Duran Duran's Signature Song

I like the song but it was a very minor hit and I don't think anyone outside the fanbase really knows it.

 

And not even every fan knows about Barbarella, lava lamps or Mathmos.

 

I just realized that being familiar with the name of band still does not bring any song to my mind, except a vague memory of A View to Kill. I listened to several songs from the list - Ordinary World is the only one that sounds familiar. Is it a legit vote?

 

Funny thing, liking Barbarella I know about the origin of name Duran Duran, although I am not a fan.

 

Hungry Like The Wolf or Girls On Film. As Girls On Film isn't on the list (why?) I have to go with Wolf

 

For me, while I'm partial to songs from their first album which weren't included on this list (and the op said their signature sound not my favorite) I chose Rio because I think it's the best example of what they were aiming for as a band.
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Yeah, it has to be one of the two highest scoring options on the poll, either Hungry Like the Wolf or Rio. I'm not all that fussy about either one; I'll throw in a good word for Seventh Stranger but it's hardly their signature song.

edit: I just saw the comment about Girls on Film; I have to agree that this one is in the top three and deserved a poll spot

 

Wolf by a large margin. Hold back the rain if you rate deeper cuts.

 

Reflex is the mega song in the U.K.

I’m a bit partial for the chauffeur and skin trade and nearly forgot Come Undone

 

i prefer other songs, but hungry like the wolf sort of encapsulates the whole first part of duran's career

 

I chose "Hungry Life The Wolf" as it is the DD song that is most often played on oldies radio in the U.S. (the 2nd most often played DD song around here seems to be "Ordinary World," so that is my 2nd choice).

 

While cleaning up an old laptop, I came across the results of a poll I ran in 2005 on the official Duran Duran site's now-deceased message board. If I remember correctly, about 60 members voted for their 10 favourite songs, and the results were posted over 5 days.

Didn't want to open a new thread for this, but the results might be fun.

50. A Matter Of Feeling
One of the few songs on Notorious that Andy definitely played on before leaving. Well, according to Warren anyway.

49. Salt In The Rainbow
Even if it was never even officially released, this outtake from the Astronaut sessions ended up with more votes than several songs that did make the album. When asked about the song’s lyrics Simon responded that it "only exists as a draft version i.e. there is no proper lyric." Cheers.

48. Love Voodoo
SandraLyte: "kooky! I just love it - that's all I have to say!"… me too, except one question: is that a dig at Liberty in the words?

47. Khanada
The first of several b-sides to make the list, this was on Careless Memories. Sexy!

46. I Believe/All I Need To Know
And here’s the second one. When released as the flip to All She Wants Is this was called a "medley". The band must also have questioned this move later on, because when the 1986-1995 box-set appeared the word was dropped from the title (although the slash decided to make a curious jump).

45. Palomino
This wonderful track of Big Thing surely must have some of Simon’s most poetic lyrics. Add to that the sensual breezy music, and this might be one of the band’s most exotic moments.

44. Land
And the hat trick of 1988 songs is complete.

43. Is There Something I Should Know ?
A big hit at the time of its release, but it looks like the fan has grown a bit tired of it. Still, at least it’s made the top 50, which is more than can be said about 7 other UK-released singles (not counting the ones culled from Thank You).

42. Midnight Sun
The first of three songs from Medazzaland we meet on the list (no points for guessing the other two). Are the lyrics about John ?

41. Astronaut
I’ll let syzygy grab the mic for this one: "I first thought was kind of cheesy sounding with all of the space sounds but it is SO catchy!". The lyrics during the middle-8 are particularly hilarious/silly. Space is hot and deep apparently.

 

40. My Own Way
And here’s the first song from Rio. Released as a single in ’81, this was radically reworked when the album came along. The boys in the band don’t like it much apparently, but as we all know they are somewhat judgement-impaired at times.

39. Lonely In Your Nightmare
Alright then, another one from what’s arguably the group’s finest album. Some of the video’s footage was later used for the promo of Save A Prayer, probably because the band were too busy pissing about with elephants during that particular shoot.

