous.
I didn't know how profoundly
meaningful it was to him.
His desire for fame
really fell into context for me
when I met his mum.
J serge Gainsbourg:
Je t'aime... moi non plus
Michael: My parents used to
have good parties occasionally
and play a lot of soul music
and that kind of stuff.
Always there'd be
this period of the night
when they would put on this
record by serge Gainsbourg
called je t'aime.
J je vais, je vais et je viens j
Michael: That would be
the signal for the kids to go.
So we'd always go,
"oh, not this song!"
We had no idea, really,
what it meant.
But I do remember it being
a very evocative atmosphere
and the sexuality of it
being very strong.
That impressed me
that a piece of music could
have such an impact on a room.
My sister, who's a bit older,
she was a go-go dancer.
She used to rehearse with
her girlfriends in the house.
I liked the rehearsals.
A lot of motown stuff,
everything.
A lot of music.
The supremes, dionne,
Diana Ross,
James brown.
I always had a soft spot
for the Beatles,
especially John Lennon.
The Bee Gees doing...
J lonely days
j lonely nights &
electric warrior,
'cause I just loved Marc bolan.
Aretha Franklin's voice
singing respect,
that got me into singing.
Man, over pa: Ladies
and gentlemen,
welcome to Hong Kong.
The local time is 5:18pm.
On behalf of...
Michael: My dad's a real
wanderer. A bit like me.
He's been all over the place.
We just moved to Hong Kong.
He was a manager for gande price
that imported
all the moet & chandon.
That's why we had
so many parties.
We lived at the Hong Kong Hilton
for the first two months.
Michael: My room.
Tina: The boys thought
that was just our house.
They'd jump in the lifts, they
knew how to push those buttons
and they'd go up and down.
Mother and I would be up
and down trying to find them.
I was managing
a childrenswear department.
We needed a little fashion show,
so naturally I grabbed the boys.
Michael was probably
nine or ten.
The day of, Rhett just got out
there and he's making faces.
Michael's not so sure
about this.
He's looking, and then
I sort of pushed him on there,
and all of a sudden,
he walked out,
and he did see the people,
his face changed.
He got into it, he started
really enjoying himself.
Turned around,
he's winking at me,
which surprised me,
because he was a shy kid.
Michael's report cards
always said things like,
"Michael is a dreamer.
Michael doesn't concentrate.
"Michael won't get anywhere
if he keeps this up.”
He was a dreamer.
We didn't know
what he was dreaming about.
When he said he was going to
sing with this band,
that just surprised the heck
out of me.
Here's this kid
who didn't wanna walk into
a roomful of people,
let alone sing.
Anticipation!
Anxiety attack!
J Michael hutchence:
Spill the wine
there was just a
presence, something behind me,
someone staring,
and I didn't know who he was,
I didn't look.
He was really shy,
but he did make a point
of walking up
and asking if I was leaving.
I didn't think too much more
about it,
until I met him again.
He just eyeballed me.
When he focuses on you,
it's hard to ignore.
It draws you in
and draws things out.
I'd never experienced
anything like that.
He was just very, very
different from anyone I'd met.
It swept me off my feet.
He came across
as a little bit pretentious,
because he started to spout
sartre and camus
and existentialism.
I think he thought
it was pretty impressive.
Michele: I think you'd be
really boring if you stay here.
Yeah? I'd just contemplate
all the time.
Michele: You'd contemplate
and philosophise.
I know. I would, actually.
Michele: Mm.
Michael: I got a really old
1919 citroen,
which I drove from Melbourne
to Sydney.
And it was great,
it was wonderful.
It was the best car
I've ever driven in my life.
Michele: I just put
all my things in this car
that wasn't registered.
I didn't know
he didn't have a licence.
Michele: And we moved
to this house in Paddington.
Michele walked through the door,
and it was this drop-dead
gorgeous young girl.
Michael: Michele. Michele!
Jenny: Immediately very warm and funny
and I loved her
right from the first moment.
Michael: Happy...
They were like
two peas in a pod.
The wild hair
and the big smiles.
That was true love to me.
Hello, this is
Michael hutchence's
wildlife documentary.
Over here we have
what's commonly known
as London bridge.
J born free j
he was a drifter.
I don't remember him ever
having a stack of records
or a record player or anything.
You sort of came, one night,
into Michele's room,
there were all these clothes
strewn around the floor,
and that was Michael.
You just knew
he deeply loved her,
you knew he was in awe of her
and he really felt he had
a little family in that house,
to be loved and to be
cared about and supported,
and we did.
J well, you know I love... j
Michele: He loved christmases,
and he needed his own
little tribe around him.
He didn't wanna go on tour,
he just wanted to stay
in the house with us,
because it was a load of fun.
Just fucking at the party.
Nick: Once he was nearly
in tears going away and saying,
"I just wanna stay here
with you guys."
See you. Michele: Bye!
Michael: Oh, yes!
Let me hear all you!
Fucking hell!
Hello, we're inxs.
From Sydney.
The audiences
were suddenly out there,
knew the words,
and we were getting
some great reactions,
surprising reactions.
J inxs: The one thing
j well, you know
just what you do to me
j the way you move
j soft and slippery j
he was really, like,
a rock star waiting to happen.
They just needed to have
the hit records.
He was the complete package.
Which is a really strange
thing to come across.
Very strange.
At that point, it
was just unrelenting touring.
Arriving in one city,
sound check, playing,
driving through the night
to the next place.
He'd never stay in any place
long enough
to experience a city
or its culture.
And I just loathed it.
Michael: Yeah.
Michele, where are we?
- San Fran...
Michael: Francisco.
J with flowers... j
New Orleans!
Michele: He didn't like
being apart.
He didn't like being apart
from his friends, either.
He wanted you to be with him.
He did not like to be alone.
He needed to feel like
he belonged somewhere,
and I think that is
part of the reason
why inxs was a family to him.
Hi, Michele.
This is us in London.
See you very soon.
Miss you very much.
Nick: He loved coming home
to the house. He missed it.
She was her own person and
she didn't take the bullshit,
and very easily
could see through people,
someone who wasn't genuine,
and she had no problems
about showing it.
Michael: My Michele,
we're going home now.
Are you driving?
Nick: Michael did love that
about her.
What?!
You can't have an ice-cream!
I'm sick of you asking
all the time, Michele!
Are you filming?
Oh... honey.
Like the view?
It's nice, huh?
I'm so glad we came out here.
Let's go to the us top five
for this week,
and look at number five,
what you need, inxs.
Michael: Yeah!
Hey!
What do you need?
Chris came into a show in Tokyo,
and he came backstage
and he said,
"oh, that was the best gig
I've ever seen in my life."
We thought, "this guy's
pretty enthusiastic.”
We decided to go in the studio
and see what could happen.
Andrew brought in
this demo of this riff
and I thought, "wow!"
I thought, "James brown!
Everybody's gonna dance to it."
And we started it the next day,
and on the Friday night,
I took a rough mix to Benny's,
and I asked them to pop this on.
And it had an immediate
physical effect
on everybody in there,
and I thought, "yeah,
I think we've cracked it."
J inxs: What you need
j hey, here is the story
j forget about your troubles
in life &»
ciao.
Michael: It was incredible.
You suddenly get this feeling
that people know who you are
and you really exist
in their lives and their minds
and they really are enjoying it
and enjoying your music,
and it's a great feeling
and it really urges you on.
