Hungry Like The Wolf by Duran Duran

The song that inspired the name of this blog!

This brilliant single by Duran Duran was released in May 1982 and was the third single off the Rio album of the same year.  The previous two singles, "My own way" and "the chauffeur" were released in 1981 actually, before the album was recorded and were stop-gap singles to keep up the momentum of the first album.

I'll cover the whole Rio album later on, but I would like to make a general comment about this single in particular and more generally the album.  It had an energy about it that is not easy to explain, it just jumped at you out of the speakers in 1982 as a completely fresh sound.  I don't think the band have been hotter than they were then and so in line with the exciting era they were heralding. It certainly opened up the door to the USA for the band. OK, opinion over!

This single is also pretty unusual in that it was written and recorded on one day, with various band members coming into the basement studio of EMI's London headquarters. Great days work!

 

Dark in the city night is a wire
Steam in the subway earth is afire
Do do do do do do do dodo dododo dodo
Woman you want me give me a sign
And catch my breathing even closer behind
Do do do do do do do dodo dododo dodo

In touch with the ground
I'm on the hunt down I'm after you
Smell like I sound I'm lost in a crowd.
And I'm hungry like the wolf.
Straddle the line in discord and rhyme
I'm on the hunt down I'm after you.
Mouth is alive with juices like wine
And I'm hungry like the wolf

The lyrics were inspired by Little red Riding Hood and, as you can see from the title of this blog, contain some brilliant verses.  Just another little note, the laugh at the beginning and the screams at the fade out were recorded by Nick Rhodes girlfriend at the time live in the studio.

The song was actually re-recorded a few months later for the Rio album, with mostly the vocals being re-recorded.

The song became really popular in the USA in particular after MTV started showing their video.  remember, this was THE era for hot music videos.  The video was produced, as Planet Earth had been by Russell Mulcahy. Russell has produced a lot of video's for the band including the great "Rio", "The Reflex" and "Wild Boys" video's, none of them small productions!  Of course Russell also hit it REALLY big in 1986 with the Highlander movie, which I think many people would say had an air of the pop video about it at times!

The video was filmed in Sri Lanka and had an Indiana Jones feel to it.

Worth checking out this hilarious commercial with Bruce Campbell too, for Old Spice. Lounge style!

Finally, here is a brilliant cover of this classic hit by After How.  Great job girls and  long live 1982!!

The Model by Kraftwerk (Das Model)

This classic track from the German band Kraftwerk hit the top spot in the UK charts in 1982, but was recorded and originally released in 1978 with German lyrics of course on the album Man Machine and as a single in Germany in 1978 before being included in the UK (with English lyrics) as a B side to Computer Love in  July 1981.  It was was re-released in the UK in December 1981 by EMI with The Model as the A side, apparently against the bands wishes.  Wonder what they think now every year when the big royalty cheque arrives!  I wonder how many other songs have taken that long to hit it big?

The lyrics are not complex or hard to understand.  Pretty damning view on the life and morals of models!  Actually, I recently saw a better analysis in the Men In Black 3 - all models are aliens!

She's a model and she's looking good
I'd like to take her home that's understood
She plays hard to get, she smiles from time to time
It only takes a camera to change her mind


She's going out tonight, loves drinking just champagne
And she has been checking nearly all the men
She's playing her game and you can hear them say
She is looking good, for beauty we will pay


She's posing for consumer products now and then
For every camera she gives the best she can
I saw her on the cover of a magazine
Now she's a big success, I want to meet her again

Kraftwerk (this means Power Station in English) had been around since 1970 and were early pioneers of electronic music. They often used home-developed vocoders or computers for the vocals. The band was extremely influential and their sound can be heard in early Human League, Joy Division, New Order and OMD albums. The band are extremely secretive and rarely give interviews.

Here is another great version, with the German lyrics, from German TV in 1980.

And it would not be a surprise for me to include a cover too!  Wel. sort of.  This is a brilliant mashup of The Model and I'm Too Sexy by Right Said Fred!

Eye of the tiger by Survivor

This classic rock song was released 30 years ago yesterday and was from an album of the same name.  The song will forever be synonymous with the Rocky movies, starring Sylvester Stallone and the track was actually specially written at the request of Sylvester for his forthcoming movie Rocky III (you know, the one with Mr T as the incredibly angry "Clubber" Lang).  Plot spoiler: Rocky takes him down!

The song was requested after Sylvester failed to get the rights to Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust".  I think Queen made a good choice as what he ended up with was more fitting.

The song was written by Frankie Sullivan and Jim Peterik, from the band Survivor. The bands other big hit was Burning Heart, from Rocky 4 (the one where he drops the Russian!), so both they and Sly Stallone have a lot to thank each other about as the songs definitely added to the movie and the band enjoyed great success with Eye Of The Tiger.

The song was amazingly successful and hit the number 1 spot in a number of countries including the UK and the USA (top spot for 6 weeks).  It won a Grammy award and was nominated for an Oscar.  The band never reached these heights again, but this will go down in history as one of the ll time 80's rock songs.

Here is  a great cover version.

The bitterest pill (I ever had to swallow) by The Jam

This was released as a single in September of 1982 and was the penultimate single by The Jam.  The band was Paul Weller plus Bruce Foxton and Rick Butler and they must rank as one of the most consistent bands of the late 70's and early 80's with a string of hits and so, so British too.  So much so that none of their singles was released in the USA.

I've always been a big fan of this song and I actually find it really sad, and it is likely to induce a tear or two.  Part of this I am sure is that I always feel it is the end of an era with The Jam, and I regard this as their swansong rather than Beat Surrender a few months later.

  Fantastic lyrics too, the song is basically about a guy who has fallen for a girl only to find himself standing watching as she marries another.Paul Weller deserves so much credit for his lyrics, and for a guy who arose out of punk, he writes a really from the heart love song as well as anyone.

"In your white lace and your wedding bells
You look the picture of contented new wealth
But from the on-looking fool who believed your lies
I wish this grave would open up and swallow me alive
For the bitterest pill is hard to swallow
The love I gave hangs in sad coloured, mocking shadows"

The song title was also adopted by one of my favourite podcasters, Dan Klass from The Bitterest Pill podcast, who is a massive Jam and Weller fan.  This first post is for you Dan!

As you can see, no big production on the video!

Here is the original version.  This is nice too.

Not too many decent covers out there strangely, but I did like this.

So there we are, a great memory from 1982.  Many, many more to come