Need You Tonight

For the JP Cooper and Ray BLK song, see JP Cooper discography. For various songs titled "I Need You Tonight", see I Need You Tonight (disambiguation).

"Need You Tonight" is a song by the Australian rock band INXS, released as the first single from their 1987 album, Kick, 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; 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.

"Need You Tonight"
Single by INXS
from the album Kick
B-side	"I'm Coming (Home)" "Mediate" (music video)
Released	21 September 1987 (1987-09-21)
Genre	Funk rock[1] dance-rock[2] new wave[3]
Length	3:00
Label	WEA
Songwriter(s)	Andrew Farriss Michael Hutchence
Producer(s)	Chris Thomas
INXS singles chronology
"Good Times" (1987) "Need You Tonight" (1987) "New Sensation" (1987)
Music video
"Need You Tonight" on YouTube

In February 2014, after the Channel 7 screening of the INXS: Never Tear Us Apart mini-series, "Need You Tonight" charted again in Australia via download sales. It peaked at No. 28 on the ARIA Singles Chart.^[4] In January 2018, as part of Triple M's "Ozzest 100", the 'most Australian' songs of all time, "Need You Tonight" was ranked number 69.^[5]

Music video

The music video combined live action and different kinds of animation. Directed by Richard Lowenstein, 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's "Subterranean Homesick Blues". 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, Japan.

The video won five MTV Video Music Awards including 1988 Video of The Year and was ranked at number twenty-one on MTV's countdown of the 100 greatest videos of all time.^[6]

Track listings

7-inch single

1. "Need You Tonight" – 3:01
2. "I'm Coming (Home)" – 4:54

7-inch single

1. "Need You Tonight" – 3:01
2. "Need You Tonight" (Mendelsohn extended mix) – 7:02

12-inch single

1. "Need You Tonight" – 3:01
2. "Mediate" – 2:35
3. "I'm Coming (Home)" – 4:53

12-inch single

1. "Need You Tonight" (Mendelsohn extended mix) – 7:02
2. "Move On" – 4:47
3. "Kiss the Dirt (Falling Down the Mountain)" – 3:54

12-inch single

1. "Need You Tonight" (Ben Liebrand mix) – 7:18
2. "Move On" – 4:47
3. "New Sensation" (extended mix) – 6:30

Maxi-CD single

1. "Need You Tonight" – 3:05
2. "Don't Dream It's Over" – 4:00
3. "Need You Tonight" (extended version) – 6:36
4. "Need You Tonight" (remix) – 4:03

Personnel

Personnel are sourced from Mix.^[7]

• Michael Hutchence – lead and backing vocals
• Andrew Farriss – electric guitar, E-mu Emulator II, synthesizer, Roland TR-707 programming
• Tim Farriss – electric guitar
• Kirk Pengilly – electric guitar
• Garry Gary Beers – bass guitar
• Jon Farriss – drums, Roland TR-707 programming

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (1987–1988) Peak position Australia (Australian Music Report)[8][9] 3 Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[10] 16 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[11] 9 Canada Top Singles (RPM)[12] 2 France (SNEP)[13] 10 Ireland (IRMA)[14] 2 Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[15] 11 Netherlands (Single Top 100)[16] 12 New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[17] 3 South Africa (Springbok Radio)[18] 5 UK Singles (OCC)[19] 2 US Billboard Hot 100[20] 1 US Dance Club Songs (Billboard)[21] 7 US Dance Singles Sales (Billboard)[22] 10 US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[23] 73 US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[24] 12 US Cash Box[25] 1 West Germany (GfK)[26] 16 Chart (2006) Peak position US Dance Club Songs (Billboard)[27] Static Revenger/Koishii & Hush mixes 16 Chart (2014) Peak position Australia (ARIA)[4] 28

Year-end charts Chart (1987) Position Australia (Australian Music Report)[8][28] 26 New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[29] 43 Chart (1988) Position Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[30] 67 Canada Top Singles (RPM)[31] 19 Europe (Eurochart Hot 100 Singles)[32] 51 UK Singles (OCC)[33] 51 US Billboard Hot 100[34] 2 US Cash Box[35] 16 West Germany (Official German Charts)[36] 66 Chart (1989) Position Europe (Eurochart Hot 100 Singles)[37] 63

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[38]	Gold	35,000^
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[39]	Gold	45,000‡
Italy (FIMI)[40]	Gold	50,000‡
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[41]	Gold	30,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI)[42]	Platinum	600,000‡
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Region	Date	Format(s)	Label(s)	Ref.
Australia	21 September 1987	7-inch vinyl	WEA	[17]
Japan	25 February 1988	Mini-CD		[43]
United Kingdom (re-release)	31 October 1988	7-inch vinyl 12-inch vinyl	Mercury Phonogram	[44]
	14 November 1988	CD		[45]

Rogue Traders remix

"One of My Kind"
Single by Rogue Traders vs. INXS
from the album We Know What You're Up To
Released	24 February 2003 (2003-02-24)[46]
Length	3:20 (radio edit) 4:18 (album version)
Label	Vicious Grooves
Songwriter(s)	James Ash
Producer(s)	James Ash
Rogue Traders singles chronology
"Give in to Me" (2002) "One of My Kind" (2003) "Stay?" (2003)

