In the first-ever indication that reality-show fame may be fleeting, INXS has been dropped by its U.S. label, Epic Records. Last year, the band enjoyed a big boost in notoriety from Rock Star: INXS, a reality show where rocker wannabes competed to be the band's singer.
Michael Hutchence, INXS' original frontman, died under mysterious circumstances in 1997 (via suicide or autoerotic asphyxiation, depending on who's talking). Surprisingly, the band carried on with a rotating cast of frontmen, including Terence Trent D'Arby, until it did the honorable thing in 2005: search for a replacement via a reality show. J.D. Fortune, a former Elvis impersonator, won the contest, and the band released Switch last year to capitalize on Rock Star's popularity.
Although the album is apparently popular in Australia and Fortune's native Canada, it performed below expectations stateside, selling 400,000 copies according to published reports. (That still sounds like a lot, doesn't it?) The band remains affiliated with Sony BMG (Epic's parent company) in Australia.
The band hasn't commented about the matter on its website, but the site's streaming audio at least helps explain why INXS was dropped.