Falling In Love With The Band From “Rio”

I’ve been a Duran Duran fan for nearly three decades now, as I’m a ’90s kid who came of age hearing “Ordinary World” and “Come Undone” in current rotation on the late, great Cleveland alternative rock station WENZ (107.9 The End). I remained a massive fan, catching the band for the first time in 1997 on the Medazzaland tour at a high school auditorium near me.

However, I also discovered Duran Duran’s ’80s golden age nearly simultaneously, via the retro specialty shows that flourished back then on the burgeoning modern rock format. I devoured songs such as “Hungry Like the Wolf,” “Rio,” “Girls on Film” and “The Reflex,” as they still sounded futuristic and groundbreaking, more than a decade after their release.

As with many fans, however, my first favorite Duran Duran album was 1982’s Rio. Not only was this the LP with “Hungry Like the Wolf,” but it was also an album of many moods: pensive brooders, danceable hits, romantic ballads. It felt like a complete statement and resonated with my emotional teenage heart.

Rio also happened to have a fascinating backstory full of twists and turns—it only became a hit in America due to reissues and remixes—and received a boost from a then-nascent MTV. I knew it would make an excellent book—and I knew the 33 1/3 series, which are short books focused on a single album, was the right place. 

I first pitched the 33 1/3 series on a volume on Rio in 2007. I tried again in 2009; still no dice. However, I kept my proposal around and in late 2018, when a call for pitches came around again from new publisher Bloomsbury, I re-did what I wrote and resubmitted a proposal. A decade-plus after I first pitched Rio, Duran Duran has far more respect as musicians than they used to—and remain a massive musical influence on dozens of bands.

In early 2019, I received the good news via email: My pitch on Rio was finally accepted—and after massive amounts of research, dozens of interviews and plenty of revising time, the book was released in May of this year. (Physical copies are also out this week, July 1, in the UK and Australia.) 

The following excerpt picks up as Rio was released in the U.S., in May 1982. Duran Duran were still trying to break America, after their 1981 debut album connected with fans mainly via dance clubs, college radio, and adventurous rock stations. Airplay came from some loyal supporters—but the band needed a boost (or three) to connect with a wider mainstream audience.

Upon Rio’s 1982 US release, Duran Duran had several things working in their favor. College radio, which supported the band early on and understood what they were about, was again enthusiastic. Alternative and mainstream rock radio stations that spun Duran Duran’s debut—including Chicago’s WXRT, KNAC and KROQ in California, and the Washington, D.C.–area outlet WHFS—also remained supportive right off the bat. The number of different Rio songs receiving airplay was also impressive. On August 1, 1982, “Hungry Like the Wolf” was WLIR’s “Screamer,” or most popular song of the day as measured by listener votes, but the station was also spinning “Save a Prayer” and “Rio” in June 1982. And Kid Leo at WMMS, a station that also put Rio in rotation in June, says the album “was a natural progression” and “a major step forward” from Duran Duran’s debut: “‘Hungry Like The Wolf ’ just cried out as a hit record. It was a smash with WMMS’ audience before MTV made [it] into a national phenomenon.” 

Nevertheless, widespread radio support for Duran Duran’s music still wasn’t coming. “[Our label] sensed there was a chance to break us through at radio,” Rhodes says. “[But] the sound we had—it was a little too edgy and English for American radio. Things tended to be a bit more slick and smooth and compressed.” John Taylor summarizes the challenge even more succinctly: “They were having trouble getting ‘Hungry Like The Wolf,’ getting the Duran Duran sound, on the same radio stations that were playing Van Halen and Journey.” 

The latter’s observation is a bullseye-accurate portrayal of what mainstream rock radio was like in summer 1982. “Hungry Like the Wolf” did manage to debut at No. 40 on Billboard’s Top Rock Tracks chart for the week ending August 14—just ahead of “Only Solutions,” Journey’s contribution to the Tron: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, which bowed at No. 41. Holding strong at No. 48 after fifteen weeks on the chart was Van Halen’s cover of the Martha Reeves and the Vandellas-popularized Motown classic “Dancing in the Street.” Although hints of modernity dotted the chart—A Flock of Seagulls’ space-age synth-pop hit “I Ran,” the Go- Gos’ sun-kissed “Vacation,” Lords of the New Church’s ominous “Open Your Eyes,” Roxy Music’s swooning “Avalon”—meat-and-potatoes rock ‘n’ roll dominated. 

Prior to this chart appearance, Duran Duran’s label had decided different remixes were needed to jumpstart the band’s American fortunes. Capitol’s Rupert Perry thought of David Kershenbaum, a respected record producer and A&R executive who had signed the English songwriter/pianist Joe Jackson to A&M Records.

“[Perry explained] that they wanted to start with ‘Hungry Like The Wolf ’ and see if they could figure out a way to make it more Americanized,” Kershenbaum says. “At the time, [the song] was happening in other parts of the world, but it hadn’t broken here yet. They had tried and tried and nothing had clicked. They were trying to maybe get a little different perspective on it.” 

As it turns out, everyone liked Kershenbaum’s take on “Hungry Like the Wolf,” which amplified certain elements of the song (namely, vocals and guitar) and de-emphasized keyboards. He ended up remixing the entire first side of Rio, and the LP was reissued. 

However, as 1982 wore on, it was a separate remix of “Hungry Like the Wolf”—the extended “Night Version,” a dancefloor-friendly mix helmed by Rio producer Colin Thurston—that also helped Duran Duran’s fortunes turn around. This version appeared on the four-song Carnival EP, which was released in September, and also appeared on a third reissue of Rio, replacing Kershenbaum’s remix. 

Perhaps even more important, with all of these versions available, mainstream radio also started supporting “Hungry Like the Wolf.” By the end of 1982, “Hungry Like the Wolf” started climbing back up the Billboard Top Rock Tracks chart, finally peaking at No. 1 in January 1983. The song also crossed over to Top 40, reaching No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.

This success kicked off a blockbuster 1983 for Duran Duran. The band had three charting studio LPs—Rio, their self-titled 1981 debut, and 1983’s Seven & The Ragged Tiger—and four top 20 pop singles in the U.S. alone. In 1984, Duran Duran returned to the U.S. for their first major round of touring since this success, the triumphant Sing Blue Silver tour.

Note from Sean Ross: In mid-May, 39 years after the U.S. release of “Rio,” Duran Duran released a new single, “Invisible,” the first taste of their next studio album, Future Past, out October 22. Zaleski’s chronicle of Duran Duran’s “Rio” can be ordered here:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Duran-Durans-Rio-33-156/dp/150135518X 

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/duran-durans-rio-annie-zaleski/1137898374

Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/books/duran-duran-s-rio/9781501355189

Indiebound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781501355189 

Bloomsbury (ebook only for the moment): https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/duran-durans-rio-9781501355196