"Need You Tonight" is a song by the Australian rock band
INXS
INXS (a word play, phonetic play on "in excess") were an Australian Rock music, rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. The band's founding members were bassist Garry Gary Beers, main composer and keyboar ...
, released as the first single from their 1987 album, ''
Kick
A kick is a physical Strike (attack), strike using the leg, in unison usually with an area of the knee or lower using the foot, heel, tibia (shin), ball of the foot, blade of the foot, toes or knee (the latter is also known as a knee (strike), ...
'', as well as the fourth song on the album. It is the only INXS single to reach No. 1 on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100. It also achieved their highest charting position in the United Kingdom, where the song reached number two on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
; however, this peak was only reached after a re-release of the single in November 1988. On its first run on the UK charts in October 1987, it stalled at No. 58. It was one of the last songs recorded for the album, yet it would arguably become the band's
signature song
A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a Handwriting, handwritten (and often Stylization, stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and ...
.
In February 2014, after the
Channel 7 screening of the ''
INXS: Never Tear Us Apart'' mini-series, "Need You Tonight" charted again in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
via download sales. It peaked at No. 28 on the ARIA Singles Chart.
In January 2018, as part of
Triple M
Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 40 radio stations broadcasting a mainstream rock music format and 5 digital radio stations.
The network dates back to th ...
's "Ozzest 100", the 'most Australian' songs of all time, "Need You Tonight" was ranked number 69.
Background
In
INXS
INXS (a word play, phonetic play on "in excess") were an Australian Rock music, rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. The band's founding members were bassist Garry Gary Beers, main composer and keyboar ...
's official autobiography, ''INXS: Story to Story'',
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. Farriss released his debut studio album in 2021.
Caree ...
said that the famous riff to the song appeared suddenly in his head while waiting for a cab to go to the airport to fly to
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
. He asked the cab driver to wait a couple of minutes while he grabbed something from his motel room. In reality, he went up to record the riff and came back down an hour later with a tape to a very annoyed driver.
The song is a much more electronic track than most of the band's material before or after, combining sequencers with regular drum tracks and a number of tracks of layered guitars. To approximate the sound on the recorded track, the band often utilizes click tracks for a frequent
synthesizer
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...
chord as well as rim shots heard throughout the song.
On the ''Kick'' album, the song is linked to the next song, which is entitled either "
Mediate
Mediate may refer to:
* "Mediate" (song), by INXS
* Domenic Mediate (born 1982), professional soccer player
*Rocco Mediate (born 1962), professional golfer
*A common misspelling of the website Mediaite
Mediaite is a news website focusing on pol ...
" or "Meditate", depending on the pressing of the album. On some compilations, the two tunes appear together and on others, only "Need You Tonight" appears (rarely, if ever, has "Mediate" appeared on its own).
Music video
The
music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
combined live action and different kinds of animation. Directed by
Richard Lowenstein
Richard Lowenstein (born 1 March 1959) is an Australian filmmaker. He has written, produced and directed: feature films, including ''Strikebound'' (1984), ''Dogs in Space'' (1986) and ''He Died with a Felafel in His Hand'' (2001); music videos ...
, the video was actually "Need You Tonight / Mediate", as it combined two songs from the album. Lowenstein claimed that the particular visual effects in "Need You Tonight" were created by cutting up 35mm film and photocopying the individual frames, before re-layering those images over the original footage.
For "Mediate", it segues into a tribute to
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
's "
Subterranean Homesick Blues
"Subterranean Homesick Blues" is a song by Bob Dylan, recorded on January 14, 1965, and released as a single by Columbia Records, catalogue number 43242, on March 8. It was the lead track on the album ''Bringing It All Back Home'', released some ...
". The members flip cue cards with words from the song; the last one displays the words "Sax Solo," at which point Kirk Pengilly starts a saxophone solo. Beneath the lyric "a special date" in the "Mediate" portion of the video, the cue card shown reads "9-8-1945" which in Australian date format is 9 August 1945, the date which the atomic bomb was dropped on
Nagasaki
is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan.
It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
.
The video won five
MTV Video Music Award
The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honour the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category) ...
s including 1988
Video of The Year and was ranked at number twenty-one on
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
's countdown of the 100 greatest videos of all time.
Track listings
;7" single
#"Need You Tonight" – 3:01
#"I'm Coming (Home)" – 4:54
;7" single
#"Need You Tonight" – 3:01
#"Need You Tonight" (Mendelsohn Extended Mix) – 7:02
;12" single
#"Need You Tonight" – 3:01
#"Mediate" – 2:35
#"I'm Coming (Home)" – 4:53
;12" single
#"Need You Tonight" (Mendelsohn Extended Mix) – 7:02
#"Move On" – 4:47
#"Kiss the Dirt (Falling Down the Mountain)" – 3:54
;12" single
#"Need You Tonight" (Ben Liebrand Mix) – 7:18
#"Move On" – 4:47
#"New Sensation" (Extended Mix) – 6:30
;CD Maxi single
#"Need You Tonight" – 3:05
#"Don't Dream It's Over" – 4:00
#"Need You Tonight" (Extended version) – 6:36
#"Need You Tonight" (Remix) – 4:03
Charts and certifications
Weekly charts
*
1 Static Revenger/Koishii & Hush Mixes
*
2 Remixes
Year-end charts
All-time charts
Certifications
Rogue Traders remix
Rogue Traders
Rogue Traders is an Australian electronic rock band formed in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria in 2002 by mainstay James Ash on keyboards. In 1989, Ash met fellow original member Steve Davis in London while both were working as DJs. B ...
