Forgotten Classic Video of the Week

My constant drooling over American Idol's Aussie Hottie, Michael Johns, got me thinking about other Aussies I love (Michael Hutchence, Jon Farriss, The Finns, Hugh Jackman, all those Daddo brothers) and my mind suddenly turned to Baby Animals, a down-under band who had one minor hit in the U.S. and then promptly disappeared from the northern hemisphere. It may have been minor and quickly forgotten, but I loved "Painless" from the moment I laid ears on it around 1992. It's remained a favorite song of mine over these last 16 years.

I bought Baby Animals' self-titled album based on the strength of this single, and I was pretty disappointed overall. There were one or two other decent songs on the record, but most of it sounded rather unfinished and amateurish to me. Still, I always thought leader Suze DeMarchi should've been a bigger star, and I coveted her raspy voice, pouty lips and perfectly tousled hair. Those latter two qualities were probably greatly responsible for any success this song had, once it found a home on MTV.



(Side note for trivia buffs: Suze married Extreme's Nuno Bettencourt in the late '90s, filling that hole in his heart. I have no idea if they're still together.)