Never Tear Us Apart

During a 1986 world tour, INXS keyboardist Andrew Farriss sat down at an upright piano and worked out the chords that would become "Never Tear Us Apart". He thought the material had potential and played it for vocalist Michael Hutchence, who liked it enough that Farriss cut a blues-style demo. The song had begun life as a bluesy piano number in the style of Fats Domino, but producer Chris Thomas steered the arrangement toward synthesizers, replacing the demo's piano part with strings. Farriss later recalled that the lyric Hutchence wrote for the track was "straight from the heart", a personal love song very much of the moment for him.

Hutchence wrote those words for Michele Bennett, an Australian film producer he had dated from 1982 to 1987 and described as his first real love. His sister Tina said Bennett was the only woman he had considered marrying, a view filmmaker Richard Lowenstein shared. Bennett had introduced Hutchence to Lowenstein, who went on to direct the song's music video, filmed in Prague. In a voice-over interview used in the 2019 documentary Mystify: Michael Hutchence, Hutchence confirmed the song was for a girl called Michele, adding that she knew, though the two were no longer together.

Released in June 1988 as the fourth single from Kick, "Never Tear Us Apart" reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 24 in the UK. Kirk Pengilly played a saxophone solo near the end. The song won two ARIA Music Awards in 1989, for Best Group and Best Video.