Cor, that's beautiful!
You just don't see it
in Australia, do you?
J give you what you need,
I give you what you need, yeah! J
he was always the first
person to arrive at the studio.
He was really
watching everything.
He was the one
who had a real idea
of where things should go.
He really did have an instinct
for the whole thing.
I was learning stuff from him!
He wrote most of the top lines
for those songs,
the actual tune
that the singer sings.
He wasn't just writing words,
he was writing melodies.
J; Well, there ain't no sense
in all your crying
j just pick it up
and throw it into shape
j oh, what do you say? J
Chris: Michael off-stage was
as far removed as a rock star
as was possible.
He was one of the loveliest
people I've ever met,
without any question of a doubt.
She's from Australia!
He had such
a presence about him.
He could look you in the eye
and make you feel like you're
the only person in the room.
And he could do it if you were
a male or a female,
he could do it to kids,
he could do it to animals.
He just had that way about him.
Andrew farriss on keyboards.
I don't think Michael
was a particularly good singer
when we first started,
he was just a good guy
who was my friend.
But he developed,
unbelievably exponentially
as a talent, as a person,
on stage and as a singer.
Michael became
a really good singer.
An amazing singer.
I don't really know
how to describe it.
Hey-oh!
J helpless baby
j evil child &
it really bothers me that
he didn't really understand
just how great a voice he had.
J you want me aga-a-ain j
bono: He had this fragility
just underneath the bravado.
He just sang with such passion
and such incredible personality.
He just became
an incredible singer.
A really incredible singer.
J baby, that's all right
j oh, that's a-a-all right
j oh! J
we've never changed
a key in our life.
Michael sang anything
that we wrote,
with a full voice,
with a low voice,
night after night,
week after week.
He never missed a beat.
J red dress on
j long black hair &
I remember asking Michael
what his definition
of rock and roll was.
He said, "liberation."
J anytime I say, now
j anytime I say, now
j oh, baby... j
he always wanted to
be stimulated in terms of music
and art.
He was motivated more by
getting creative satisfaction
out of what he was doing
and making his Mark.
This isn't what you think
it is on a plane.
We wouldn't do that.
We'd spend mind-numbing hours
talking to Michael
about theatre,
art, literature, painting,
all the pretentious, nobby
stuff that we kind of got into,
and there was certainly
a plethora of things
that seemed to be much more
interesting than pop music.
I'm reading les enfants
terribles by cocteau.
Woman: Ooh! - It's really good.
Woman: Is it? - Yeah.
Woman: Are you reading it
in the French?
No. No, sorry.
Woman: You were just
showing off,
giving me the French title.
Yeah, I was just showing off.
Woman: So you're
an intellectual.
English. But actually...
No, I'm not intellectual.
I know some intellectuals.
That's why I know
I'm not an intellectual!
He had some spirit
that made his persona
an extension of how he was.
The person
that you saw as a performer
had the same
generosity of spirit
that he had as a human being.
Michael told me around that time
that he felt that Michele was
too good for him.
That she held him
too tight a moral line.
Michele: Here we go.
We broke up, got back together,
broke up, got back together,
and then this one time,
where he said,
"no, no, this is the time
it's gonna work,"
that's when I said, "you must
spend some time on your own
"and just think about
what you want,
"because I don't believe
this is what you want."
The whole thing was a disaster,
and I remember him just
ringing me up and just saying,
"you've made me do this,
and it's just the worst idea.”
When he came back to Sydney,
it was torturous.
We were just coming at things
from completely different
directions
and it was not working.
Michael ripped the band-aid off.
He called it,
and it was very hurtful,
but it was the best thing to do.
He threw it back on me,
that I was never satisfied,
I wasn't happy,
and he couldn't change anything
and I couldn't change anything.
He just saw it for what it was,
whereas I was hoping for
some sort of solution,
and I don't know
what that would have been.
I've never seen her
as distraught.
It just tore into me, because
she was like family to me.
And I was sitting there
beside her
and she just had no idea,
"why is he doing this?
"What's going on?
Why have you done this?"
The one person who's
the best thing in your life.
He did love her. I know he did.
They were an absolutely
delightful couple,
destined to be together forever.
He was very unhappy about that.
The connection
between them was phenomenal.
For years and years afterwards,
almost with every relationship
he had,
he was always calling her.
J inxs: Never tear us apart
J don't ask me jq
Michael: Er...
Well, it's kinda personal.
J I love your precious heart
jit
Michael: I don't make up
love songs, so...
It's definitely a song
for a girl called Michele.
Michael: Yeah, she knows,
but we're not together anymore,
so it doesn't work, does it?
J and they could never
tear us apart j
Michael hutchence,
he's hot, he's rad.
He's, like, the thing
right now, and I want him.
All: Michael hutchence.
So sexy!
J for a thousand years
j but if I hurt youd
Michael: Things just got
bigger and bigger
as we went along,
and you're thinking
"this can't keep happening."
Oh, it was very exciting.
It was a long tour,
it was a year and a half,
and it felt like ten
by the end of it.
Come over here.
Owl!
J inxs: Need you tonight
It was just massive.
The kick album
changed everything.
We wanted to get success,
we didn't dream it was gonna
become quite that intense.
I never really, actually,
consciously went around going,
"we wanna be big,"
and all that stuff.
I'm a very unconsciously
purposeful person.
So, from the fantasy
to the reality, that,
"oh, this is actually
happening,"
that became very tricky,
because I wasn't
very comfortable with it.
So I've invented a persona
to deal with the necessity
of getting through it.
I enjoyed it,
but I had to create something
that kept me inside, as well.
There's probably three people,
maybe four or five,
there's probably a person
that does interviews, as well.
J I've got to let you know
j you're one of my kind, oh j
Molly: And the winner is...
- Inxs.
- Inxs.
- Inxs.
- Inxs!
- Inxs!
Yo!
Support animal and human rights.
And hello, mum.
J there's something
about you, girl
j that makes me sweat, now j
"inxs is the first
non-American group
"to land six consecutive
top ten hits in the hot 100
"since culture club
in 1983/'84."
Wow!
I don't like the idea of goals,
I don't like the idea
of success.
It's very limiting.
And as soon as you say you're
successful, then that's it,
you might as well stop.
Whatever success means.
I'm not quite sure
what success means.
Man: For the second year
in a row,
the Australian
music industry recognises
the outstanding achievement
of inxs.
Two weeks ago,
they entered the us top five
with what you need...
We all knew
the ground was shifting,
so we could only imagine
how intense it must have been
for Michael, as well.
Absolutely, he was overworked.
The day was always filled.
He would go on 20 interviews
a day, then have to do a show,
then have to go
to the next city.
And everyone wanted
a piece of him.
Need a cigarette after that.
Touring...
It's two hours a day...
But...
You know, they're the
two hours that I really enjoy.
You've got 22 other hours a day
that all kinds
of weird things happen.
And the three months
out on the road mean nothing.
It's only two hours a day
that matter.
That's how I work.
That's why I'm here.
Michael was different.
He needed different things.
He was a different animal.
I'm not miserable about it
at all.
I mean, I enjoy it. But um...
It definitely started
to take its toll on him.
The continual grind of inxs,
well, I think it played on
all of them.
Man: Anything to say
before the gig?
No.
I'm just a bit tired, actually.