38. Tiger Tiger
The only instrumental to make it. Yes, I know it must be quite a shock, but Flute Interlude didn’t get enough votes. Anyway, this song is so good that these days they play it in concert while Simon gets into his cabdriver clobber.

37. Sound Of Thunder
During the current European tour you can judge whether the band likes the audience or not by the appearance of this gem from the debut album on the setlist. Frankly, the Parisians should have got their balloons out way before the encore.

36. Late Bar
Coupled with Planet Earth, this was setting up stalls at its finest. Years later, apart from still sounding fresh, it also comes in handy when opening email accounts or choosing log-in names... if your choice has already been taken, just add 7609 at the end.

35. Like An Angel
One of three b-sides that end higher on the list than the songs they accompanied (in this case My Own Way). One of the gentler early moments, even if it’s about a girl with an **** like an angel.

34. Notorious
The first song they released as a three-piece, this started when Nick asked Nile Rodgers how he could play those funky chords on a keyboard. Not the last time they stole the title from an Alfred Hitchcock film, although rumours of a demo called Juno And The Paycock remain unconfirmed.

33. Breath After Breath
When The Wedding Album was released a reviewer from Dutch magazine OOR confessed to hating Duran Duran. However, this song moved him to exclaim this should be released as a single as quickly as possible. They did, albeit only in certain parts of the world, and for the rest of the globe this remains a treasure on a wobbly album.

32. Do You Believe In Shame?
The first song in a trilogy Simon wrote about the loss of his childhood friend David Miles. Sadly, this didn’t make an appearance on Greatest, while Big Thing’s other singles did. It’s the 1988 album’s most popular moment.

31. Union Of The Snake
A pre-Sting song about tantric pleasures, and the first single lifted from Seven And The Ragged Tiger. We all know what snake Simon’s on about, don’t we?

 

30. Last Chance On The Stairway
For those of us old enough to remember vinyl (and let’s face it, 99% of this board’s visitors is), this is the first song from the almighty Side 2 of Rio to chart, and a rich source of chat-up lines.

29. To The Shore
As SandraLyte points out, this song from the debut is “just perfect for grabbing the attention of a young girl verging on adolescence...!”. Not bad for a song about wanking. In an insanely insane move this song was replaced by Is There Something I Should Know? on all CD editions until the recently released remastered version.

28. Still Breathing
Firm in the tradition of fantastic album-closers like The Chauffeur, The Seventh Stranger and Undergoing Treatment, even the guy from NME that reviewed Astronaut had to admit that this ballad is a fantastic piece of work. Why they haven’t played it in concert for ages is anybody’s guess.

27. The Wild Boys
For the better part of a week it didn’t look like this would make the list at all, so let’s have an experiment: everybody, listen to it on a Friday, and see if you like it better.

26. (Reach Up For The) Sunrise
Who cares if Simon does the exact same moves at the exact same moments when performing it? The first song released by the new original five gets every show going, despite completely bonkers lyrics.

25. Electric Barbarella
Writing her review of the Greatest DVD, Polly Higgins from Tucson Citizen commented that "Electric Barbarella is Duran Duran's take on feminism, as a robot woman who is expected to look nice and do the housework short-circuits. See, politics too."

24. Chains
Just like Drive By can be seen as a tribute to The Chauffeur, this pays homage to that other timeless classic, Downtown. Well, for a few seconds (during the “na-na-na-na-na” bit) it sounds like it anyway.

23. Out Of My Mind
Sinner Or Saint was written for the soundtrack of The Saint, but the producers preferred this beautiful song. It has bugger all to do with the film, but then again that goes for most soundtracks these days.

22. Night Boat
In the original lyrics Simon was waiting for the bloody bus to come already, but this was deemed too unexciting by the rest of the band, so it became a night boat, and a fan favourite was born.

21. Skin Trade
We can all do without popular artists complaining how tough it is being adored by billions of teenage girls and having ****loads of cash, but then Duran Duran have always been smarter than that and dressed up as girls that “get angry at the weekend, then go back to school”. Cue the best song that Prince never wrote.

