“You’ve gone too far this time / But I’m dancing on the Valentine / I tell you somebody’s fooling around / With my chances on the danger line.” Those were the opening lyrics to “The Reflex” by the English new wave band Duran Duran. And 40 years ago this summer they helped the group score their first number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100. “The Reflex” may have been a “lonely child,” but the song propelled the group to unparalleled popularity at the time.
Originally formed in Birmingham, England, in 1978, Duran Duran actually had a bit of a rough start in their quest for mainstream success in the United States. None of the songs from their 1981 self-titled debut album made the Billboard chart, though “Planet Earth” and “Girls on Film” reached number-12 and number-five in the United Kingdom, respectively.
It wasn’t until the release of their 1982 sophomore album, “Rio,” that Duran Duran began to receive major attention Stateside. Thanks to an extravagant, “Indiana Jones” adventure-style video shot in Sri Lanka, the single “Hungry Like the Wolf” went into heavy rotation on the relatively young MTV. The song raced to number-three on the Billboard chart in March 1983. The title track from “Rio” then rode to number-14 two months later. Sure enough, Duran Duran began to develop a large following in America. “From mountains in the north down through the Rio Grande.”
In an unusual move, the band also put forth the stand-alone single “Is There Something I Should Know?” in 1983. It went to number-four in August (it impressively debuted at number-one on the UK Singles Chart.) The tune was then added to a reissued version of the act’s debut album.
Duran Duran’s third album outing, “Seven and the Ragged Tiger,” roared into record stores (that’s what they were called back then) at the end of 1983. The first single, “Union of the Snake,” climbed to number-three and nested there for three weeks in December. Then “New Moon on Monday” rose to number-10 in March 1984.
In hindsight, it probably seems odd that the high-energy “The Reflex” wasn’t the lead single from “Seven and the Ragged Tiger.” But it might have been a smart strategy. “The Reflex” hit the airwaves just as the summer of 1984 was heating up. And in June it bumped Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” to take hold of the Billboard top spot. Its time there would be limited to two weeks, as “When Doves Cry” by Prince and The Revolution would quickly soar past it.
”The Reflex” was the final single from “Seven and the Ragged Tiger.” Still, 1984 hadn’t seen the last of Duran Duran. The wild boys were back with “The Wild Boys” from the concert album “Arena” at the end of the year. In December “The Wild Boys” peaked at number-two on the Hot 100.
The following summer Duran Duran was ready to kill once again — with “A View to a Kill.” The theme song from the latest James Bond film of the same name killed the Billboard competition, spending two weeks at number-one in July 1985. It would be the group’s second and last chart champion. “A View to a Kill” would also earn Duran Duran their first and only Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song from a Motion Picture. It would lose to the eventual Oscar winner for Best Original Song, Lionel Richie’s “Say You, Say Me” from “White Nights.”
But Duran Duran would continue to make hits in the 1980s. The title track from their album “Notorious” became a number-two hit in December 1986. And two years later “I Don’t Want Your Love” from “Big Thing” would get to number-four. That’s pretty good, but Duran Duran weren’t quite the big things that they had been just a few years earlier.
The group saw a small resurgence in the 1990s, when “Ordinary World” hit number-three in February 1993 and “Come Undone” came around to number-seven four months later. Those would be Duran Duran’s final Billboard top-40 hits.
Nonetheless, the band will always be remembered for their role in the “Second British Invasion” of the 1980s. It’s no surprise that Duran Duran were often compared to The Beatles. And like The Fab Four’s famous “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” Duran Duran’s “The Reflex” represents the sheer originality, funk and fun that made the group one of the most influential artists of their day.
Of course, there’s been great discussion over the years as to the meaning of “The Reflex.” Perhaps these lines from the song sum it up best: “And watching over lucky clovers / Isn’t that bizarre? / And every little thing that the reflex does / Leaves an answer with a question mark.”
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