I wouldn't mind going home
to sleep.
It's a lot of hours.
About another three months.
They were
the hardest-working band
that I'd ever known.
They needed to be treated with
a bit more respect, I thought.
It was a whirlwind,
and he was the lead guy
and a cover guy.
This was a lot to take on.
'Cause he was still a young man.
Michael: You have to really
take a step back from yourself
and make it a hobby
to be normal or something.
If you don't, you lose what
you started with, you know?
It's as simple as that.
At the grammys,
which were in New York,
being aired worldwide,
Michael walked on stage
with his hair really short.
Not the most attractive Michael.
Michael: I got sick of myself.
There was a lot of people
out there
that sort of looked like me,
I think, or I looked like them,
and I just didn't want
any part of it anymore.
Michael came to me
and he said,
"t wanna do a solo album.
I said, "you can't. It's crazy.
You'll look like an idiot."
There's very few solo acts
that sell through,
and the fanbase
doesn't really follow you,
because they see you
as a deserter,
'cause they're into
the army concept.
I said, "well, you can do it
without me.
"I'm not gonna take part of it."
Martha: Chris hated the idea.
His view was, "you are going to
mess up everybody's career."
J I'm sitting in a bar
j staring at the universe
that's in my drink
j the motion of my straw
j is stirring anti-clockwise
in the glass 7
Michael: I got together
some infamous musicians
from Melbourne,
who were really good.
Ji recall the moment j
Ollie Olsen and Gus till
were extremely talented,
as everyone else was.
It just kind of unfolded.
It was an experiment
with all kinds of people.
I've heard of a few of his
bands, I knew about his past
and I knew that he was trying
to do something musically
that I hadn't got anywhere
near, that's for sure.
J older and more stupid...
J the years have etched
stupidity into my skull
j I condemn my foolishness... &
given at the point
he was with the pop group,
I find it admirable that he
would want to take a detour
and pursue something that had
much more of an art thrust.
And that dichotomy
makes Michael more interesting
than your average pop singer
of the time.
Ollie was just one
of those rare folk
who occasionally taps into
something genuinely original
or brilliant or just stunning,
and I think Michael saw that.
J idea of business at all j
Chris: There's an
emotional intensity
that sometimes pop music
doesn't allow you.
I think that's what
he was after,
his own version of
a primal scream.
One thing that must be said
about Michael,
despite trying to put him into
some kind of sexy rock god,
pop singer thing,
he actually wanted to be
an artist
and recognised
as being an artist.
That was his achilles' heel,
that he thought other people
were better artists,
they got credit
for being artists,
where he got credit for
being able to shake his arse
and be like a sex god.
Man: And now Max q.
Man 2: And now Max q.
J sometimes
J sometimes
j I can't believe my brain j
Martha: Chris flies in.
Chris goes,
"look, I've got the greatest
marketing idea.
"We are gonna pretend
it's not you.
"That way, this will never
hurt you, it won't hurt inxs."
Brilliant man, Chris Murphy,
and great marketing ideas,
but this one was his worst.
J sometimes j
I go up and meet
with the record company
and played some tracks, then
that guy rang Chris and said,
"mate, Gary's playing
some of the Max q stuff.
"T love it."
Chris's reaction was,
"how dare you do that!
"You have nothing to do with
Max q."
J when the power
strikes you blind
j they can see it in your eyes
j and it doesn't take too much
to read
j too much to read your mind j
I kept getting calls,
"how's it doing?
How's it doing?"
"How's what doing?"
How am I working something
that we're not
supposed to use Michael?
So ridiculous!
J sometimes j
Martha: That's when Michael
lost his feeling
for this person
he loved very much.
He just felt like,
"how could you not see
"that I need to do
other things?"
That pretty much ended
their friendship
and their relationship.
I think it confused him,
whether he wanted to be part
of inxs
and whether he wanted to take on
all the pressures of being
Michael hutchence.
J ..On yourself
j on yourself j
Michael: Why did I do that?
I did that
in a perverse reaction
to what had happened
to the band and to me.
And I had a hell of a time.
Except I forgot to tell the
band I was gonna do it.
I'll never forget Andrew
calling, going,
"I just saw you on television
in your new band.
"What's it called?"
"Oh, Max q." "Ar."
Man: Are you the captain
of the inxs ship, as well?
No, I'm not.
I'm just a part of
a collective group of people.
I'm the mutineer,
and I take over.
He's in charge of mutiny.
J riding in a boat
j in Amsterdam city
j looking pretty good j
how many songs on the new album
are about sex?
Um...
Uh...
Well, probably most of them,
one way or another.
J Nick cave & Kylie Minogue:
Where the wild roses grow
J they call me the wild Rose
j but my name was Elisa day
j; Why they call me that,
I do not know
j; For my name was Elisa day j
Michael: Kylie...
Kylie.
J on the first day I saw her... j
I went to see inxs
play a gig in Sydney.
We were invited back
to the hotel.
That's where
I first spoke to Michael,
in his hotel room after a gig.
This one point,
he and I were sat
on the edge of the bed,
talking about something
to help you with your vocals
if you run into trouble
as a performer.
He was telling me about
these kind of magical drops
for your throat.
That was our, kind of,
first bond.
I was going to Hong Kong
shortly after that,
and he asked if he could take
me to dinner in Hong Kong
and give me the magic potion,
which now, I think,
was pretty much a ruse.
So, I'm in Hong Kong
with my manager, my mother,
my hairdresser
and about six dancers.
The clock ticks,
the time passes.
There's no sign of him,
and my team are just getting
really riled about this.
Eventually, he rocks up,
two hours late.
So, we do go out,
he takes me out,
and clearly there was something
between us, a frisson.
J and I said, "do you know
where the wild roses grow
j "so sweet and Scarlet
and free?"
Kylie: I don't know how long
it was after Hong Kong,
but he asked if it would be ok
if he could fly to Kyoto
to see me.
He flew over, we were free,
no-one really recognised
either of us.
Our relationship
was solidified there.
Yeah, it was...
We-we became...
We became a couple.
J they call me the wild Rose j
Kylie: Sex, love, food, drugs,
music, travel, books,
you name it,
he wanted to experience it.
So, as his partner,
I got to experience
a lot of that, as well.
I felt very safe with him,
I felt protected.
Man: Ok, ok.
We are now on the
orient express on June 26th.
This is an American couple
filming this young
Australian couple,
who are here to have
a great time.
You're on the air!
Michael?
Woman: Aw!
Kyle's really not the person
that people think she is.
Because we can understand
each other's experience,
how much it takes,
the pressures,
all that sort of thing,
there's a lot of equality,
a lot of strength, a lot of
support for each other,
'cause you're both going
through that sort of stuff.
Kylie's got this real sweet,
innocent image,
what the hell is she doing
with me?
And vice-versa.
Oh...
- Cut!
- Cut!
The storybook of this
is that he's, like,
the dark, bad boy
and I was the pure, good girl.
And that was pretty much
the truth.
Michael: Got one?
Kylie: If you're
a sensual being,
all of your senses
need stimulation.
He definitely awakened my desire
for other things in my world.
He loved seeing me experiencing
a new wine,
or me learning about
a new pleasure.
A lot of it was based
around pleasure, let's face it.
Michael: Kylie...
Kylie.
Kylie: We went on
the orient express,
went to see the statue of David.
You know, I'm crying.