 

20. A View To A Kill
“Thank God it’s not called Octopussy”, the band sighed after hearing the title of the James Bond film they’d agreed to write a song for. What they didn’t know was that A View To A Kill would turn out to be Moonraker’s only competition in every poll asking about the worst film in the series. Still, this is the only Bond-tune ever to top the charts. Eat that Bassey!

19. What Happens Tomorrow
Played in concert long before Astronaut was released. When it did appear on the album at first it was like meeting an old friend, only to discover they’d lost an arm in a woodcutting accident. However, after initial unease it soon became apparent all the charm was still intact. The arm, meanwhile, became Silent Icy River.

18. Serious
One of two songs on Liberty that justify the existance of the album, and for this wonderful piece of music you didn’t forget to vote (*cough*My Antarctica*cough*). Relationship therapy had never sounded this good before.

17. Hungry Like The Wolf
“It’s Hungry Like The Wolf and I haven’t got anything to say about it whatsoever, apart from the fact that it’s Hungry Like The Wolf”, Simon said when announcing this song during VH1’s Storytellers. Well, thanks a bloody lot. I don’t think I’ll bother either then.

16. Girls On Film
The oldest Duran Duran song to get an official release, if Nick is to believed, and he should know. Filming the wonderful promo, apparently there were bodyguards hanging around to make sure the boys wouldn’t try to get it on with the long-legged lovelies that appear in the video. The real star is the icecube though.

15. The Reflex
The song that inspired the lovely Ta-LaLaLa to go through life as Ta-LaLaLa. When asked about the lyrics for Dutch television recently Simon explained that after 22 years he still doesn’t want to explain them, instantly starting a discussion on this message board. I still say it’s about blowjobs (come on, “don’t wanna be around when this gets out”? How many clues do you need?).

14. Nice
Will they release it as a single? Won’t they? What will happen to the crunk-remix? "It could almost have been on any of our albums. It's very identifiable as us -- uplifting, simple, beautiful melody, cool groove. And it just felt like a good summer song.", Nick reckons. Hey, guess what season’s around the corner. Sony, what’s keeping you?

13. Secret Oktober
Even if it took roughly half an hour to write it, this b-side is infinitely more popular than its lord and master, Union Of The Snake. During the later 90’s it popped up during concerts again, albeit in slow-motion, and judging from the song’s popularity it needs to be resurrected asap.

12. Friends Of Mine
The highest charting song that was nobody’s favourite. Did this inspire the guitar riff in Blur’s Girls & Boys? The bassline in that ’94 masterpiece was meant to sound pure John Taylor, so who knows? Here the Chic-meets-Pistols cliché comes together perfectly, while Simon sings about some guy called George Davies admitting he’s gay.

11. The Seventh Stranger
Seven And The Ragged Tiger’s slightly paranoid closer, the drugs these lyrics were written on must have been a bit dodgy. However, the resulting lyrics are among Simon’s finest in that they’re foggy, but not impenetrable. Couple that with the magnificent moodiness of the music, et voila: yet another masterpiece.

 

10. New Moon On Monday
The one with the thousand different video’s. Also known as the song with the wackiest opening line of all, “shake up the picture the lizard mixture”. Quite. However, anyone that does not jump out of his chair and punch the air when the chorus kicks in is either deaf, or has a very sticky chair.

9. Planet Earth
Always played as one of the first songs in the setlist so that the band can determine who came for a fun night out, and who’s a scary duranie that forgot to grow up: both love the band’s first single, but the first looks puzzled at the second screaming “SWITCH IT OFF!” after Simon’s sung the line about “looking for the tv sound”.

8. Hold Back The Rain
Note to EMI: as you’re so busy milking the band’s back catalogue to make up for dissapointing sales, how about this idea? A compilation with, don’t laugh, songs that were/could have been written about John Taylor! This is clearly the best one, but there are enough to justify such a release surely. We can file it next to our four copies of Greatest.

7. Come Undone
One day Warren was rodding about in the studio, when he sang some nonsense words to himself... “Who do you love when you come undone?”, escaped his lips and he thought “wow!”. Unfortunately John wasn’t around to play the bass, so Nick played them on his keyboard. Special mention must go to the gorgeous Anna Ross who, on the current tour, gets to show off her monumental legs during this song in particular... Did I say legs? I meant voice...

