Photo Credit:
Writers: Andrew Farriss and Michael Hutchence
Producer: Chris Thomas
Recorded: Spring 1987 in Sydney, Australia, and Paris, France
Released: Fall 1987
Players: | Michael Hutchence—vocals Andrew Farriss–guitar, keyboards Tim Farriss–guitar Kirk Pengilly–guitar Garry Gary Beers–bass Jon Farriss–drums |
Album: | Kick (Atlantic, 1987) |
The second single from Australian band INXS's Kick album, "Devil Inside" reached Number Two on the Billboard Hot 100 to become the group's second-highest charting single.
It hit Number 47 on the U.K. pop chart.
A straightforward song about the evils that lurk within an individual's personality, the popularity of "Devil Inside" was propelled by a video directed by Joel Schumacher.
Remembering the writing of the song, guitarist-keyboardist Andrew Farriss said, "[lead singer] Michael [Hutchence] wrote the lyrics. I wrote the music in London in early 1987, in a cheap hotel on Edgeworth Road, where I was staying at the time. Cheap hotels can have expensive outcomes."
After a slow climb, the Kick album–INXS's sixth full-length release–vaulted the band to international superstardom. It sold eight million copies worldwide, including four million in the U.S.
Kick peaked at Number Three on the Billboard 200 and Number Nine on the U.K. chart.
Andrew Farriss credits Kick producer Chris Thomas, working on his second album with the band, with helping INXS achieve its breakthrough. "Chris Thomas really understood the band by then. He'd flown around the world to see us play. He said, 'My goal is to make you come across on record the way you do live. And'–these were his very words–'you haven't done that yet.'"
The group spent nearly 15 months on the road promoting Kick, after which it took a hiatus that allowed Hutchence to work on films and a musical side project called Max Q.