I'm like, "this didn't happen
on my school excursion,
"why is it happening with you?"
Kylie: One of the first ways
I would describe Michael
is insatiable curiosity.
All the good things in life and
some of the bad things in life.
It opened up a whole new world
for me.
It really did.
Then the problem
was just scheduling,
finding the time
to see each other.
Michael: Got our managers
with the computers out,
trying to align our lives
so that we're not on tour
and stuff
at different ends of the world
all the time.
Kylie: A lot of
our relationship was faxing
from one hotel to another hotel.
Kylie: The fax was
the current technology
to send a personal message,
and, of course, that had to
go through reception,
be printed, put in an envelope,
put under your door.
You couldn't write anything
too personal.
It was very exciting to see
that envelope and open it
and see what's
the message today,
and to see his handwriting
and what he would write.
They were our 1990s love notes.
Very cute.
Jones is my mother's maiden
name and Gabby was our dog!
And his was swordfish.
I don't know why. Swordfish!
Not the best speller,
I have to say.
I'll film you.
It's still on.
Movie star! Kylie: Oh!
- Movie star in Italy!
Kylie: In Italy!
Kylie: I just think, for me,
we met at the perfect time,
because I was old enough
to take care of myself,
but young enough to just
see and feel and experience
all this new stuff.
Man: Isn't it beautiful?
Michael: It's fantastic.
Kylie: He gave me a book,
which I loved,
which was perfume:
The story of a murderer.
And he gave it to me when we
were in the south of France..
Black cherries.
Michael: Got one?
Michael: There we go.
A cherry tree.
Both: Mmm!
- Aren't they lovely?
- They're great!
Wow! They're divine!
Kylie: That was
a really poignant book
to give me at the time,
'cause it was about
discovery and obsession,
addiction and the senses.
One night, like,
four in the morning,
he rousted me out of bed.
He wanted to show us this area
that was from the book perfume.
He smells everything so acutely
and unbelievably well.
He spends 20 years of his life
smelling everything.
But he has no smell of his own.
He says, "well, I'll make my
own smell. Make a human smell."
But it's not good enough.
And then one day,
he smells a smell,
it smells like peaches.
He follows this smell
across the left bank,
onto the right bank in Paris.
He comes to a window...
There's a young virgin girl
eating peaches.
He has never seen anything
like her.
He's never known
about a woman or a girl.
He makes 20 perfumes
out of 20 virgins.
Until he's the most notorious
murderer in the world.
He escapes to these mountains.
These mountains here.
This is where they grow
all the flowers
for all the perfume
in the world.
Here. Right here.
Like my house,
the lavender I showed you,
all around here.
He is the greatest perfumer
in all of the world.
Eventually he says,
"I'll go back to Paris
"and I'll say I'm sorry."
And he comes back,
and they catch him.
All of Paris goes insane!
They're gonna behead him.
He says, "I have one last wish.
Give me my bag
"give me my bag!”
And he put all the perfumes
into one,
and he goes, "pssh!”
Perfume comes out across Paris.
The whole city
turns into an orgy.
They tear him apart!
Man: Kylie!
Man: Kylie!
Michael: I've never come across
paparazzi like that,
which is a bit of a shock.
Being in so much limelight,
it doesn't let you
naturally evolve.
Woman: How do you think
about following up
something like kick?
You try not to.
Michael: The leaps we'd made
in such a short period of time
were pretty substantial.
So, we felt like we had to make
another one.
I think we got a little lost
in there.
I guess, in some ways,
you start believing that
you're capable of anything.
But all you're capable of doing
is being true to yourself,
if possible.
Because of his creativity,
I think he was scared
of repeating himself,
which is the reason
why he started to do
a bit of writing with jonny.
Jonny played me this demo
and Michael started singing
the bits of words he'd written.
Came to the bit where he starts
going, "doo-doo, doo-doo.
"De-de-de... I haven't written
the words for that bit."
I said, "you have.
You just sing that!"
J doo-doo-doo
j doo, doo-doo j
j doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo
j doo-doo-doo-doo
j doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo,
doo-doo-doo
j doo-doo-doo j
Chris: There was a very, very
unpleasant face-off
between Andrew and Michael.
Andrew and Chris Murphy
didn't wanna have disappear
on the record,
because Andrew
hadn't written it.
It was very nasty.
Michael didn't really
answer back.
Somehow we managed to force it
onto the record,
and, of course,
it was the biggest single
that they had in America
off that album.
J you're so fine
j I lose my mind
j and the world
seems to disappear
j all the problems
j all those fears
j and the world
seems to disappear j
through it all,
he really had a sense
of what was good and proper.
I know he never would've wanted
to hurt anyone.
He did end up hurting me,
but he wouldn't have enjoyed it
one bit.
Ok, ready?
One, two, three.
All: Kylie says hello
to Michael!
I'm gonna make
a schoolteacher yet!
Message to Michael video.
Say hi.
- Hi.
- Hi
this is a video to Michael.
- Is it?
- Yeah.
- Hi, Michael.
- Hi, Michael!
All: Hi, Michael!
- Mum and Yvonne.
- Hil
Kylie: I was in Japan again,
and things were not going well.
This trip that I had to do
to get to him in New York
was ridiculous on
an already ridiculous schedule.
He picked me up at the airport
in New York in a limousine,
met me at the gate.
It felt loving, yet sad,
and probably doomed.
We talked through things,
and I couldn't give you
an actual reason.
But the room was dark,
the curtains were drawn,
I didn't know what to do, I
didn't know what was happening.
Like, "where have you gone?"
I don't know if that was
associated with any guilt
of having to break my heart
and know what I would
go through after that.
Was it work? Was it drugs?
I don't know.
I just know he was like
a broken man.
I'd never seen any man
like that before.
It was like he was
cocooning himself into this...
Like, you know,
rolled in a ball in there.
It was...
Yeah.
So, I left pretty confounded
and destroyed,
and I knew that was it.
Yeah, he broke my heart.
I have to confess, the hurt
stays for quite a long time.
Whispers: 'Cause I can't stop thinking
about you.
Kylie: I think I realised
in that time
that this was beyond me,
it was a bigger story.
Michael: Sometimes,
no matter how much love
two people can have
for each other,
it doesn't always
make things right
and it's not always
the right thing to be together.
It could be the worst thing
they can do.
My mother was very aware
that when she walked
into a room,
all eyes would go toward her.
Through her whole life.
My mother had been
a very successful model.
They really didn't have makeup
artists around at that time,
so she started to learn.
My mother's mother raised me
till I was 11,
I don't remember my dad.
Kell was so charming.
He really did have that
David niven look about him.
They were married
within a month.
They were very much
the couple about town,
going to lots of dinner parties,
very glamorous, a lot of models,
lots of very attractive friends.
I didn't go to live with her
until she was six-months
pregnant with Michael.
It was quite a volatile
marriage from the start.
Mother and kell
had this lifestyle,
but they had this baby.
They were both used to
being single.
My mother was not
really prepared
for this little baby that would
take up so much time
and change her life so much.
And neither was kell.
His job
always took him overseas,
from two weeks to two months.
Mother had 12, 14-hour days.
I don't think
they had thought it through.
They just left him with me.
And it was for longer
and longer periods of time.
I was a good babysitter.
My mother would be working
on a commercial,
I'd come home from school,
the babysitter would hand
Michael to me.
