Kick is the sixth studio album by Australian rock band INXS, released on 12 October 1987 through WEA in Australia, Mercury Records in Europe, and Atlantic Records in the United States and Canada. The album was produced by British producer Chris Thomas, recorded by David Nicholas in Sydney and Paris and mixed by Bob Clearmountain at AIR Studios in London.
The band's most successful studio album, Kick has been certified six times platinum by the RIAA and peaked at number three on the Billboard 200. The album also spawned four US top 10 singles, "New Sensation", "Never Tear Us Apart", "Devil Inside" and "Need You Tonight", the last of which reached the top of the US Billboard singles charts.
Background
Between 1980 and 1984, INXS released four studio albums and had toured their native country Australia extensively. The release of Listen Like Thieves and its second single "What You Need" in 1985 brought the group international acclaim, as well as a breakthrough in the United States. The album peaked at No.11 on the US Billboard 200, and featured the band's first top 5 single in the US, "What You Need".
Recording and production
In January 1987, INXS entered Rhinoceros Studios in Sydney to begin recording their sixth studio album, and the second with producer Chris Thomas. At the band's request, fellow engineer David Nicholas was brought in to assist with the album's production. Nicholas co-owned Rhinoceros recordings and had previously worked with the band on their 1982 album, Shabooh Shoobah. In the band's 2005 official autobiography, INXS: Story to Story, Nicholas recalled: "There was a really good feeling in the studio that this was going to be something big. The band had just come off a really successful tour of the US on the back of Listen Like Thieves, which really broke them there and they were on fire". which proved a problem for Thomas, as he felt the album needed more songs. "They had an incredible momentum building and were gaining fans all the time", Thomas recalls. "There was an audience waiting for the product, but I decided that they didn't have the right songs yet".