Mediate

"Mediate" is best known as the song that comes on after "Need You Tonight" in the video and on the Kick album. The song is a poem INXS keyboard player/guitarist Andrew Farriss came up with and set to music. The entire lyric is words and phrases that end in "-ate" ("fabricate," "liberate," "atomic fate"...). We counted 50 different "ate" words.

At the suggestion of producer Chris Thomas, the band decided to segue "Need You Tonight" into "Mediate" when they realized both songs were at the same tempo. They recorded them back-to-back, so it seemed ordained. There is a rich tradition of song segues, with The Beatles ("Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" into "With A Little Help From My Friends") and Led Zeppelin ("Heartbreaker" into "Livin' Lovin' Maid (she's just a woman)") among the acts that have done it.

The video shows lead singer Michael Hutchence revealing the lyrics on cue cards, tossing each one aside as the next line comes in. This is an homage to the Bob Dylan video for "Subterranean Homesick Blues," which he made in 1965 with director D.A. Pennebaker. This video was combined with the "Need You Tonight" video and aired together (they are separated on YouTube because more views = more $). They were both shot by Richard Lowenstein, a fellow Australian who cast Hutchence in his 1986 movie Dogs In Space. In September 1988, while INXS were at the peak of their powers, the "Need You Tonight/Mediate" video took home five MTV Video Music Awards, including Video Of The Year and Viewer's Choice.