It was us.
I would just love
in the mornings
if I could be the first one
into the nursery,
and Michael would be
standing up in his cot.
He was a very smiley baby.
Very, very happy,
easy-going baby.
He was mine.
Michael was about two-and-a-half
when Rhett arrived.
That was much harder.
Michael was a pleaser.
You really didn't hear, "no,"
from him.
Where Rhett,
his first word was 'no'.
It was so obvious that
Michael was the chosen one.
Rhett felt it.
You knew
that this child was feeling it.
He was a really angry kid.
Woman: Why didn't you take
singing lessons?
I was 12, Michael was about 14.
We both got off the bus,
walking home,
there was a car in the driveway
that I hadn't seen before.
And I got to the house,
opened up the front door
and I noticed that some
of the stuff in the living room
was all packed up.
Mum came down, she literally
had two airplane tickets
flapping in her hand.
There was a little old lady
standing behind her.
Mum said to Michael,
"I want you to pack your bag,"
and there was a suitcase
on his bed.
Mum explained to me that
they were going to America.
I had to go to the airport
and I was screaming and crying,
"please take me with you."
Michael just wanted to get away
from the scene, the screaming.
It was just too much.
And so he dragged mum through
immigration and off they went.
She took Michael away
for a year-and-a-half
and left me with this
dial-an-angel lady.
Come on, everybody.
Rhett! Rhett!
Man: It's a family shot.
I had a phone call.
It was the middle of the night,
and it was kell.
He was sobbing.
"She's left
and she's taken my Michael."
My dad was shell-shocked.
He had no idea this was coming,
at all.
Tina: Rhett was at the airport.
That's the terrible,
heart-wrenching thing.
Michael knew for
three months, at least, before...
I asked him if we should do it,
if he'd like to come with me.
And he said, "yes."
He kept it a secret, as I did.
Michael knew that he was going.
I heard it from him
so many times,
he will never forget leaving
his brother Rhett behind.
It just tore him apart.
He felt like he didn't deserve
the success.
He felt guilt.
When they finally came
back a year-and-a-half later,
Mike was a lot bigger, a lot
smarter, dressed differently,
and he had a sense of self
for the first time.
I didn't have any direction
in life
of what I wanted to be
or where I wanted to go.
He let me go for a long time
doing what I was doing,
because no matter what love
he'd put in,
it wasn't manifesting
in my stopping.
Of course, he didn't wanna
have to identify my body
in @a morgue one day,
he just wanted me to be doing
the normal things.
I think he felt
that he needed to step in
and point me
in the right direction.
There was one point in my life
where he gave me
a hard love thing.
I went to rehab in '92.
After the rehab,
I think he saw that I was
trying to make a change
and he brought me
back into his life again.
He always thought
I had potential.
He always told me I could do
whatever I wanted.
Some people are like this,
and all of us are like it
at one time or another.
People use something
to take care of that,
to kill the pain.
Michael: Love? Mm!
Love is a many splendid thing...
It was around 3:00am,
I was sleeping,
and the phone rang.
It was herb.
We had just done
the Chris isaak video.
He goes, "hey, Helena!
"No, I'm just here
with a friend of mine.
"You should talk to this guy.
His name is Michael."
Helena: Is that a joint?
Michael: No. Sorry.
Michael: You know what,
I had a pretty good time here.
If you wanna come by,
it'd be great.
Don't kill yourself, but if
you're still up, you know...
Michael: We have dogs,
we have geese,
we have chickens, we have lions,
and we have woman!
Helena: We have ducks,
we have geese,
we have love, we have peace.
And everything else
you dream of.
Michael: We were match-mates,
to be honest.
And then we started talking
over the days,
and we didn't see each other
for two months.
Then we met, eventually.
I brought her coffee
and a Danish.
Helena: He just seemed
so joyful.
Sweet, deep and emotional,
kind, profound and funny.
Total mental
and physical chemistry.
Michael: I'm in love
and living in Paris.
Helena: This is a record...
This is a recording.
This is a recording.
Michael: This is
virtual reality.
Helena: Sure.
It's happening right now.
Here we have a rock star
of our times.
How do you feel
having such an adorable chest?
Helena: What a wonderful heart.
Man: This afternoon,
you're gonna be able to see
Jesus Jones, Deborah Harry,
hothouse flowers
and inxs!
Helena: And, oh, my god,
he was so intoxicatingly good
on that stage, you know?
It just elevated your mood.
He just becomes one
with the music.
I was blown away.
J inxs: Bitter tears
j in the hour
j of your needs, yeah
j your lips are trembling
j 'cause you're gonna be free
j realise what we're doing here
j the time is right
to kill your fears
j bitter tears
j they taste so sweet, honey
j I'm seeing my way
j for the first time in years j
Michael had that
very alluring, magnetic energy
about him.
You know when there's
one person in a room
that has a special light
and everyone's drawn to that?
That was him.
When we finally
had time together,
it would be Paris,
where I was living,
and he would come
and stay with me.
So, that's probably the city
that we spent most time in.
And then south of France
in the summers.
Tonight we've got a special
report on the south of France
and I'm so lucky to have some
of my best friends among me.
Michael: Ok, ok.
Can we record this?
J I wanna be loved by you
j nobody else but you
j I wanna be loved by you
j be-doo, be-doo, ba-ba-be-doo j
Helena: It was like an explosion
of intense personalities
all wanting to have fun.
And we would drive
from house to house,
have lunch in one place,
dinner in another place,
party in a third.
It was the most decadent,
wonderful times
that I've had in my life.
He loved his home down there.
We have this gorgeous young lad
sitting over here by the left,
and he looks very mischievous,
doesn't he?
And he will now speak into
this little speaker,
telling us about
his innermost feelings.
Michael: Yeah, well,
the thing is,
it's just great being here,
sitting around
these beautiful women,
having a wonderful time.
It's all gonna be fabulous.
See you soon.
Michael: Helena!
Look at that!
Helena: He loved women,
but he was very committed
when he was with somebody.
Very homey, really.
He wanted to just nest.
We walk into this olive grove.
He says, "you know the thing
about olive trees?"
I said, "what?"
He says, "they're immortal.”
He says, "there's olive trees
that go back 2,000 years.
"There's olive trees
older than christianity."
I said, "these ones?"
He said, "I don't think so,
but they're old,
"and we'll never be."
I would get calls
from kell to say,
"do you know where Michael is?"
And I'd get calls from mother.
They wouldn't call each other.
And then Michael realised
that if he would suggest it,
the two of them would come.
We were all there.
It was
the most wonderful Christmas.
Michael was the centre.
I'm taking a shot
of Michael's house
in roquefort-les-pins...
In France.
It's about 8:30 in the morning
and it's just beautiful
down here.
Just absolutely exquisite.
It was '85
when I met up with kell,
who had come over
to work in Hong Kong,
because China was opening up.
He had actually been divorced
ten years at that point.
We met, had dinner
at the Hong Kong club,
and a year later
we were married.
J la, la, la, la.
Susie: Michael and Rhett
were at the wedding.
A very happy, happy event.
Michael had gone through
a bit of a tumultuous time
as far as his parents,
but when he came back
to Hong Kong,
it was like
he found his father again,
and he was so happy
and, of course, so was kell.
One night, we were in
Ian kwai fong,
kell and I were dining,
and Michael was there
with another group.
