A View To A Kill (song)
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"A View to a Kill" is the thirteenth single by the English new wave and
synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...
band
Duran Duran Duran Duran () are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer and bassist Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor. With the addition of drummer Roger Taylor the following year the band we ...
, released on 6 May 1985. Written and recorded as the theme for the James Bond film of the same name, it became one of the band's biggest hits. It remains the only James Bond theme song to have reached number one on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100; it also made it to number two for three weeks on the
UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
while stuck behind Paul Hardcastle's " 19". The song was the last track recorded by the most famous five-member lineup of Duran Duran until their reunion in 2001 and was also performed by the band at
Live Aid Live Aid was a multi-venue benefit concert held on Saturday 13 July 1985, as well as a music-based fundraising initiative. The original event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the 1983–1985 fami ...
in
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...
, their final performance together before their first split. The following year, composer John Barry and Duran Duran were nominated for the
Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of ...
Award for Best Original Song for "A View to a Kill". Following Barry's death in 2011, the band paid tribute to him for their encore at the
Coachella Festival The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (commonly called the Coachella Festival or simply Coachella) is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colorado Desert. It ...
later that year, with Simon Le Bon reappearing in a tuxedo for a pared-down version backed by an orchestra, before launching into the familiar full-band hit version. Bassist John Taylor introduced the song by saying, "We lost a dear friend of ours this year. A great English composer familiar to Hollywood, his name was John Barry. We're gonna play this for him."


Background

The song was written by Duran Duran and John Barry, and recorded at Maison Rouge Studio and CTS Studio in London with a 60-piece orchestra. Duran Duran were chosen to do the song after bassist John Taylor (a lifelong Bond fan) approached producer Cubby Broccoli at a party and somewhat drunkenly asked, "If I give you a fiver, can I write a theme tune please."Malins, Steve. (2005) ''Notorious: The Unauthorized Biography'', André Deutsch/Carlton Publishing, UK (). pp 161–162 The band was then introduced to Bond composer John Barry, and also composer/producer
Jonathan Elias Jonathan Elias (born 1956) is an American composer best known for his film soundtracks. Background Elias was born in New York City in 1956. He is of Jewish-Hungarian background. Elias started playing piano at the age of six, and was composin ...
(with whom Duran Duran members would later work many times). An early writing meeting at Taylor's flat in
Knightsbridge Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End. Toponymy Knightsbridge is an ancien ...
led to everyone getting drunk instead of composing.


Composition

Singer Simon Le Bon said of Barry: "He didn't really come up with any of the basic musical ideas. He heard what we came up with and he put them into an order. And that's why it happened so quickly because he was able to separate the good ideas from the bad ones, and he arranged them. He has a great way of working brilliant chord arrangements. He was working with us as virtually a sixth member of the group, but not really getting on our backs at all." Due to a clear separation of areas of responsibility, the cooperation between band and composer turned out to be largely harmonious. The band was in charge of the actual songwriting while Barry created the final arrangement, including the orchestral parts. The song was finally completed in April 1985 and released that May. In the UK, it entered the singles chart at No. 7 before peaking at No. 2 the following week, and remained at that position for three weeks. In the US, it entered the charts at No. 45, and on 13 July it reached number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. It remains the only Bond theme to achieve this chart placing.


Reception

''
Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an onli ...
'' described the single as "a memorable and dynamic cut and easily one of Duran Duran’s very best efforts" that is "melodically strong" and employs "highly sophisticated state of the art production."


Music video

The song's music video was filmed in the
Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; french: links=yes, tour Eiffel ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Locally nicknamed ...
and was directed by the duo of
Godley & Creme Godley & Creme were an English rock duo formally established in Manchester in 1977 by Kevin Godley and Lol Creme. The pair began releasing music as a duo after their departure from the rock band 10cc. In 1979, they directed their first music v ...
. The video opens with the iconic gun barrel sequence and is centered around the scene from the film where Max Zorin's henchwoman
May Day May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the spring equinox and summer solstice. Festivities may also be held the night before, known as May Eve. Tr ...
kills private detective Achille Aubergine in front of James Bond at the Tower. It then cuts to the band walking by the Tower on a secret mission: Simon Le Bon, disguised as a tourist, wearing a gray trenchcoat and carrying a
Walkman Walkman, stylised as , is a brand of portable audio players manufactured and marketed by Japanese technology company Sony since 1979. The original Walkman was a portable cassette player and its popularity made "walkman" an unofficial term for p ...
; John Taylor, a long-haired tourist dressed in black; Nick Rhodes, a photographer working with a top model; Andy Taylor, a blind accordionist who plays the Bond theme on the accordion; and Roger Taylor, a supervisor inside a van. The band's actions coincide with events shown from the movie, while Bond pursues May Day through the Tower, culminating in her escape via parachute. The video ends with a beautiful young girl approaching Le Bon to question him, "Excuse me... aren't you?", where he breaks the
fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cen ...
to say, "Bon. Simon Le Bon". However, her moving Le Bon's arm to talk to him causes him to accidentally activate a detonator concealed inside his Walkman, blowing up the Eiffel Tower.


