Day 1: Duran Duran – Rio (Collector’s Edition)
Album cover courtesy of Capitol Records
Obviously I’ve heard some Duran Duran over the years. If I had never heard the song “Rio,” I’m pretty sure people who had paid me to write about music would be entitled to compensation. But have I ever sat down to listen to a full Duran Duran album? No, probably not. I was born in the early ‘90s, it just wasn’t as much of a thing when I was growing up. But that’s what I’ve started this blog for – to plug up holes in my music knowledge and have a good time doing it.
Released in 1982, Rio was Duran Duran’s second studio album that was met with a surprisingly critical reception, with one review calling it "a pain in the butt to sit through." Sometimes I think music reviewers just haven’t experienced enough bad music. Listen to Hulk Hogan’s Hulk Rules and then tell me you suffered through Rio. Like, please. Duran Duran albums are just objectively not hard to sit through.
But to be fair, the beginning of Rio feels kind of same-y, as if you do know what you’re getting yourself into if you’ve heard the singles. But then, it gets significantly better. “Hungry Like the Wolf” is obviously a classic. “New Religion” and “Last Chance on the Stairway” are good, the latter probably going into a regular rotation for me. And then comes the big one: “Save a Prayer.” It’s been kicking about on my playlists for years, and it’s probably the main song I think of when I think of Duran Duran, as it’s the one I listen to the most. In my view, one of the best songs ever written about a one night stand.
And here I thought I’d seen the peak of the album, as “Save a Prayer” would probably go somewhere into my top 100 pop songs of all time. But I’d never heard “The Chauffeur.” If I thought the beginning of the record bled together if you’d heard the singles, that one broke off the monotony. It’s so good. It’s sexy, but not in a way where I want to add it to a playlist for doing the deed. It’s sexy in a way where it makes me want to do an interpretive dance and add it to a Halloween playlist, which is arguably my favourite type of sexy. And there’s even a slightly Lynchian black-and-white music video to go along with the song.
I just didn’t expect this from Duran Duran. This rules. Rio gets a solid 8.5/10 from me, but “Save a Prayer” and “The Chauffeur” are easily a 9 and a 10.