What You Need (INXS song)

"What You Need"
Cover art for US and UK editions, also used for the worldwide 12-inch vinyl Extended Mix maxi-single
Single by INXS
from the album Listen Like Thieves
B-side	"Sweet as Sin"
Released	26 August 1985 (AUS)[1] 1986 (US)
Recorded	1985
Genre	Dance-rock, funk rock, new wave
Length	3:35
Label	Atlantic
Songwriter(s)	Andrew Farriss Michael Hutchence Jon Farriss
Producer(s)	Chris Thomas
INXS singles chronology
"Dancing on the Jetty" (1984) "What You Need" (1985) "This Time" (1985)

"What You Need" is a song recorded by the Australian band INXS. It is the leadoff track from their 1985 album, Listen Like Thieves. "What You Need" was the lead single off the album in Australia and New Zealand, while it was in USA and Europe the second single after "This Time" and was the band's first American Top Ten hit, peaking at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.

After the album Listen Like Thieves was recorded and ready to be given to the record label for inspection, producer Chris Thomas was worried that the album didn't have a "hit". As Andrew Farriss recalled in a 2005 interview; "'What You Need' is another example of a huge hit that essentially took no time at all. We'd already finished the Listen Like Thieves album but Chris Thomas (the producer) told us there was still no "hit". We left the studio that night knowing we had one day left and we had to deliver "a hit". Talk about pressure. The band's performance on that track is amazing. We absolutely nailed it."^[2]

A remixed version of "What You Need" was featured in the soundtrack of sports video game FIFA Football 2005.^[3]