Just What They Needed: How INXS Crashed the US Top 5 for the First Time

What INXS needed most was a smash hit. And this hit couldn’t just be one that did damage closer to their Australian home. They needed one that would smash in the United States, the biggest musical market in the world.

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Well, the song that achieved what they needed was titled, appropriately enough, “What You Need”. It took them to the stratosphere in 1985, setting them up as one of the biggest bands for the remainder of the decade.

Trying to Unlock America

It’s not like INXS was completely unknown in America heading into their 1985 album Listen Like Thieves. The Aussies had enjoyed their share of MTV exposure in the first half of the 80s, thanks to telegenic frontman Michael Hutchence. Their 1982 single “The One Thing” peaked at No. 30, giving them a tiny foothold on the US charts.

But their 1984 album The Swing was more a swing and miss in the US, even as it, like all their other records, was a huge hit in Australia. The band found themselves struggling to establish an identity. The market seemed to favor rock that tended to be on the heavier side.

INXS, on the other hand, skewed closer to danceable pop spiked with funk elements. They wanted to follow those instincts, but they thought that their records often lacked the spirit of their live shows. A new producer helped solve a lot of these problems.

No Doubting Thomas

Chris Thomas, by then already a legendary producer for work with artists including Roxy Music, The Pretenders, and Elton John, took a liking to the band. He agreed to produce Listen Like Thieves. His decision to capture the band playing together live in the studio helped their sound come alive on record.

Thomas also served a crucial purpose as a kind of unofficial A&R man for the band. As INXS came to what they thought was the completion of recording Listen Like Thieves. Thomas took the chief songwriters, Hutchence and Andrew Farriss, aside. He told them that the album lacked a surefire hit. And he gave them 48 hours to change that.

Working off a funky, rhythmic piece that Farriss already had in the hopper, the two churned out “What You Need”. Ironically, the song was chosen as the second single from Listen Like Thieves to be released in the US. But it did its job, landing at No. 5 in 1985.

The lyrics for “What You Need” wisely don’t try to go too deep. Such an effort would only distract from the song’s relentless rhythmic thrust. Hutchence keeps it simple with basic exhortations. “Forget about the troubles in life,” he insists. “Ain’t no sense in your crying,” he later says. “Pick it up and throw it into shape?”

Behind the Lyrics of “What You Need”

“Don’t you know there is a rhythm?” he later asks, as the beat around him makes his case. In the refrain, he acts as the dealer, only the drug is the thrilling music. “This is what you need,” he wails.

Would INXS have scored big in the US without “What You Need”? Possibly. But the song assured it would be so. Good thing they took those extra couple of days to get it down.

(Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images)