6. Rio
A tribute to the worlds fattest person of Irish descent who is alive and well living in his hometown of Edmonton Canada. No really! Simon said it himself!!! Don’t be fooled by the video, filming it was no fun. Seasickness, crabs, big red balls...

5. Careless Memories
This, the band’s second single, was not on Greatest and I Don’t Want Your Love, the band’s 84th best loved song, was. In concert this attack on some conflicted chick is accompanied by an EMI-bashing manga, which will surely be an extra on the Live At Wembley DVD we’ve been promised for the past decade or so. At the beginning of his solo career George Michael saw some minor chart success with his cover version.

4. The Chauffeur
The first of three songs we find on side 2 of Rio to make the Top 4 of this chart. It begins with a quiet keyboard motif, until Simon exclaims the often cited but little understood “Sing Blue Silver”, and we tumble into a gorgeous outro (so good they used it twice!) including Simon playing his ocarina (at least in concert... it might just be Nick’s fiddling on the album version) and some twat from the BBC talking about insects.

3. New Religion
“A dialogue between the ego and the alter ego”, the lyric sheet tells the listener. Don’t ever accuse the band of pretentiousness. On the record this has a fantastic groove, but it really comes to life played live. Doesn’t sound like any other song ever. For the better part of voting week this was at numero uno, by the way.

2. Save A Prayer
“’Some people call it a one night stand but we can call it paradise’, I wonder how many girls he’s used that line on”, the darling durrani told me after I’d been raving about how that’s the greatest lyric in any Duran Duran song. God, I hate cynicism. In the days when people still thought the earth was flat this tear-jerker was BIC’s wet dream. These days it merely drains mobile phone batteries, at least when the audience speaks English. Yep, it didn’t work in Paris. The video, in the meantime, prompts different emotions altogether: “the bit when hes dancing with that girl, i want to pull her out the TV and stab her but i want to be her but hes so YUMMY!”. Tut-tut, amibabes.

1. Ordinary World
Dutch quality newspaper De Volkskrant called it the song Paul McCartney would die for. According to NME it’s “the band's wistful, creative zenith”. See, even the critics love it! It’s also definite proof that this band can never be written off. It’s just perfect: the words, the keyboards, the bassline (especially in the bit where the rest of the music breaks down), Warren’s solo, the sleeve the single was served in, and an atmospheric video that can unashamedly stand next to the more lauded ones that broke the band on MTV. It’s also the song that Roger finds most difficult to play in concert “as its very different to the grooves I tend to feel naturally comfortable with”. Aw, bless. He’d better get used to it though, because a concert without this is like sex without an orgasm: great fun, but a bit frustrating in the end.

 

Ordinary World is their most, um... ordinary song. Can't believe people voted that #1. Just a boring tune, really. Rest of that list is alright, mostly.

 

I think Ordinary World is pretty brilliant, and maybe not deserving of the #1 slot, it's a top ten for sure.

The shocker is New Moon on Monday, which is a terrible song and if I never hear it again I'd be grateful.

 

Wolf or Rio

 

Rio was the first thing that jumped into my mind.

 

Great reading that was. Outside of New Religion being so high, and the bus stop, the only surprise for me was Breath After Breath? I do not even recall that one, must have played it once when I first got the album and never went back to it. I will have to go listen to it.

Good to see that so many B sides made the list. This makes me want to listen to all those albums again.

 

Has to be Rio. I don;t think anyone who put HLTW really knows Duran Duran. Still, so long as it's not Wild Boys the world can sleep soundly tonight.

 

The same. In a nano-second. In other news, Girls On Film wasn't even listed. Maybe the OP has careless memories.

 

Why no ‘Girls On Film’ Or ‘Planet Earth’ button ?
They were the first two singles (in the U.K at any rate) that set them off on their career .

 

Hungry Like A Wolf got my vote, and for me followed by Girls On Film, the first song I heard by them.