78: There's Something About You, Girl, That Makes Me Sweat

78. "Need You Tonight/Mediate" by INXS {#1; 10/87} [iTunes? Yes] {Video: Need You Tonight/Mediate.}

"There's something about you, girl, that makes me sweat." I don't know if truer lyrics have ever been sung. (And I'm not talking about any one girl. Pretty much all girls elicit this reaction.)

This song is from the very end of what I call my "Wheelhouse" period, which began in 1978 or 1979 when I was twelve or thirteen years old, and ended towards the end of 1987 when I had just returned from my two years as a Mormon missionary and was in my sophomore year of college at BYU. I'm not sure why the "wheelhouse" ended then. After my sophomore year I left BYU for Idaho State University. Maybe it's because when I left Provo for Pocatello I felt like an "adult" for the first time. My parents were divorced, and I was working to support myself for the first time. Yes, I was still going to college, but I didn't really feel like a student anymore. And the music of the late 70s/early 80s was changing.

To be honest, I really don't know why. But this is one of the last songs of my "youth." It most definitely reminds me of that second year at BYU, which wasn't a particularly good time for me. I felt lost in the crowd that second year at BYU. The semester this song came out, my smallest class had at least 150 students, with several much bigger than that. It didn't seem to matter to anyone if I showed up or not. And, although I liked and got along with my roommates, I felt I just didn't fit in with most of the cliques  there.

Anywho, back to the song. It's pretty darn good, isn't it? And, there's more to the song than just the song. On the album, and often times on the radio, "Need You Tonight" melded right into the next song, "Mediate." That's why they're here together on this list. Without "Mediate," "Need You Tonight" would be in the HondoJoe Top 200, but nowhere near this high. It needs "Mediate" to fill things out.

And, "Mediate" (especially the video) reminds me of Tim Kazurinsky. In the video for "Mediate," the band member of INXS are seen holding up big cards with some of the lyrics from the song, which is pretty much just words that end in the suffix "-ate." (My favorite line from "Mediate?" Unquestionably it is: "At 98 we all rotate.")

Well, back in the dark days of Saturday Night Live, during the early 1980s years without Lorne Michaels, one of the featured players was Tim Kazurinsky. And he did a very funny bit where he played a doctor who would hold up cards which featured made-up ailments which all ended in the same suffix. (If you ask me, those Lorne-less years (also known as the Eddie Murphy years) are a bit under-rated. There actually was some funny stuff there.)

Tim Kazurinsky's Dr. Jack Badofsky: I laughed every time.

(Here's a link to one of Kazurinsky's routines: Phobias.)

Oh, and we can add INXS to the long list of Australian bands on the HondoJoe Top 200. (I blame Paul Hogan.)

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