Hard to believe the guy who wrote "My Sharona" was 57 — and of course it’s sad and tough that the Knack’s Doug Fieger passed of lung and brain cancer on Valentine’s Day.

If you write a tune as timelessly adhesive as "My Sharona," effervescent in that post-adolescent context of romantic delight and discovery, fueled by enough giddy sexual energy to power a speedboat, well, it just seems cruelly unfair that you would ever age beyond the age of 19. Not that you would die at 19 — you’d just be 19 forever. You shouldn’t have to ever be 57 — not that there's anything wrong with 57 for everone else -- and it would have been wonderful if Doug had lived happy and healthy to old age.

I’m just suggesting that, if you write a tune like "My Sharona," it’s as though you sorta earned being young in perpetuity. Like Todd Rundgren for "We Gotta Get You a Woman" and Joe Jackson for "19 Forever" or Alex Chilton for "13."

Anyhoo, I was sorta reminded of the mortality thing when I recently receieved a peculiar publicity release from the company that represents the Aussie band INXS.

It seems that, on January 22nd, if he was still with us, INXS front man Michael Hutchense would have turned 50 years old. You may remember that Hutchense apparently hanged himself in 1997.

Hutchence had a hand in a song that really hit me in that Eternal Youth context although, of every tune I’ve mentioned, INXS’s marvelous "Don’t Change" is probably the least clearly defined.  I can't say for sure what it's about, actually, but it always struck me in that first-love/we'll-live-forever fashion.

In any case, what I find vaguely spooky about the press release is that all it consists of is personal recollections of Michael by everyone else in the band. There’s no real reason for it; no new Greatest Hits album or comemorative film or biography etc etc.

They’re not publicizing anything except, basically, themselves.

The media group’s introduction says, " … INXS has released the following [Happy Birthday, Michael!] statements in celebration of their brother."

And then what follows are a few pages’ worth of comments by the band guys.

They range from "early days" anecdotes about how the band got together to a short message of encouragement to Tiger — who is either Hutchence’s surviving daughter or a professional golfer/nudist-enthusiast.

Garry Beers says, for example, "I miss Michael, but luckily for me he lives on in my dreams."

Jon Farriss says, " There is not a day goes by that I don’t think of Michael."

Tim Farriss says, in italics, Where is my Brother, where has he gone?

Kirk Pengilly signs off his section by saying, "So here’s to you mate. See you when I see you …"

I guess what I don’t understand is why we — those of us who are Professional Writers About Music (Pwams) — need any of this. I should hope the INXS guys feel that way about their departed colleague and friend, but it strikes me as ghoulish to send out this stuff to presumably hundreds of journalists.

If the surviving members of INXS want to honor Michael on what would have been his 50th birthday, that’s very cool and touching. But this out seems a bit self-serving — as though the Fake Michael who sang with the band for a while (what was that guy’s name?) has gone back to his gig at Arby’s or whatever and there just had to be some way of getting the band’s name back in the press.

By the way: I make these remarks fully acknowledging that I think INXS was frequently a great band.

Anyhow: happy birthday, Michael and rest in peace to Doug. I will listen to "Don’t Change" and "My Sharona" and think fondly on the misty, ass-hauling past. Oh -- and feel free to chime in with your picks as Great Songs Of Youthful Innocence.