Unexpectedly fast solve: after my plausible off-the-cuff initial mechanism* failed, I quickly saw the correct mechanism. And when google told me that INXS was an Australian band, I knew that had to be the correct answer.
*I took the initial letters of the four theme words with the extra E's, which spelled out SUNS, and since the E's were "bad" letters, that suggested BAD SUNS, which google said was a Woodland Hills CA band. Definitely inferior to the actual mechanism.