He came up and he joined us
and he was so happy
and he said to me,
"isn't he an angel?"
He was a gentleman
and he was a charmer,
and every time I introduced
a girl to my dad,
the first thing they said
when they walked away was,
"I love your dad."
Kell was like that.
Always fussing over women,
making them feel terrific.
He made you feel at ease.
Michael just learned that,
just watching.
Man: How would you actually
like to celebrate
the turn of the century?
Michael: Not that far away,
is it?
Yeah, well, I'll be 40.
Well, I made a deal
with my old man
that we'd be sitting around,
having a bottle of champagne.
So, let's hope that happens.
We were riding home on our bikes
and we stopped to get pizza.
He was stopped in the middle
of a tiny, very narrow road
and was eating his pizza.
This insane taxi driver
yelled at Michael to move,
got out of his car
and punched him.
Helena: He fell backwards
and hit the kerb.
He was unconscious
and there was blood coming
out of his mouth and ear.
I thought he was dead.
We get to the hospital and
he woke up and was aggressive.
They were trying
to make him stay,
but he was physically
pushing them away.
They thought he was drunk.
He insisted he wanted to go,
and they let him go.
What I don't understand is why
the hospital didn't keep him.
For a month he lay in bed
in my apartment.
He was throwing up
most of the time.
He should've been in hospital,
but he was
aggressively against it.
I would bring him food,
but most of it
he would just push away.
Like, he got almost violent.
This dark, very angry side
came out in him,
and it was only when he slowly,
after a month,
got out of that state,
that he was able to make
the decision in going to Paris
to see
a highly-esteemed surgeon.
He got the scan.
He had a fissure to his skull
and the nerves had been torn.
He most likely
would never regain
his sense of smell and taste.
He did not want me
to tell anyone.
He didn't even allow me
to tell my parents.
We kept seeing doctors,
and were always told that
that would be impossible.
He broke down,
and he would be like,
"I'm never gonna be able
to smell my baby.
"When I have a child,
I will never smell that child."
Things just got really heavy
in his head.
Michael: My head was smashed
onto a road.
I spent a couple of weeks
sort of talking in tongues
and stuff.
Finally...
I'm fine now, but the...
The good thing about it is uh...
These kind of experiences
really sort you out a lot
and they make you realise...
You know, you get your...
They make you realise what's
important, what's not important
in your life and uh...
So, I've been happy for it
in a way.
A strange way.
Just after the accident,
we went to the island of Capri
to make full moon, dirty hearts.
And right from the get-go,
Michael was kinda different.
I remember him smashing
Andrew's really beautiful,
vintage acoustic guitar
one night, just for fun,
and it was like, "wow,
what's happened to Michael?"
He just didn't seem himself
at all.
It was quite clear
that Michael was suffering from
some serious brain damage.
And Michael, ordinarily,
was not an aggressive,
confrontational
or violent person.
You can take your fucking...
Jon: I felt this incredible
overwhelming sense of sadness,
"this is not the Michael
that I know."
You never knew
what you were gonna get.
Some days
he was really normal Michael,
and then other days
he was just this
aggressive, violent monster.
Virtually was bipolar.
He was just very erratic
in his behaviour,
but also in what
we were trying to do musically.
He certainly had got
sucked into the grunge thing,
and there was a lot of times
where he would stop everything
and go,
"you gotta listen to this.
"This is what
we're gonna be doing."
So I had huge arguments
with Michael over that.
He was trying to make it
a lot more not inxs.
Things were magnified.
Erratic conversations,
obsessive conversations,
repeating of conversations.
That wasn't him.
Complete mind blank here. Sorry.
We went...
Do you have any notes?
The producer, yeah.
Man: I'm sure I've got notes
on the producer.
Yes, I'm sure you do.
Bloody hell.
Man: Nick launay? - Nick launay?
Man: There you go. - I lost it.
Michael: I spent about a year
what I call 'sensitising'.
And it's like taking
your knuckles
and rubbing them raw
and really...
Really feeling things.
Not just having knowledge,
but feeling.
Really feeling.
For someone like Michael,
losing the sense
that really gives you
that primal connection
to sensual hedonism,
which is the sense of smell,
that would be really devastating
to someone who is already
engineered that way.
That would have also
really crushed someone
who lived the rock star dream
of exuding this sensuality
and sexuality
as he was singing and
performing and just being him.
His experience of food
would've been totally denuded.
Michael: Here's what we can do,
we can barbecue a whole one,
and you get,
from the actual garden...
We barbecue it in twigs -
wrapped in twigs.
Rachel: All he
would be experiencing
is the feel of foods
in his mouth,
creaminess or crunchiness.
People don't understand how
important the sense of smell is
until they lose it.
The part of the brain
where smell is processed
and the part of the brain
where emotions and associations
get formed
are directly linked.
When people lose
their sense of smell,
they start losing
their sense of self.
Like they're floating
in outer space.
You can still see things,
you can hear things,
but there's this absence
and this emptiness.
It gets worse over time,
it doesn't get better.
It becomes
more of an obvious loss,
more of a hole in one's being.
People don't mind
if you kill yourself.
They're quite happy about it!
A lead story, yeah.
Well, I hope I don't become
a lead story.
There was never so much conflict
as post pushbike accident.
There was quite a
significant change in Michael.
He was very, very moody,
he didn't handle alcohol
anywhere near like he used to,
and he seemed to crave
more danger in his life,
whether it be with
the relationships or drugs
or anything.
That was the start of Michael's
rage against the world.
Andrew says the only thing
we've got in common
is that we're in inxs.
Which I think is...
In some ways fairly true.
'Cause I search for reasons
why we still like to
get in a room together.
Definitely. 'Cause you better
have a really good reason
after 17 years.
It's more than half my life,
you know?
Things changed
after the bicycle accident.
I think he was
very, very traumatised.
He confessed to me that
it changed everything for him.
What was just a sweet insecurity
became a deep insecurity.
He kinda lost his way
and forgot who he was.
There were many
comparisons with U2 and inxs.
He loved U2, he respected them,
but it made him feel
more insecure.
He was frustrated,
because they went from really
huge venues, including Wembley,
to this additional idea
of, "let's make the venues
very small,"
like going back to pubs.
I had agents calling me,
record companies calling me,
saying this is
the most ludicrous thing.
That was a very big mistake.
Things started going
the other way.
He had a very bad sense
of separating the good
from the bad,
or the ones who were
just taking advantage.
He should have just been around
good people at all times,
and unfortunately he got
dragged into something else.
Helena: He was
so extremely talented,
but always feeling like
he wasn't.
I had not experienced
depression in anyone,
so I didn't really know
how to deal with it.
I started building up walls,
because it saddened me too much
to see what was happening
with him.
Something drastic happened,
I was deeply sad, confused
and bewildered,
but at the same time,
it couldn't have continued
that way.
Now, in all the polls
that I was reading
- in countdown magazine...
- Mm. Oh, yeah.
You know, when it came
to sexiest man...
- Mm?
- ..You won.
- Is there a category for that?
- Yeah.
She used to have
a picture of Michael
on the fridge,
long before they got together,
and I think it said
'love dog' on it.
You were saying earlier on
that in Australia the music is
more important than the image,
and in england everyone's very
concerned about your trousers.
- Mm.
- I'm not surprised.
The trousers.
They look a little tight to me.
Now, how would you describe
the music?
