INXS “Need You Tonight/Mediate”
INXS “Need You Tonight/Mediate” 1987. 12″ single b/w “I’m Coming (Home).” Arguably the sexiest hit single of the 80′s, “Need You Tonight” reached #1 in the US and #2 in the UK. The video received five MTV VMA’s in 1988 including Video of the Year. It’s slinky sexy first half merges animation and stop-motion action shots on 35mm film, then cut and layered; the second half is a tribute to Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” using flip cards to match the lyrics of “Mediate.” (It’s always fun to see which band members are proficient in card-flipping and the ones that had to really really concentrate.) “I’m Coming (Home)” is, um, weird. Lots of saxophone and 80′s synth of course, and a creepy/sexy low voice talking with moaning and groaning in the background, Michael Hutchence occasionally singing “I’m coming home, coming home.”
Daily (maybe) pulls from the vault: 33-1/3, 45, 78, old, older, classic, new, good, bad. Subjective. Autobiographical. Occasionally putting a record up for sale.