"Elegantly Wasted" is the title track and first single released from the album Elegantly Wasted by Australian band INXS. The single was released in Europe, Japan, Australia, South Africa, Canada, and the United States.

Background

The song is said to have been written after Michael Hutchence and Bono from U2 went out for a "night on the town". Released as a single on 10 March 1997, the song became the band's fourth and final number-one single in Canada, topping the RPM 100 Hit Tracks chart for three weeks in May and June 1997. In the United States, the song did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100 due to rules in place at the time regarding commercial releases, but it did reach number 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart. The song also peaked at number 48 in the band's native Australia and reached the top 40 in Iceland, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

Lyrical content

After an argument with Noel Gallagher of Oasis, Hutchence added some additional vocals to the chorus, which the rest of the band were unaware of until months after the album's release. When listening for it, the chorus can either be heard as "I am elegantly wasted" or "I am better than Oasis". This was further to an altercation between Hutchence and the Gallagher brothers at the 1996 Brit Awards. At the awards, Noel Gallagher collected an award from Hutchence by saying, "Has-beens should not be presenting awards to gonna-be's." It was also reported that Liam and Hutchence had a scuffle backstage with Hutchence throwing a fire extinguisher at Liam following some disparaging remarks he made about his then-lover Paula Yates.

B-sides

The B-sides on the first CD single included INXS's biggest hit "Need You Tonight", a 1995 mix of "Original Sin" by Chris & James and a remix of album track "I'm Only Looking" from Full Moon, Dirty Hearts by David Morales. The second CD single included three remixes of "Elegantly Wasted" by dance artists Shagsonic and G-Force.

Music video

Directed by English music director Walter Stern, the video was shot over two days in January 1997, and features the band wandering around an airport terminal as the awaiting passengers begin to watch and interact with the band. A small set was built in Los Angeles to resemble the interiors of an airport with extras being brought in to play the passengers. The video also includes snippets and brief clips taken from the Elegantly Wasted video shoot which were photographed and used for the album's cinematic cover art.

Track listings

Australasian and UK CD1, Japanese CD single Australasian and UK CD2 UK cassette single and European CD single

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history