Belinda: I think Bob wrote
'fucker' above it once,
and so she got a new picture.
Bob and Paula
were probably the most famous
showbiz couple in britain.
I've gotta go off and do stuff.
Give the kids my love.
- I will. Lots of love. Bye.
- Bye!
Belinda: Paula just fell
out of love with him.
And then, one day,
Michael was there.
This is a guest
that has everything
that a rock star needs to have.
Danger, talent, curly hair,
and Australian subtlety.
Short of them
being naked on the show,
it couldn't have been
more obvious.
The two of them had
enormous sexual chemistry.
Hi.
Paula: Hi. -
what are you,
a big sex symbol of something?
"Hi."
Belinda: She was fabulous.
She was a cross between Marilyn
Monroe and Mary poppins.
- Album out at the moment.
- Yes, I do.
And, crikey, I really want
to talk to you about that.
Mm. I bet you do.
He called me up and he said,
"Martha, I don't care
what you're hearing or reading,
"this is the greatest thing
for me."
He sounded like
a different person.
He said
he loved having a family.
Which is one of the things
that Michael fell madly in love
with her about,
her kids
and the way she was with them.
And the sense of security
he got from her,
that she would look after
them all.
I don't think
it had occurred to Michael
that this was gonna happen.
He was witnessing the breakup
of a family
that he was responsible for,
which had a deep impact on him
because of his own upbringing.
I don't think he could ever
forgive himself
for what he had done,
and he took it out
on Bob geldof,
but it was really a reflection
of anger and shame.
Man: How's life been? Have you
had a bad couple of years?
Have you enjoyed it?
Had a nightmare?
What's been going on?
Yeah, part nightmare,
part fantastic.
Man: Ok.
- A bit of both, really.
- Do you ignore it all?
- I try.
Water off a duck's back?
I've always ignored it all,
as much as I can,
but after a while it just
kinda gets in your face.
Because Bob was sir Bob,
Paula was then cast off
into social Siberia.
And she felt that hard,
because she'd always been so
loved and adored by the public.
Your current Beau
sort of beats people up.
He sometimes gets a bit cross.
Man: Only if the photographers
come in
and they're from
the wrong organisation...
Don't say another word!
It seems to have upset
the pseudo-moralities
of the editors of the tabloids.
It's more the kids
that I worry about.
I love them, they love me.
I'm not their dad.
I'm their s-dad,
as they call me. Or Michael.
"Martha, she's beautiful.
"Martha, she's beautiful.
"Martha, I've never loved
somebody like that."
It was magical!
It just was something
that changed him completely.
Man: How is it
being a dad for the first time?
Uh... it's um...
It's beaut...
I mean, it's fantastic.
I'm on cloud nine.
What can I say?
She's amazing.
She's never cried.
She sleeps with us.
We wake her up in the morning,
she just hangs out.
We call her tiger.
Tiger Lily's one of her names.
Michael: Hello! Hi, gorgeous!
Aw! Hil
hi!
Martha: He loved,
loved, loved her.
She was his world.
He'd carry around a clock
with her face on it.
She moved her fingers,
she moved her toe,
and you couldn't get him
to stop talking about it.
It was a wonderful thing.
And he would sing
to her and make her dance.
Her name's heavenly hiraani
tiger Lily hutchence.
- Wow! A lot of hs in there.
- Yeah, h-h-h.
She's her own 4-h club, almost.
Almost, yeah.
He would light up
unlike anything I'd ever seen.
To watch him like that
was so wonderful,
because there were days
that he was not happy.
Rosie: Now, when you go on
tour, will she come with you?
No, she just left yesterday,
actually, back to London,
with her mum, Paula.
You know, she comes out
for a week here, a week there.
- Can't do it too long.
- No.
Is she sleeping
through the night yet?
She's great. Honestly.
It's my first baby
and she's just perfect.
I mean, I can't believe it.
Everybody's like...
The band's like,
"you wait till you have kids,"
and then I'm like...
"Great. Typical Michael."
She sleeps all night,
she just laughs in the day
and giggles and smiles,
never cries.
Michael: You know, some people
say you make your luck.
I kinda believe
there's a sort of cosmic...
I-I mean, I believe in god,
and I...
And I...
You know, your stars line up
and sometimes
everything in life clicks,
sometimes you're fighting
against nature itself,
you know?
And the winner is,
for the best video...
0asis, wonderwall.
Man: What happened
with oasis at the brit awards?
What was that?
I don't know.
He says crap all the time
like that to everyone.
The funny thing is,
Liam was saying to me,
"hey, mate, you know, I really
love you, I really love you."
Martha: That crushed Michael.
It was devastating,
that moment in his life."
- So, new album.
- Yeah.
Looks good.
Woman: Full moon, dirty hearts
was '93,
so what took you so long?
Martha: They were
massive worldwide,
and to go
completely the other way,
that was really hard on them.
And really hard on Michael.
They were hoping
elegantly wasted
would be the album
that would turn things around.
Michael: Fuck you, fuck off.
Paula, look up, please.
They ransacked
her house while she was away.
The nanny let
this awful woman in,
and then they searched
the house.
First call was very irrational,
"they're gonna arrest me,
"they're gonna try
to take tiger.
"Paula has to go back."
It scared him like nothing
has ever scared him.
Reporter: Leaving the
high court in London tonight,
an unsmiling Bob geldof,
reportedly seeking
an emergency order
about the future
of his three children.
Well, I've just come back
to fight for custody
of my children.
I've had to leave tiger behind
in Australia with her dad
and her grandparents,
which, obviously,
I didn't want to.
As for the so-called
investigative reporting
in the mirror,
suffice to say there's
an entirely different way
of looking at
this whole series of events.
Ok, thanks very much, gentlemen.
Martha: If it was proven true,
tiger could be taken away
from them,
and that, to him, would be
the most devastating thing
that could ever happen to him.
They were in the press
every single day.
Paula was in court all the time.
Belinda: They were literally
hounded by the press.
Nothing they could have done
would have been ok.
Michael: I'm basically
pretty shy,
so I find the whole thing
nightmarish.
You become dehumanised.
There's a bullying mentality
in england,
and a very misogynistic one,
and that's scary.
Belinda: The opium
found in the house bollocks,
that was really the
beginning of the end, I think.
And then they just spiralled
into taking more drugs,
which she'd never done.
She was famously teetotal.
Prozac and valium and heroin.
They were a very bad influence
on each other.
There were months that
Michael would be totally clean,
but when he was feeling
the pressures
of the Paula situation
and everything else,
it just weighed on him
and he wanted to escape.
"Oh, let's try heroin."
Not needle heroin,
but still, that had
a horrible effect on him.
He was depressed.
I arranged for him
to go to a doctor.
He got Prozac.
I think he was taking more
than he was meant to.
I think he felt
quite isolated here.
Martha: He felt he had
no real friends,
very few people
he could count on and trust.
I just know he felt very lonely.
For me, I-i-i would say
don't live in London.
At all.
You just get shanghaied
by these guys and exploited,
and they make it up
as they go along.
I've always sort of
prided myself...
Try to be sort of naive
about stuff
and just get on
with your own life.
Thought about leaving
and going back to Australia?
Yeah, but uh...
Yeah, I'd love to.
E-eventually.
But, you know, I don't think
you should live your life
being pushed around by people,
either, you know, so we'll see.
