by: Joshua Sly

              The year was 1982. Duran Duran’s 2nd studio album “Rio” came out at a time where the band’s popularity was exploding. Less than a year after their debut album, the self-titled “Duran Duran” (June 1981), “Rio” was met with critical acclaim where it charted number two in Britain and number one in Canada and Australia. When the album rereleased in the United States the following year, it peaked at number 6 and stayed in the Billboard 200 for 126 straight weeks. For how jam packed 1982 was in music, “Rio” has stood the test of time. Let’s dive into the songs that made the chart toping album remain in the public conscious decades later.

Rio: The song where the title takes its name, “Rio” was, funny enough, the 4th and last single from the album. When it debuted in America, this song was not popular at all. No one knew who Duran Duran were, or how energetic the romantic movement was across the pond. Only after MTV launched and teens started watching these music videos with each member wearing expensive suits singing on a yacht did people start flocking to the record store in droves. The unusual sound that is played before the guitar rift was created from, of all things, metal rods being strung up and down a grand piano, played backwards. But there’s no time to focus as soon, Andy Taylor comes on with his signature guitar rift. Soon, Simon Le Bon’s voice jumps out and from there the rest of the song takes off into a phenomenal New Wave/ Romantics dance floor track that will leave you asking the DJ for one more spin.

My Own Way: The 4th single from the band, this song was released November 1981, the year prior to this album. Even though this one of the first songs released after their debut album to hold fans over until this follow up album came out, and it’s high popularity upon release, “My Own Way” is often regarded as the bands least favorite single out of their discography. If this was someone’s first song that they ever heard from Duran Duran, it can be catchy. By itself, it’s a great song, flaunting Duran’s early disco influence very well. The problem with it is that it’s drowned out by the other singles. Not that it drags, but in a jam-packed album, it’s hard to stand out enough as it is.

Lonely in Your Nightmare: This sing takes a tonal shift down compared to most other songs from this album. Sort of like “My Own Way”, but this song draws less from a Disco background and more from the New Romantics side of the band that became popular in their later albums. Although the synopsis for this song is short, this is baby steps to their iconic “Duranie” sound.

Hungry Like the Wolf: When the song was first released as a single, it wasn’t popular. That is until the relatively new television station MTV got a hold of this music video. From then on, “Hungry Like the Wolf” has become a staple in those “Greatest Hits of the 80s” box sets, staying in the UK Singles Chart top 10 for 6 weeks. The initial laugh going into the song is utterly iconic. The guitar rift and the drumbeat set a powerful tone, and together creates the rubric for what a single in the 80s must have. Even the constant “Do do do doo do do doos” makes singing along irresistible and hungry for more. Personally, this is my favorite song on the album, and my favorite music video of all time.

Hold Back the Rain: A very upbeat dance song to not only follow up “Hungry Like the Wolf”, but a great song to end the A-Side perfectly while still having you crave for more on the other half of the album. This is a rock-pop song with heavy traces of disco cut apart by Andy’s guitar. If we’re talking about B-Side songs that can be cited as the iconic sound to Duran, this is it.

New Religion: At the root of all pioneer New Wave artists is that core punk ideology. Now here is not as loud or in your face as a song by Johnny Rotten, but the non-conformist soul is found in the lyrics in this song. After all, Simon Le Bon, before joining Duran Duran, was a theatre student from the West Side of London. His poems became the foundation for the lyrics for most of the group’s songs. “New Religion” embraces that original punk ideology; that of non-conformity and finding new alternatives to old broken-down systems of thought.

Last Chance of the Stairway: This song is about passing by someone who catches your eye and stumbling to find excuses after excuses to have a conversation before they slip back into the crowd. Again, B-Side song even skipped on their own documentary about the album. But this is a great lead up to the next song.

Save A Prayer: Crazy to think that a song about a male prostitute winds up being the fan favorite. Originally not remotely considered to be single material, it soon shot up the UK singles chart to the #2 spot. Most people gloss over the lyrics and focus on the melody of the song. But listening depicts the story of a man stuck in a life where all there is to look forward to are cheap thrills. Finding people is easy, but finding companionship is hard to come by. He doesn’t need hope or a prayer for the night but hope that someone would stay though morning. This culminates into the most iconic line of the song, “Some people call it a one-night stand but we can call it paradise”, moving this song from being about what goes on “in between the sheets” to the relatable pain of what happens after. I know I wrote that “Hungry Like the Wolf” was my favorite song from this album, but there is something about the distortion in the keyboard synthesizers done by Nick Rhodes that leaves me hypnotized. The melancholic and tranquil nature of the song with the cries of hope and somberness from Le Bon are just beautiful.

The Chauffeur: The last song on this album in my opinion is critically underrated. The whole song has an underlying horrifying sounding melodic riff with a simple drum machine coming in, leading to a slow build up as the song’s lyrics reflect a more sexual prowess to it. The reason being was that Le Bon wrote the lyrics to this song years before he joined Duran Duran. He was a theatre student at the time, and in an interview, he spoke that the poetic lyrics to this song heavily reflect that of an interpretive dance, where each stanza is more charged than the next despite the chorus remaining virtually the same. The buildup is what makes the song, and the whole album, complete.

In conclusion, Duran Duran’s 2nd studio album “Rio” proved to be a major success. As an introduction to the band, no groove is wasted on this quintessential Duran album. On the popularity of this album and their music videos on MTV alone, Duran Duran became the most sought-after band in the 80s. Even now, more than 30 years later, they still sell out arenas across the world. Currently, they are touring in the UK with announced festival dates in Europe.