"Rio" is the seventh single by Duran Duran. It was first released as a single in Australia, in August 1982, followed by a UK release on 1 November 1982.
The song was the fourth, final, and title single lifted from the band's album of…
"Rio" is the seventh single by Duran Duran. It was first released as a single in Australia, in August 1982, followed by a UK release on 1 November 1982.
The song was the fourth, final, and title single lifted from the band's album of the same name, and was edited for its release. It was issued worldwide in October 1982 and became a Top 10 hit in the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number 9 on 11 December 1982.
"Rio" was released as the third single from the album in Australia, and debuted on the Kent Music Report top 100 singles chart dated 6 September 1982.
The song did not attract much notice in the United States upon its initial global release, but received early airplay at KROQ in Los Angeles as early as 2 August 1982. After the band's breakthrough hit "Hungry Like the Wolf" found success in the American charts in December 1982, Capitol Records reissued the single in March 1983 to be the band's second US top 20 hit, peaking at number 14.
The song originated from an idea by John Taylor about Rio de Janeiro – "the truly foreign, the exotic, a cornucopia of earthly delights, a party that would never stop" – Simon Le Bon wrote the lyrics to the song, and chose not to write about the city but about a girl named Rio. Its verses were inspired by their earlier song "See Me, Repeat Me" and the chorus was taken from "Stevie's Radio Station", a song written by the band TV Eye, featuring singer Andy Wickett, who went on to be one of Duran Duran's early singers. The song was a favourite of Nick and John and was incorporated into Duran Duran live sets during Wickett's tenure.
Nick Rhodes created the unusual sound at the beginning of the song by throwing several small metal rods onto the strings of a grand piano in the studio. The recorded sound was then reversed to create the intro. Rhodes produced the synthesiser lead using the arpeggiator on a Roland Jupiter-4 set to random while playing a Cmaj7 chord. The tenor saxophone solo was performed by Andy Hamilton. The laughter on the track was that of Rhodes's girlfriend at the time.
Duran Duran are an English new wave band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by keyboardist Nick Rhodes and bassist John Taylor. With the addition of drummer Roger Taylor (no relation to John) the following year the band went through numerous personnel changes before May 1980, when they settled on their most famous line-up by adding guitarist Andy Taylor (no relation to John or Roger) and lead singer Simon Le Bon.
When Duran Duran emerged they were generally considered part of the New Romantic scene. Innovators of the music video, Duran Duran was catapulted into the mainstream with the introduction of the 24-hour music channel MTV. The group was a leading band in the MTV-driven Second British Invasion of the US in the 1980s.
Duran Duran has sold over 100 million records, making them one of the world's best-selling music artists. They achieved 30 top 40 singles in the UK Singles Chart (14 of them top 10) and 21 top 40 singles in the US Billboard Hot 100. The band have won numerous awards throughout their career: two Brit Awards including the 2004 award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, two Grammy Awards, an MTV Video Music Award for Lifetime Achievement, and a Video Visionary Award from the MTV Europe Music Awards. They were also awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2022.