Ok. Well, it's been a real
honour meeting you, Michael.
Michael: Good questions.
He wanted to be in england
because of Paula and the kids.
On the other hand,
it's the last place
that he wanted to be
because of the situation
between the press and Paula
and him and the baby and Bob.
Hello!
When Paula was around,
it changed the dynamic a lot.
She knew
how to push his buttons,
as often
people in relationships do.
And she just seemed
to hit that button a lot.
He just was an emotional wreck.
Al-right-y.
Lesley: There was a lot of stuff
that was kinda heart-breaking,
because he just wanted
to please her.
But unless it was all about her,
there was a lot of drama,
big time.
I'd like an ice-cream.
Would you guys buy me
an ice-cream?
Man: Oh, I think
you've missed it.
No, he's right there!
Lesley: I know he loved her.
I mean,
he was madly in love with her.
And I know he wasn't happy
at that time,
but I know he still loved her.
How are you? How are you doing?
Martha: When Michael
didn't know what to do,
time to change,
because that'll make it better.
Benson!
J inxs: Searching
j I am searching
ji am not alone
j I am searching
j please show me some j
this was written
by a 20-year-old.
"August 31, 1997.
"I got a call from him
and he was upset.
"Apparently Paula's been trying
to break up with him all day.
"She's clinically depressed
"and comes from
a horrible background."
"The next day,
Michael stopped by,
"and when I opened the door,
before I could say hi,
"we were in the most
romantic embrace of my life."
"September 12th, 1997.
"Michael phones me
"and says Paula's tried
to commit suicide.
"I asked how he was, he said,
't'm weird in the head.'
"I said, 'i bet.'
"he said, 'no, you have no idea.
"You don't know
what I'm going through.
"You don't understand
what's going on in my head."
J if we could face the pain
j and I could do the same
j it would be clear tomorrow
j but would it start
j but would it start again?
J oh, yeah j
Erin: The phone would ring
and it was her,
and I would find
another part of the room.
You could hear the discord.
The emotional rollercoaster
was so high and so low,
and I was a retreat
from all of that,
all of the bad,
all of the sadness.
J please
j show me some
j saw a mother screaming
j she had lost control
j of what she once believed in j
he was leaving the next day.
He crawled up to me on the bed.
He said,
"you worry every time I leave."
I said, "yeah."
He said, "you think something's
gonna happen to me,"
and I said, "yeah."
And he goes, "do you think
I'm gonna kill myself?"
And I just said, "yeah."
And he kind of came up and...
Just said, "aw, baby,
that's not gonna happen.”
J oh
j if you could face the pain 7'
you know, I mean, life is...
You know, kind of a mess,
isn't it?
Let's face it.
Almost every area of his life
was affected one way or another
in some kind of turmoil.
That tour in Australia,
as it was counting down,
he had a lot of anxiety
about going there.
He really didn't wanna go.
I was concerned about him.
I said, "I'll call the
promoters and let's cancel it."
And he just couldn't do it,
because no matter the
ups and downs the band had,
he loved them.
And Michael had this feeling
about Australia,
it meant a great deal to him.
He rang me.
He said that life
was complicated.
We arranged to meet up the
next day for a late breakfast.
Man: Any surprises in store?
Oh...
When isn't there ever?
Those rehearsals
were the best I'd seen Michael
in a long time.
He'd ridden his Harley-Davidson
into the studio,
came out of the elevator doors
on his Harley.
Hey!
Just 'cause I'm in a good...
Just 'cause I'm in
a good mood now,
there's no need to fuck around.
I just said,
"it's been postponed.
"I can't come
until after December 17th."
He said, "I'm gonna ring Bob
and I'm going to beg him."
Paula spoke to Michael
on the phone.
She was hysterical.
I spoke to Michael.
He said to me, "just make sure
she's ok, will you?"
I think he was exasperated
with the whole thing.
Michele: He called early.
He was upset and he was angry.
"Why aren't you there?"
I didn't hear it till later.
Martha: He called me.
He was extremely upset
and confused
that the kids weren't coming
to Australia.
But it was more than that.
He was really confused
about where he wanted to be
himself in life.
I went back to the office
and I heard a message.
He was just really angry.
He said, "Martha, I don't give
a shit anymore."
When I got home,
I heard a different voice,
"marth, marth, I need you."
So desperate.
Michele: He called again.
He said he needed to see me.
He said,
"everything's fucked up."
He'd start crying.
He said, "I'm supposed to be
at rehearsals."
I suggested
that he try and go to sleep
and ring the guys and tell them
that he couldn't make it.
And he said,
"yeah, I will do that."
And he said,
"but will you come, anyway?"
He just sounded so exhausted
and totally depleted
in the most extreme way.
I got there
about 20 minutes later.
I went up to the room
and there was no answer.
I went down and wrote a note,
and I just went home,
thinking he'd fallen asleep.
The phone rang
and this reporter said,
"can you make a comment
about Michael?"
And I said,
"about what? The tour?"
He said, "no, about Michael."
And I said, "would you please
explain yourself?"
And he said, "oh, I'm sorry,
I'll ring the PR people,"
and hung up.
And I just sat there, frozen.
Martha: And all at once, the
studio called me on one line
and the tour manager called me
on the other lines.
Man: Ok, Michael, take care.
Michael: Right. Man: Bye-bye.
Michael. Say hello to everybody.
What's that, sorry?
Michael. Say hello to everybody.
Man: I will do.
Ok, mate, bye-bye.
Well, I've got the first part
of it anyway.
I've...
J all...
J all
j all veils and misty
j streets of blue
j almond looks
j that chill divine
j some silken moment
j goes on forever
j and we're leaving
broken hearts behind j
- what happens here? Chorus?
- The chorus.
J; Mystify j
new one, yeah.
J you mystify me j
- what happens? Repeat it?
- One more.
J mystify
j you mystify me j
j I need perfection
js some twisted selection
j that tangles me
j to keep me alive
j in all that exists
j but none has your beauty
j oh, I see your face
j and I will survive
j mystify
j you mystify me
j yeah
j mystify
j you mystify me
j eternally wild with the power
j to make every moment
come alive
j all those stars
that shine above you
> will kiss you every night
j all veils
j and misty streets of blue
j almond looks
j that chill divine
j some silky moment
j goes on forever
j and we're leaving
j yeah, we're leaving
broken hearts behind
j mystify
j you mystify me
j yeah
j mystify
j; Mystify me
j eternally wild with the power
j to make every moment
come alive
j all those stars
shine above you
j; Well, they kiss you
every night
j mystify
j you mystify me
j mm
j mystify
j; Mystify me j sing it
crowd: J mystify
j; Mystify me
j; Mystify j
Michael: J I wanna be loved
by you
j nobody else but you
j I wanna be loved by you
j be-doo, be-doo,
ba-ba-be-doo. J
j Max q: Concrete
J I'm sitting in a bar
j staring at the universe
that's in my drink
j the motion of my straw
j is stirring anti-clockwise
in the glass
j I recall the moments well
j and I raise my glass to you
j you held me in your arms
j and saved me from despair
j as I'm older and more stupid
j the years have etched
stupidity into my skull
j I condemn my foolishness
j and I raise my glass to you
j yeah, the world is packed
with murderers and madmen
j they promise us
a slow, slow death
j those who torture with a smile
j I don't like their idea
of business at all... &
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