"Afterglow" is a song by
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
n
rock band
''Rock Band'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2007 and developed by Harmonix. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series, the main ''Rock Band'' games have players use game controllers mod ...
INXS
INXS (a phonetic play on "in excess") were an Australian rock band, formed as the Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney. The founding members were bassist Garry Gary Beers, main composer and keyboardist Andrew Farriss, drummer Jon Farriss, gu ...
. It was released in April 2006 as the second
single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
from the band's eleventh
studio album
An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...
, ''
Switch
In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type o ...
''.
Background and writing
The song was written by
Andrew Farriss
Andrew Charles Farriss (born 27 March 1959) is an Australian rock musician and multi-instrumentalist best known as the keyboardist, backing vocalist, and main composer for rock band INXS. He released his debut solo album in 2021.
Career
Andre ...
and
Desmond Child
John Charles Barrett (born October 28, 1953), known professionally as Desmond Child, is an American songwriter and record producer. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2008. He has been nominated for four Grammy Awards, a Primet ...
,
and was a tribute to
Michael Hutchence
Michael Kelland John Hutchence (22 January 1960 – 22 November 1997) was an Australian singer and songwriter. He was the co-founder, lead singer and lyricist of the rock band INXS from 1977 until his death in 1997. The band sold over 50 ...
, one of INXS' founders, who committed accidental suicide in 1997. In singing the song,
J.D. Fortune, winner of ''
Rock Star: INXS'', described his role in Hutchence's legacy—his "afterglow". It is a
bhangra rock song written in
F sharp minor
F-sharp minor is a minor scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has three sharps. Its relative major is A major and its parallel major is F-sharp major (or enharmonically G-flat major).
Th ...
.
Music video
The video for the single features actress
Estella Warren
Estella Dawn Warren (born December 23, 1978)"Estella Warren". ''Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television''. Vol. 69. Gale, 2006. Gale Biography In Context. Web. May 26, 2011. is a Canadian actress, fashion model and former synchronized swimmer. ...
and
J. D. Fortune in a loft in
downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) is the central business district of the city of Los Angeles. It is part of the Central Los Angeles region and covers a area. As of 2020, it contains over 500,000 jobs and has a population of roughly 85,000 residents ...
. J. D. Fortune walks alone on the empty
Sixth Street Viaduct
The Sixth Street Viaduct, also known as the Sixth Street Bridge, is a viaduct bridge that connects the Arts District in Downtown Los Angeles with the Boyle Heights neighborhood.
The Sixth Street Viaduct spans the Los Angeles River, the Santa A ...
and is later joined by the rest of the band of INXS.
Critical reception
Music critic
'' The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of m ...
Matt Collar of the publication
Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
praised the song as an "epic ballad", noting how it drew influence from
U2's track "
With or Without You
"With or Without You" is a song by Irish rock music, rock band U2. It is the third track on their fifth studio album, ''The Joshua Tree'' (1987), and was released as the album's lead single on 16 March 1987. The song was the group's most succes ...
".
The song has been described as "bhangra rock", with melody reminiscent of INXS' earlier work with Hutchence.
Chart performance
"Afterglow" peaked at number 24 in Australia on the
ARIA Singles chart
The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...
, spending 10 weeks in the top 50. The song reached number 22 on the US ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' Adult Top 40 chart, and number 20 on the
Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks
The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data System ...
.
Charts
Weekly charts
References
{{authority control
2006 singles
INXS songs
Songs written by Desmond Child
Songs written by Andrew Farriss
2005 songs
Song recordings produced by Guy Chambers
Songs about musicians