Kick (INXS album)

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Kick
INXS kick.jpg
Studio album by INXS
Released 19 October 1987
Recorded 1986–1987 at Rhinoceros Recordings, Sydney, Australia and Studio De La Grande Armée, Paris, France
Genre Alternative rock, pop rock, new wave
Length 39:54
Language English
Label WEA, Atlantic, Mercury/PolyGram
Producer Chris Thomas
INXS chronology
Listen Like Thieves
(1985)Listen Like Thieves1985		 Kick
(1987)		 X
(1990)X1990
Singles from Kick
  1. "Need You Tonight"/"Mediate"
    Released: 23 September 1987
  2. "Devil Inside"
    Released: 13 February 1988
  3. "New Sensation"/"Guns in the Sky"
    Released: 31 March 1988
  4. "Never Tear Us Apart"
    Released: 8 August 1988
  5. "Mystify"/"Kick"
    Released: 15 March 1989

Kick is the sixth studio album by the Australian rock band INXS, released in 1987 by WEA in Australia, Atlantic Records in the United States and Phonogram Records in the United Kingdom on Audio CD, Compact Cassette and Gramophone record. As the band's most successful studio album, it is certified six times platinum by the RIAA, and spawned four US top 10 singles, "New Sensation", "Never Tear Us Apart", "Devil Inside" and "Need You Tonight", the last of which reached the top of the Billboard singles charts. At the 1988 MTV Video Music Awards, the band took home five Moonmen for the "Need You Tonight"/"Mediate" video.

The album was produced by Chris Thomas and recorded by David Nicholas in Sydney, Australia and in Paris. The album was mixed by Bob Clearmountain at Air Studios in London.

Background

After the success of their fifth studio album, Listen Like Thieves (1985), and its second single "What You Need" (1986), INXS knew their new material would have to be even better, according to guitarist Kirk Pengilly, "We wanted an album where all the songs were possible singles".[1] They recorded Kick in Sydney and Paris, it was produced by Chris Thomas again,[2] but Atlantic Records was not happy with the result, as manager Chris Murphy remembers:

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They hated it, absolutely hated it. They said there was no way they could get this music on rock radio. They said it was suited for black radio, but they didn't want to promote it that way. The president of the label told me that he'd give us $1 million to go back to Australia and make another album.[1]

Despite Atlantic's protests, Kick was released in October 1987 and provided the band with worldwide popularity, it peaked at No. 1 in Australia,[3] No. 3 on the US Billboard 200,[4] No. 9 in UK,[5] and No. 15 in Austria.[6] It was an upbeat, confident album that yielded four Top 10 US singles, "New Sensation", "Never Tear Us Apart", "Devil Inside" and No. 1 "Need You Tonight".[7] "Need You Tonight" peaked No. 2 on the UK charts,[5] No. 3 in Australia,[3] and No. 10 in France.[8] They toured heavily behind the album throughout 1987 and 1988. The video for the 1987 INXS track "Mediate" (which played after the video for "Need You Tonight") replicated the format of Bob Dylan's video for "Subterranean Homesick Blues," even in its use of apparently deliberate errors. In September 1988 the band swept the MTV Video Music Awards with the video for "Need You Tonight/Mediate" winning in 5 categories.[9]

During 1989, Hutchence collaborated with Ian 'Ollie' Olsen on a side project, Max Q,[10] the two had previously worked together on Lowenstein's film Dogs in Space. The rest of the band also took a break to work on side projects, but soon returned to the studio to record their follow-up album to Kick, which was X (1990).

Kick has been reissued on numerous occasions. Rhino Entertainment released a remastered reissue with four previously unreleased bonus tracks in 2002. Mercury/Universal reissued the album in 2004 as part of their Deluxe Edition series of albums. The two-disc collection was bolstered by a disc of remixes, B-sides and outtakes. Kick is the band's best-selling album and Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified it as 6× Platinum, with shipments of six million units, in 1997.[11] According to INXS: Story to Story: The Official Autobiography (2005) it has sold more than 10 million copies in the US alone.[12]

In March 2010, as part of his Record Club series where he covers classic albums in their entirety, Beck released the first video of his cover version of Kick on his website. The videos were submitted weekly in the same track order as the original release, although the whole album was recorded in just twelve hours on 3 March.[13] In October, it was listed at No. 11 in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums.[14]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 4.5/5 stars[15]
BBC Music (favourable)[16]
The Cavalier Daily (highly favourable)[17]
Robert Christgau (B)[18]
Los Angeles Times 2.5/4 stars[19]
Rolling Stone 3.5/5 stars[20]

AllMusic's Steve Huey described the album as "an impeccably crafted pop tour de force, the band succeeding at everything they try".[15] Robert Christgau describes INXS as "silly middlebrow hacks" but acknowledges that Kick delivered "danceable rock and roll that sounds smart in the background".[18] BBC Music's Cormac Heron reviewed the 2004 deluxe edition, "superfluous second disc notwithstanding, this is a near flawless collection of songs" and felt that the "production still sounds fresh and the song-writing partnership of Hutchence/Farriss wins you over with an anthemic glory".[16] Australian rock music historian, Ian McFarlane, advises that "it became the band's most enduring release by mixing the hard rock sound of Thieves with a looser approach to dance grooves".[10]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Andrew Farriss and Michael Hutchence, except where noted. 

No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "Guns in the Sky"   Michael Hutchence 2:21
2. "New Sensation"     3:39
3. "Devil Inside"     5:14
4. "Need You Tonight"     3:01
5. "Mediate"   A. Farriss 2:36
6. "The Loved One"   Ian Clyne, Gerry Humphreys and Rob Lovett 3:37
7. "Wild Life"     3:10
8. "Never Tear Us Apart"     3:05
9. "Mystify"     3:17
10. "Kick"     3:14
11. "Calling All Nations"     3:02
12. "Tiny Daggers"     3:29

Charts and certifications

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. NOTE: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting until Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) created their own charts in mid-1988.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. NOTE: Information in German.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. NOTE: Information in French.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Select INXS and click OK
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Enter Kick in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Platinum in the field By Award. Click Search
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 32.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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