Never Tear Us Apart (1988)

"Never Tear Us Apart" is a song by Australian rock band INXS, released in June 1988 as the fourth single from their sixth studio album, Kick (1987). A power ballad, the music was written by keyboardist Andrew Farriss, and the lyrics were written by vocalist Michael Hutchence for his then-girlfriend, Michele Bennett.

In 1988, the single peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, No. 5 on Billboard US Mainstream Rock chart, No. 14 on the ARIA Singles Chart, and No. 24 on the UK Singles Chart. In 1989, the song was nominated for four ARIA Music Awards, winning two; for Best Group and Best Video. In 2014, the single peaked at No. 11 on the ARIA Singles Chart following the success of the miniseries INXS: Never Tear Us Apart. It was ranked at No. 282 on Rolling Stone's 2021 list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time", and in 2025 it was named "The Best Australian Song of All Time" on Triple J's Hottest 100 of Australian Songs.

The song has been recorded and released as a single by other artists such as Tom Jones, Natalie Imbruglia, Paloma Faith, The Teskey Brothers and Sophia Laforteza. In 2010, INXS re-recorded the song with Ben Harper and Mylène Farmer for their twelfth studio album, Original Sin.

Background and composition

"Never Tear Us Apart" is a power ballad, written in the tempo of a modern Viennese waltz, layered with synthesizers and containing dramatic pauses before the instrumental breaks. The music was written by keyboardist Andrew Farriss, who recorded a blues-style demo. Kirk Pengilly lends a saxophone solo near the end. According to the liner notes of Shine Like It Does: The Anthology (1979–1997), the song was composed on piano as a bluesy number in the style of Fats Domino. Producer Chris Thomas suggested a synth-based arrangement instead and replaced the demo's piano part with strings.

Vocalist Michael Hutchence wrote the lyrics for his then-girlfriend, Australian film producer Michele Bennett, who was described as Hutchence's "first real love", his "closest friend and confidante", with whom he was in a relationship from 1982 to 1987 and remained close friends until his death – Bennett was the last person that Hutchence called on the morning of his death, on 22 November 1997. According to Hutchence's sister, Tina, Bennett was the only woman that Hutchence said he had considered marrying. Australian filmmaker Richard Lowenstein, who was close friends with Hutchence, also said that he believed that Bennett was the only woman that Hutchence would marry; "I always felt that, after everything, he'd go back and marry Michele and have a baby with her," he told The Independent in 1998. It was Bennett who introduced Hutchence to Lowenstein, who later directed several music videos for INXS, including the one for "Never Tear Us Apart".

The 2019 documentary Mystify: Michael Hutchence, directed by Lowenstein, features a voice-over interview with Hutchence in which he says of the song:

Interviewer: Who are you singing it to? Who don't you wanna be torn apart from?

Hutchence: Well, it's kinda personal. I don't make up love songs, so... That's definitely a song for a girl called Michele.

Interviewer: Does she know?

Hutchence: Yeah, she knows, but we're not together anymore, so it doesn't work, does it? [laughs].

In a 2019 interview with NME, Lowenstein said of "Never Tear Us Apart" after reading Hutchence's diaries as part of his research for his 2019 documentary Mystify: Michael Hutchence:

He felt guilt over every break-up because it brought back memories of his parents' divorce and their break-up. When he got successful he'd feel the guilt of leaving his brother and it just seemed to be everywhere. Going back into his diaries, we'd find evidence of the guilt – it wasn't just all happy-go-lucky rockstar. There was always problems being presented. His break-up with Michele (Bennett, his childhood flame), he was utterly torn between this woman he loved and how their lives were going in so many different directions. That’s why it inspired ‘Never Tear Us Apart’. Kick had gone to Number One and suddenly there's this kid-in-a-candy store mentality – he was travelling around the world and thought he'd never settle down. There was the hedonistic side to him, but always an almost Catholic sense of self-flagellation too.

On what would have been Hutchence's 50th birthday, on 22 January 2010, Andrew Farriss shared a tribute on the band's official website in which he recalled writing the song with Hutchence: