Background
The planning for this "video album" had begun early in the band's career, as Duran Duran and their management realized the power of video as an artistic marketing tool. In a move that is rarely seen today, they filmed videos during this period (1981–1983) for songs that were never released as singles — videos for the album tracks "Lonely in your Nightmare", "(Waiting for the) Nighboat" and "The Chauffeur" were shot especially for this collection.
The release date, March 1983, was chosen to coincide with the promotion of the band's #1 single "Is There Something I Should Know?", and the American re-issue of their first album Duran Duran.
Future filmmaker Russell Mulcahy directed the majority of this "travelogue-style" collection of videos, featuring exotic locations and cinematic style that made Duran Duran's name as a video band. Videos for tracks like "Hungry Like The Wolf" and "Save a Prayer" were showpieces of this style.
Prior to the video album's release, the "Video EP" Duran Duran Video 45 came out in two versions. The first one had the "clean" or "day version" of "Girls On Film" alongside "Hungry Like The Wolf", while the other had the uncensored "night version" of "Girls On Film" as well as "Hungry Like The Wolf".
In February 1984, the video album Duran Duran won a Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video, while the Video 45 won the Best Short Form award.
This collection was originally released with stereophonic sound on LaserDisc (the original optical disc format) and Capacitance Electronic Disc formats, as well as in the Beta-HiFi and VHS-HiFi videotape formats. It has yet to be released on DVD, although Sing Blue Silver, Duran Duran's 1984 tour documentary, and Arena, a 1985 longform music video/concert film, both have been.
Read more about this topic: Duran Duran (1983 video)
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