covered and remixed "Need You Tonight" and released it as a single in Australia. The song was renamed "One of My Kind", where it reached No. 10 on the Australian Top 100 Singles Chart, becoming their first top-10 hit. "One of My Kind" is the second single released by the
Rogue Traders
Rogue Traders is an Australian electronic rock band formed in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria in 2002 by mainstay James Ash on keyboards. In 1989, Ash met fellow original member Steve Davis in London while both were working as DJs. B ...
for their debut album ''
We Know What You're Up To
''We Know What You're Up To'' is the debut studio album by Rogue Traders. It was released by Vicious Grooves, Virgin in Australia on 5 May 2003 (see 2003 in music). After disappointing sales and poor publicity, Rogue Traders was dropped from th ...
''.
The music video is set in a dance party where the lizard on the single cover wanders around looking for a girl of his kind. He finds one looking lonely. The two sit together and he sings the line 'you're one of my kind' before the video ends.
The Sam Bennetts and
Rising Sun Pictures
Rising Sun Pictures (RSP) is an Australian visual effects company headquartered in Adelaide, South Australia, co-founded and headed by Tony Clark. Since April 2021 it has been owned by FuseFX. Its film and television credits include '' Black W ...
directed music video was nominated for
Best Video at the
ARIA Music Awards of 2003
The 17th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as ARIA Music Awards) were held on 21 October 2003 at the Sydney Superdome. The ceremony aired on Network Ten.
Awards
''Winners highlighted in bold, with n ...
.
[ARIA Award previous winners. ]
Track listings
Maxi CD single
#"One of My Kind" (radio edit)
#"One of My Kind" (club mix edit)
#"One of My Kind" (Phunked remix)
12" vinyl
#"One of My Kind" (12" mix)
#"One of My Kind" (radio edit)
#"One of My Kind" (dub mix)
Australian CD single
#"One of My Kind" (radio edit)
#"One of My Kind" (Rogue Traders club adventure)
#"One of My Kind" (Swimming in blue mix)
#"One of My Kind" (Rogue Traders dub)
#"Make It Better" (original mix)
Charts
The single spent 15 weeks on the
ARIA Charts
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 ...
, nine of which were in the top 50.
The single also topped the ARIA Club and Dance charts.
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Other cover versions
*Australian singer
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. She is the highest-selling female Australian artist of all time, having sold over 80 million records worldwide. She has been recognised for reinve ...
performed the song as part of the setlist of her
Kiss Me Once Tour
The Kiss Me Once Tour was the fourteenth concert tour by Australian singer Kylie Minogue. It was launched in support of her twelfth studio album, ''Kiss Me Once'' (2014) and visited Europe, Australia and Middle East. Rumours of plans to tour ar ...
. Minogue, a one-time romantic partner of the late INXS frontman Michael Hutchence, considered her performances of the song to be a tribute to him.
*In March 2010, UK rapper
Professor Green
Stephen Paul Manderson (born 27 November 1983), better known by his stage name Professor Green or simply Pro Green, is an English rapper, singer, songwriter, actor, television personality and mental health activist from London.
Growing up on ...
released a song based entirely on the song called "
I Need You Tonight".
*
Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Lynn Raitt (; born November 8, 1949) is an American blues singer and guitarist. In 1971, Raitt released her self-titled debut album. Following this, she released a series of critically acclaimed roots-influenced albums that incorporated ...
covers the song as the second track of her 2016 album “
Dig in Deep
''Dig In Deep'' is the seventeenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bonnie Raitt. The album was released on February 26, 2016, by Redwing Records the first in 14 years to contain original music written by Bonnie.
The album once again p ...
.”
*English singer and songwriter
Dua Lipa
Dua Lipa ( , ; born ) is an English and Albanian singer and songwriter. Possessing a mezzo-soprano vocal range, she is known for her signature disco- pop sound. Lipa has received numerous accolades, including six Brit Awards, three Gramm ...
's 2020 single "
Break My Heart" interpolates the song's guitar riff.
See also
*
List of ''Billboard'' Hot 100 number-one singles of 1988
*
List of ''Cash Box'' Top 100 number-one singles of 1988
References
{{authority control
1987 songs
1987 singles
1988 singles
2003 singles
2005 singles
APRA Award winners
ARIA Award-winning songs
Atlantic Records singles
Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles
Cashbox number-one singles
INXS songs
Mercury Records singles
MTV Video of the Year Award
Rogue Traders songs
Song recordings produced by Chris Thomas (record producer)
Songs written by Andrew Farriss
Songs written by Michael Hutchence
Warner Music Group singles