Synopsis

INXS perform amid a restless collage of black-and-white footage, color images, animation, and rapidly layered visual fragments. Michael Hutchence's charismatic presence anchors the clip as the band moves through a stylized late-night world shaped by the song's sensual tension. Rather than ending with "Need You Tonight," the video flows directly into "Mediate." The mood shifts into a stark industrial setting, where the band members reveal lyrics on cue cards before Kirk Pengilly delivers the promised saxophone solo.

Factoids & Trivia

• The official clip is a two-song presentation, "Need You Tonight/Mediate," reflecting the way the tracks segue together on the 1987 album *Kick* and on selected 12-inch releases.

• The "Need You Tonight" section combines live action with animation and contrasting black-and-white and color imagery, giving it a fragmented, collage-like appearance rather than a conventional performance-video structure.

• "Mediate" pays homage to Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues," particularly the cue-card format associated with D.A. Pennebaker's film *Dont Look Back*. The INXS sequence also uses deliberately imperfect lettering and spelling.

• One card in the "Mediate" section reads "9-8-1945" beneath the lyric "a special date." In Australian date format, this means August 9, 1945, the date of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.

• Kirk Pengilly's cue card announces "Sax Solo" before he begins playing, turning the transition into a visual punch line as well as a musical one.

• At the 1988 MTV Video Music Awards, the video won five awards, including Video of the Year and Viewer's Choice.

• MTV later placed "Need You Tonight/Mediate" at number 21 on its list of the 100 greatest music videos.