Oct 19, 1987, 30 years ago, INXS released their Kick album.
Kick is the 6th studio album from INXS and no question, the most successful. It was certified 6 times platinum & included four 'Top 10' singles. Reported sales were close to 20 million worldwide. "Need You Tonight" went on to #1 in the Billboards and "Need You Tonight"/"Mediate" video won 5 Moonmen at the 1988 MTV Music Awards.
Kick was meant to be an album that fused together the 'funk' from their 4th album Swing and the rock from their previous album, Listen Like Thieves.
"The melding of funk and rock was always in our heads. We were very excited about the idea of overlaying two types of songs and genres together."
Following the release of Kick, INXS embarked on a sixteen-month global tour playing arenas and stadiums in major cities across North America, Europe, Japan and Australia. Kbonay got his first concert experience as a teenager seeing Ziggy Marley and INXS in Cincinnati. Ah, Ah, ahhhhhh
Like most bands, INXS took advantage of the success of Kick and has reissued the album a few time. 1989 was a Special Edition release with 6 more tracks and re-mixes. 2002 is was reissued as a remastered version. 2004 as part of their Deluxe Edition series of albums. Kick 25 in 2002 to celebrate the 25th anniversary. And now it's getting a 30th Anniversary re-release. (Thanks Northern Nevada Buck).
“Kick was so radically different from anything being played at the time on the radio or MTV,” “It had a very rhythmic, bottom-heavy sound to it.” “the big question was, What was it trying to be? Dance music? Straight-ahead rock? Some kind of funk-rock hybrid? It didn’t fit in an easy niche. Remember, this was in a year when the biggest albums out there were by Michael Jackson [Bad], U2 [The Joshua Tree] and the Dirty Dancing soundtrack.”
1. "Guns in the Sky"
2. "New Sensation"
3. "Devil Inside"
4. "Need You Tonight"
5. "Mediate"
6. "The Loved One"
7. "Wild Life"
8. "Never Tear Us Apart"
9. "Mystify"
10. "Kick"
11. "Calling All Nations"
12. "Tiny Daggers"
Kick may have been the best album commercially, but my heart still remains with Listen Like Thieves, which you can read about my post here.
Close out with one of the more under-rated songs on the album. And a nice 'raw' look at the band.
