The Definitive 1000 Songs Of All Time 1955 to 2005: Number 764

Number 764

Duran Duran

"Hungry Like A Wolf"

(1982)
.

Genre:New Wave

Gordon Bennett, i can hear a certain Maria Smith jumping up and down over this entry. Maria's love for Duran Duran you could say borders the psychosis that certain Elvis fans have At least she doesn't have a tattoo on her butt with Simon Le Bon on it... that, i'm pretty sure about, mind you i haven't seen her naked since 1985 (Whats that red glow from Orewa?)

Duran Duran personified new wave for much of the mainstream audience. And for good reason, too. Duran Duran's reputation was built through music videos, which accentuated their fashion-model looks and glamorous sense of style. Without music videos, it's likely that the band's pop-funk -- described by the group as the Sex Pistols meets Chic -- would never have made them international pop stars. While Duran Duran did have sharper pop sensibilities than their new romantic contemporaries like Spandau Ballet and Ultravox, none of their peers exploited MTV and music video like the Birmingham-based quintet. Each video the group made was distinctive, incorporating a number of cinematic styles to showcase the band as either part of the jet-setting elite ("Rio") or as worldly adventurers ("Hungry Like the Wolf"). While early videos like "Girls on Film" and "The Chauffeur" sparked controversy in England over their sexual content, their best-known clips were often based on hit contemporary movies. "Hungry Like the Wolf" uncannily recalled Raiders of the Lost Ark, while "Union of the Snake" and "The Wild Boys" brought to mind The Road Warrior. The clever videos helped make Duran Duran's rise to popularity remarkably swift. Between 1982 and 1984, they rocketed from underground British post-punk sensations to teen idols. But their fall from grace was equally fast. By the late '80s, the group's lineup had fragmented, and the remaining members had trouble landing hit singles. Nevertheless, the group pulled off a surprising, if short-lived, comeback in the early '90s as a sophisticated soft rock trio. "

"By 1985, Duran Duran fever was beginning to cool off, and after the band completed the title track for the James Bond film A View to a Kill, the group went on hiatus. Andy and John Taylor formed the supergroup the Power Station with vocalist Robert Palmer and former Chic drummer Tony Thompson in January, releasing their eponymous debut album in the spring; it spawned the Top Ten singles "Some Like It Hot" and "Get It On (Bang a Gong)." The remaining members of Duran Duran -- Nick Rhodes, Simon LeBon, and Roger Taylor -- responded with their own side project, Arcadia, which released an album called So Red the Rose in the fall of 1985; the album launched the Top Ten hit "Election Day." Early in 1986, Roger Taylor announced he was taking a year-long sabbatical from the group; he never returned. Several months later, Andy Taylor also left, reducing Duran Duran to a trio. Late in 1986, the band released Notorious, their first album in nearly three years. While it was relatively successful, going platinum in the U.S. and generating a Top Ten hit with the title track, it was noticeably less popular than their earlier records. For the remainder of the decade, Duran Duran's popularity continually declined, with 1988's Big Thing producing "I Don't Want Your Love," their last Top Ten single for five years."

"In 1993, the band returned from a prolonged hiatus with Duran Duran, a mature, layered record of lite funk and soulful adult contemporary pop that became a surprise hit. "Ordinary World" and "Come Undone" became Top Ten hits in America, with the former reaching the Top Ten in the U.K. as well; the album itself climbed into the Top Ten on both continents and went platinum in America. Not only did the record restore their commercial status, but it earned them some of their best reviews of their career. The group followed the album with one of their poorest-received efforts, 1995's all-covers Thank You, that managed to go gold in America despite its negative reviews. While Duran Duran was recording the follow-up to Thank You in 1996, John Taylor left the band to pursue a solo career, leaving the group a trio of LeBon, Rhodes, and Cuccurullo. That follow-up, Medazzaland, was released in 1997 but failed to produce any major hits. 2000's Pop Trash suffered a similar fate. In March of 2001, the three Taylors -- Andy, John, and Roger -- met up in Wales and worked with each other for three weeks. Around this time, rumors of a five-member reunion began to circulate. Two months after Rhodes and LeBon denied the rumors, the reunion was confirmed. Duran Duran recorded on and off for a new album over the next three years and also toured sporadically. After signing with Epic, they released Astronaut in October of 2004. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

What does Rolling Stone Mag think about Duran Duran?
"Destroyed by MTV/I hate to bite the hand that feeds me," chants Simon LeBon on "Too Much Information," the opening track of Duran Duran's ninth album. Once the jewel of the music-video generation, this quintet was known for its chic wardrobe and hairstyles as much as for its synthesized dance hits. Following an identity crisis in 1985 that split the band into separate projects -- the Power Station and Arcadia -- Duran Duran reemerged as a trio, prepared to shed its poster-boy image. LeBon, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and bassist John Taylor picked up Missing Persons guitarist Warren Cuccurullo" [RS]

As you can tell, Rolling Stone are not the biggest fans of Duran Duran, but i don't know to many are, poor ole Maria Smith, who from what i last heard, had every single Album on Vinyl, including the singles. I'll be watching for those records soon on "trade-me" (ebay) i guess. But i do want to state for the record that i love the song "Save a Prayer" and one of my all time favourites is "Ordinary World"

For more Duran Duran see MM Vol 1 Number 133
For Chic see Number Number 902
For Power Stattion see Number 893
For Robert Palmer see Number 648

Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs ranked this song at Number (We at Rolling Stone are pretty sure we have called them "Has Beans" in one of our articles) and the Album ranked at Number ( Lol )

This song has a total crowbarred rating of 65.4 out of 108

Duran Duran - Hungry Like The Wolf
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