After spending an entire month looking back at the 80’s, I realized one thing. I need more. Luckily, a couple of fellow music fans on Twitter came up with the brilliant idea to highlight #30DaysOf80sMovieSongs during the month of April. I couldn’t resist at the opportunity to keep going, to keep listening, and to keep celebrating the decade that has meant more to me than any other from a musical standpoint. Each day I’m playing a different soundtrack favorite on the Mental Jukebox.
Movie: A View To A Kill
Bassist John Taylor, a longtime James Bond fan, approached the film series producer at a party asking when he’s finally going to hire someone decent to do one of their theme songs. So the story goes. That conversation led a meeting between Duran Duran, the producer and two composers, including John Barry. And the project was on. Mental note for those with big ambitions. If you want something, sometimes you just need to talk to the right people and express a strong point of view that you can do better. The result: the biggest hit of any James Bond soundtrack song and one of the band’s all-time classics.
“A View To A Kill” was written by the band and arranged by John Barry. There was no compromise here. It feels 100% Duran Duran, and 100% James Bond at the same time. It took Duran Duran to the next level. The self-titled debut, Rio and Seven and the Ragged Tiger were chock full of synth-laden hits. But “A View To A Kill” put the band on a more aggressive tilt. In the very first second of the track, Roger Taylor unleashes his pounding percussion agenda while Andy Taylor adds a raw guitar hook that sounds like a foreshadowing of his approach with The Power Station. John Taylor’s bass lines still have those characteristic John Taylor hooks, but they’re more calculated here. Simon Le Bon delivers one of his finest vocal performances, hovering dangerous and low in the verses and soaring high in the chorus. And Nick Rhodes is the connective tissue, constructing synth sounds that fully encapsulate the Bond aura.
“Dance into the fire. That fatal kiss is all we need.”