Her Name Is Rio
Posted Fri 19 Sep 2008 3:54PM BST by Johnny Famethrowa in Touching The Void
Back in the day of short trousers and "Back To The Future" sequels, the badlands of Essex were a fighting playground for Famethrowa. Sides were chosen between pre-eminent chart forces. You were Wham or you were Duran Duran. Obviously, I was Duran and I remain Duran. What we're dealing with here is vivid pop music of a thoroughly unique stripe, imagined and realised within the band and then unleashed in all the overblown, day-glo daftness of the ‘80s, embracing cinematic technology with gusto. What a band. As if we needed further evidence of this, "Rio" was today announced as the greatest music video of all-time by MTV.Here's the full Top 10:
01 Duran Duran "Rio"
02 Bjork "All Is Full Of Love"
03 A-Ha "Take On Me"
04 Michael Jackson "Thriller"
05 Sigur Ros "Svefn-g-Englar"
06 Nirvana "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
07 Radiohead "Just"
08 Jamiroquai "Virtual Insanity"
09 Madonna "Like A Prayer"
10 OK GO "Here It Goes Again"
Generally, we have no truck here with polls, but more than 40,000 music fans have voted, making Le Bon and co's achievement all the more spectacular. As a kid, my ears were covered to the shocking claim that my top pop band took drugs. Now I'm not so sure. Take a look at the promo and it truly is a weird, lusty, fluorescent creation. For all the Caribbean aqua wonder, James Bond nods and yacht-straddling in "Miami Vice" suits, there are some very silly set-pieces: John Taylor being bitten by a crab, Le Bon slipping on a banana skin, a saxophonist playing on a raft, plastic toy phones etc etc. But check-out all that paint on those models' asses. This was a pop band playing at being rock stars.
So, as a tribute to Duran Duran, here's ten useless facts on "Rio" and also the full-length winning promo. This, people, is Planet Earth...
"Rio" - The facts
- Fourth and final single from "Rio" album, released November 11, 1982
- The laughter on the track is Nick Rhodes' former girlfriend
- The Rio Grande is in Texas and Mexico, not Brazil as the band thought
- Video shot by Russell Mulcahy across three days in May 1982 on Antigua
- Yacht scenes filmed on English Harbour bay, others at Miller's Beach
- Duran Duran wore iconic Antony Price suits during filming
- Nick Rhodes was reportedly terribly seasick on the shoot
- There are apparently 13 different mixes of "Rio" in total
- Nicole Scherzinger, Nirvana and Barenaked Ladies have all covered it
- Arctic Monkeys' "I Bet You Look Good..." references "Rio" in the lyrics
