As I’ve already demonstrated, 1987 was a great year for iconic rock albums. I can’t wait to get to this year in my Decades series. Add INXS’ Kick to the list.
I could see any number of songs from this album making an impactful appearance in the next season of Strange Things. Start with the title track (and today’s SOTD), which has a propulsive chorus that could punctuate a scene of our plucky heroes fighting back against the dark forces of the Upside Down.
Often after I make a list on this blog of any sort, I spend the next few weeks rethinking what I put on it and running into things that might have fit better.
When today’s song popped up as a random iTunes selection, I immediately wondered how INXS’ Kick escaped my list of the best albums of the 80s.
I’m giving INXS an encore performance based on the positive response to yesterday’s track. Several commenters mentioned ‘Need You Tonight’ as a favorite INXS track and the YouTube gods have cooperated by allowing the track to live unmolested on their servers, so here you go.
I like how the band paired ‘Need You Tonight’ with ‘Mediate’ not just on the album, which is common enough, but in the video as well. It’s two-for-one with a nice Dylan homage to boot.
Keeping it in the 80s for one more day. That decade gets a pretty bad rap, musically — Flock of Seagulls and all that — but as with any decade there are tons of gems to be found.
Take INXS, whose infectious brand of sparse but danceable funk can be heard in modern bands as trendy as Spoon. Yes, INXS has released an album as recently as 2005, but for me their defining sound will always be tied to the mid-80s albums Listen Like Thieves and especially Kick.
Meet Me In Montauk 