Duran Duran - The Reflex. Apparently their biggest worldwide hit. What do you think of it?

It's about sex. Plain and simple. That's what I always read out of that song, anyways.

 

Nowhere near as god as "Save A Prayer".

 

LOVE The Reflex, more than either singles ahead of it and agree it should have been the lead single. It’s not my all-time fave D2 single though.

I disagree with any notions of the first two, this, or the next being their ‘last good albums’. My fave D2 album is the Wedding album.

 

I dislike The Reflex, but it's always nice to be reminded of Tom Hibbert. He is still missed!

 

That was an interesting week for albums! Thanks for sharing. I chucked all my old Smash Hits. Shame.

I definitely think they felt the pressure with Seven. I like it but I do think a lot of the material sounds a little flat - like it was overworked. Union is the exception and the remix of The Reflex is certainly a sharper sound.

 

That had no business being on debut album here in US - totally stands out and ruins flow.

 

I agree with all of this except "Snake" - hated that song back then and still do. While I love "New Moon" I do agree the Reflex (remix) should have been lead single.

 

You must be the first person ever to feel that way!

I became a Duran fan in 1985 and knew "The Reflex" from the video. "Ragged Tiger" was the first DD album I bought and when I heard that version of "Reflex", I thought "what the feck is this???"

The album version seemed so much less energetic and catchy!

The remixed "Reflex" remains arguably my favorite DD song...

 

Pretty brutal review of the Stones, too!

 

I don't think it has aged as well as many of their other hits, but it's still a solid tune. As much as most of their videos were played on MTV, this one seemed like it was off the charts with how often it was played and how popular it was.

 

Agreed - Snake is mediocre at best. (I'm Lookin' For) Cracks In The Pavement would've made a much stronger single.

 

It's a tuff call...
you see, my local 'new-wave' station (WLIR) HAD been playing the album version for a good while before the re-mix came out...
Then again... I liked what Nile had done, separating tracks, so you could hear the horns, and other 'things' from the original..
So... count me as one who enjoys both versions!

 

I always heard the wave that splashes the audience was supposed to represent all the spooge that the bandmembers expelled over the years.

That was the word on the playground, at least!

 

A girlfriend at the time thought this album was too samey sounding, and I couldn't disagree! A tighter 9 song album that featured moody "Tiger Tiger", "The Seventh Stranger" and "Secret Oktober" along with singles "Reflex (remix)", "Is There Something" and "New Moon" would have improved things.

 

Reflex is a great song, and I like it a lot.
My favorite Duran songs are
Come Undone
Ordinary World

 

Yes the video was huge - as with the song though they had much better videos. Next one up - "Wild Boys" AKA Duran go Mad Max" was almost as big but more interesting

 

It’s ok.

Just happen to like almost all of their other hits better, with the possible exception of A View To A Kill.
It’s just not much of a tune and relies too much on gimmicks.

 

I like Wild Boys a lot better nowadays.

 

I agree. Catchy song for sure. The Reflex does sound more dated than some of their other hit songs, which probably held up better with the passage of time. I prefer Rio or Planet Earth as Duran's hit singles. To me, it is similar with A View to a Kill. View also has not held up well to age, but some of their other material is quite good.

In the Reflex, the yi-yis are somewhat repetitive and take away from the song. However, the video for the song is fun and still holds up as enjoyable. I was surprised this was their biggest song. I have the Seven album and never cared for the album mix of the song, it just sounds flat to me. The single mix is overall better. I had the 12 inch on cassette at some point.

 

I like Radio Ga Ga, but yes, we all made fun of it as well.

 

It's a long way from The Reflex to my tastes as a middle aged grump, but gosh darn I used to love that song when it first came out... and still get a nostalgic shiver down my spine when I hear any version of it - album version or any of the single remixes.

 

I think it’s a perfect stray single.
Very much a transition between Rio and 7.

 

It's interesting to hear a US perspective on Duran Duran. In the UK, the quality of the songs was essentially irrelevant as the records sold almost exclusively to pre-teen girls, and the main reason their fortunes faded a little post-Rio was more likely to be their haircuts, and the prominent loveliness of the Wham boys. I can assure you that nobody in this country was having earnest conversations about the quality of the music. We might have realised that the snazzy Chic remix of the Reflex was a bit more like it, after a couple of confusing singles. The video was good as well, showing the boys on-stage grinning nicely, before that cartoon wave got them,

In retrospect, it seems quite quaint, that so much money could have been risked on Simon's voice and the band's flimsy songwriting department. Within a couple of months of the Reflex, Trevor Horn would be having number ones and Stock, Aitken and Waterman would get their first top 5 single with manufactured records that anybody could have fronted. Pop music became much less interesting.

 

Side one is just smash hit after smash hit. I Take The Dice and Cracks In The Pavement would be most bands' lifetime achievement hit single. These guys were hitmakers. No wonder it was hard to decide!

 

I agree with Duran Duran and Def Leppard. And sadly, both bands started pandering to their new female fans, to their musical detriment. But when did U2 ever have "giggly nerdy" female fans?