Rogue Traders 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 for their debut album We Know What You're Up To.^{[citation needed]}

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.^[47]

The Sam Bennetts and Rising Sun Pictures directed music video was nominated for Best Video at the ARIA Music Awards of 2003.^[48]

Track listings

Maxi-CD single

1. "One of My Kind" (radio edit)
2. "One of My Kind" (club mix edit)
3. "One of My Kind" (Phunked remix)

12-inch vinyl

1. "One of My Kind" (12-inch mix)
2. "One of My Kind" (radio edit)
3. "One of My Kind" (dub mix)

Australian CD single

1. "One of My Kind" (radio edit)
2. "One of My Kind" (Rogue Traders Club Adventure)
3. "One of My Kind" (Swimming in Blue mix)
4. "One of My Kind" (Rogue Traders dub)
5. "Make It Better" (original mix)

Charts

The single spent 15 weeks on the ARIA Charts, nine of which were in the top 50.^[49][50] The single also topped the ARIA Club and Dance charts.^[51][52]

Weekly charts

Chart (2003)	Peak position
Australia (ARIA)[49]	10
Australian Club Chart (ARIA)[51]	1
Australian Dance (ARIA)[52]	1

Year-end charts

Chart (2003)	Position
Australian Dance (ARIA)[53]	15

Other cover versions

• Australian singer Kylie Minogue performed the song as part of the setlist of her Kiss Me Once Tour. 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.^[54]
• In March 2010, UK rapper Professor Green released a song based entirely on the song called "I Need You Tonight".^[55]
• Bonnie Raitt covers the song as the second track of her 2016 album Dig in Deep.
• English singer and songwriter Dua Lipa's 2020 single "Break My Heart" interpolates the song's guitar riff.^[56]

See also

• List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1988
• List of Cash Box Top 100 number-one singles of 1988

References

1. Britt, Bruce (19 March 1988). "Australian Funk-rockers INXS Get a Kick Out of Taking Risks". The Morning Call. Retrieved 18 June 2014. One of the best examples of the funk-rock sound of "Kick" is the disc's send-off single, "Need You Tonight"
2. Strong, Martin (10 October 2006). "INXS". The Essential Rock Discography. Canongate Books. pp. 526–529. ISBN 1-84195-860-3.
3. Gallucci, Michael (7 November 2024). "Top 50 New Wave Songs". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
4. "INXS – Need You Tonight". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
5. "Here Are the Songs That Made Triple M's 'Ozzest 100'". Music Feeds. 27 January 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
6. "INXS – Need you tonight / Mediate". Mvdbase.com. Archived from the original on 28 May 2014. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
7. "Classic Tracks: INXS's 'Need You Tonight'". mixonline.com. December 2012. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
8. "Australian Music Report No 701 – 28 December 1987 > National Top 100 Singles for 1987". Kent Music Report, via Imgur.com. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
9. "Forum – ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts – CHART POSITIONS PRE 1989". Australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
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14. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Need You Tonight". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
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34. "Top 100 Hits for 1988". The Longbored Surfer. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
35. "The CASH BOX Year-End Charts: 1988". Cash Box. Archived from the original on 7 October 2012.
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37. "Eurochart Hot 100: 1989" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 6, no. 51. 23 December 1989. p. 6. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
38. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2014 Singles" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
39. "Danish single certifications – INXS – Need You Tonight". IFPI Danmark. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
40. "Italian single certifications – INXS – Need You Tonight" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
41. "Spanish single certifications – INXS – Need You Tonight". El portal de Música. Productores de Música de España. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
42. "British single certifications – INXS – Need You Tonight". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
43. "ニード・ユー・トゥナイト | INXS" [Need You Tonight | INXS] (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
44. "New Singles". Music Week. 29 October 1988. p. 36.
45. "New Singles". Music Week. 12 November 1988. p. 31.
46. "New Releases Singles – Week Commencing 24th February 2003" (PDF). ARIA. 24 February 2003. p. 24. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 February 2008. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
47. "One of My Kind Music Video" on YouTube
48. ARIA Award previous winners. "Winners by Award – Artisan Awards – Best Video". Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Retrieved 12 December 2019.
49. "Rogue Traders vs. INXS – One Of My Kind". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
50. "Discography – Need you to show me – Rogue Traders Debut Single". Roguetraders.com.au. Archived from the original on 15 September 2007.
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54. Harmsworth, Andrei (30 September 2014). "Exclusive: Kylie Minogue opens up about 'sexy' tribute to Michael Hutchence". Metro. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
55. "Is anyone ever going to use INXS's "Need You Tonight" in the manner it deserves?". My Chemical Toilet. 15 March 2010. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
56. Ganz, Caryn (7 April 2020). "Dua Lipa's Unplanned, Uncertain, Unprecedented Album Launch". The New York Times. Retrieved 31 October 2020.