Duran Duran represents all that made the '80s grand – ambitious New Wave pop hits, high-fashion and big, big-budget music videos that turned them into global pop sensations as the decade unfolded.
Celebrating the New Wave icons’ recent win of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2022 fan ballot, we’re remembering some of the U.K. five pieces’ most decadent and dramatic moments caught on film. Enjoy six essential Duran Duran music videos below.
‘Girls On Film’
The official music video for Girls on Film, from 1981's Duran Duran album was directed by legendary filmmaking duo Godley & Creme. It was deliberately dark and raunchy, intended to be played late in nightclubs, however, the music video’s release coincided with the launch of MTV and caused quite the uproar when splashed across home televisions instead. The video was banned by their home country’s BBC Channel, while Duran Duran capitalised on the controversy.
READ MORE: 10 MEMORABLE MUSIC VIDEOS DIRECTED BY GODLEY & CREME
‘Hungry Like The Wolf’
The music video for Hungry like the Wolf from 1982's Rio, sees the band adventuring through the jungles of Sri Lanka – an effort that paid off in spades when MTV high rotation turned the band into global stars and won them the first ever Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video in 1984.
‘Save A Prayer’
While still deep in the Sri Lankan jungle, the band also filmed this exotic follow-up clip for Save A Prayer, also from 1982's Rio, that propelled the band’s success on MTV.
‘Ordinary World’
Ordinary World is an uplifting ballad that arrived on 1993's The Wedding Album with this appropriately lavish, wedding-themed music video.
‘Come Undone’
Another hit single from 1993's The Wedding Album, Come Undone is an emotion-driven, aquatic-themed cut directed by legendary British filmmaker Julien Temple, director of 1980’s The Great Rock and Roll Swindle mockumentary about the Sex Pistols.
‘A View To A Kill’
If anything deserves the badge of monumentally 80s – it’s this clip. The hair, the music, the skyscraper cheekbones, altogether, made A View To Kill one of Duran Duran’s biggest hits. Written and recorded as the theme for the James Bond film of the same name and, thanks to the band’s own massive success on film, remains the only James Bond theme song to have ever hit number one on the US Billboard Hot 100.
READ MORE: REMEMBERING DURAN DURAN’S ‘A VIEW TO A KILL’ AT LIVE AID IN 1985
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