contrast, as the former exudes intimacy while the latter addresses social concerns like apartheid. The band also included a new version of "The Loved One", a song by Australian rock band The Loved Ones they had previously covered in their compilation INXSIVE (1982). Release In the band's 2005 official autobiography, the band's manager Chris Murphy stated that upon completion of Kick, he immediately flew to New York to play the finished album for the top executives of Atlantic Records. The US record label first rejected the album, feeling that the funk and dance elements would alienate the band's traditional rock following. Murphy said that he resisted Atlantic's proposition of one million dollars to produce the album all over again. He then devised a strategy to get Kick released. Unbeknownst to Atlantic, Murphy arranged a secret meeting with the staff of Atlantic's radio promotion division to play them "Need You Tonight". He found a market when the head of college radio promotion agreed to concentrate a strategy on campus radio. The song was a chart success on the radio network and received heavy replay. "Need You Tonight" was released in September 1987. Murphy stated that his strategy had worked; Atlantic finally added Kick to their release schedule for October. The album's second single, "Devil Inside", crossed over onto album rock play lists. Over the course of four consecutive top five singles and the support of a short college tour, with INXS playing concerts in college bars and university auditoriums across North America, Kick quickly became popular among American fans. Tour Following the release of Kick, INXS embarked on a sixteen-month global tour playing arenas and stadiums in major cities across North America, Europe, Japan and Australia. The band started off their Kick tour on 14 August with a number of secret warm-up shows being played across south-eastern and north-eastern Australia, before setting off on a three leg tour of the US beginning in East Lansing on 16 September. The first American leg ran right through to November, followed by UK dates in December. With the growing popularity of Kick, and the release of its first single, "Need You Tonight", all twelve songs from the album quickly became staples of the tour's setlists, with "Don't Change" being regularly played during a show's encore. The tour resumed in March with the band playing three sold-out shows at Radio City Music Hall in New