Duran Duran – Hungry Like The Wolf

Duran Duran

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 their 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.

Hungry Like The Wolf

This latest addition to the acclaimed Classic Albums series takes us to the early eighties and the release of Duran Durans second album Rio. Released against a backdrop of riots, record unemployment and the Falklands War this optimistic and celebratory album would generate a string of hit singles and groundbreaking videos and catapult Duran Duran to global stardom. This DVD tells the story behind the writing, recording and subsequent success of the album through newly filmed interviews, musical demonstrations and both new and archive performances.
Duran Duran – Hungry Like The Wolf (From “Rio – Classic Album”)