Track listing


UK 7-inch (EMI, Duran 007)

A: "A View to a Kill" – 3:37
B: "A View to a Kill (That Fatal Kiss)" – 2:31 * Also released in a gatefold sleeve (DURANG 007). Released by Capitol in US as B-5475. Reissued on CD in '' Singles Box Set 1981–1985'' (2003). Track List 12" US Promo Capitol Records – SPRO-9391 Format: Vinyl, 12", 33 ⅓ RPM, Promo A A View To A Kill 3:35 B A View To A Kill 3:35 Unreleased Remix Version By Steve Thompson & Michael Barbiero 7:25 Minutes previously unreleased remix of Duran Duran‘s A View To A Kill that has recently surfaced and since then there has been much debate over both the authenticity of the remix and who was responsible for the work involved. We are delighted to inform all you 1980’s pop fans out there that legendary producer and remixer Steve Thompson has been in touch with SDE and ‘filled in the blanks’, putting the speculation to bed once and for all. Steve had the following to say: “The mystery ssolved. I did this mix with Mike Barbiero and the band was there except John. We did that mix in a studio in Paris. All hesounds of the mix were done with the band.“Echoing the views of Duran Duran fans who have always wondered why a twelve-inch version of the Bond theme was never released, Thompson added “I could never understand why the mix didn’t come out. And yes I brought it to lternative New York radio stationWLIR because we were all friends of the station and I would always give them exclusives.”


In popular culture

DJ's Factory, a Eurodance project of German producer Bülent Aris and British keyboarder Adrian Askew, released a dancefloor-oriented version of the song in summer 1985, reaching No. 22 on the German single charts. In 1987,
Shirley Bassey Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey (; born 8 January 1937) is a Welsh singer. Best known for her career longevity, powerful voice and recording the theme songs to three James Bond films, Bassey is widely regarded as one of the most popular vocalists ...
covered the song for her album ''
The Bond Collection ''The Bond Collection'', a.k.a. ''Bassey Sings Bond'', is a 1987 studio album by Shirley Bassey, notable for having been released without the artist's consent and subsequently withdrawn from sales by court order. History In early 1987, Bassey ...
'', which contained her renditions of Bond theme songs. However, she wasn't satisfied with the quality, so the album was withdrawn from sale. In 2008, the song was covered in a
bossa nova Bossa nova () is a style of samba developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is mainly characterized by a "different beat" that altered the harmonies with the introduction of unconventional chords and an innovativ ...
style by former
Morcheeba Morcheeba is an English electronic band formed in the mid-1990s with founding members vocalist Skye Edwards and the brothers Paul and Ross Godfrey. They mix influences from trip hop, rock music, rock, folk rock and downtempo, and have produced ...
singer
Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye (; gd, An t-Eilean Sgitheanach or ; sco, Isle o Skye), is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated b ...
on the various artists compilation album ''Hollywood, Mon Amour'', containing cover versions of songs from 1980s films.
Måns Zelmerlöw Måns Petter Albert Sahlén Zelmerlöw (; born 13 June 1986) is a Swedish pop singer, songwriter and television presenter. He took part in '' Idol 2005'', eventually finishing fifth, won the first season of '' Let's Dance,'' and scored a hit w ...
performed a live version of the song at the beginning of the Andra Chansen (Second Chance) round of
Melodifestivalen 2010 Melodifestivalen 2010 was a Swedish song contest held between February and March 2010. It was the selection for the 50th song to represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest, and was the 49th edition of Melodifestivalen. Five heats were held in ...
in
Örebro Örebro ( , ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, sixth-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Örebro Municipality, and capital of the Örebro County. It is situated by the Närke Plain, near the lake Hjälmaren, a few kilometers in ...
, Sweden. Further cover versions of the song have been recorded by the Welsh
alternative metal Alternative metal (also known as alt-metal) is a genre of heavy metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With r ...
band
Lostprophets Lostprophets (stylised as lostprophets) were a Welsh rock band from Pontypridd, formed in 1997 by singer and lyricist Ian Watkins and guitarist Lee Gaze. The band was founded after their former band Fleshbind broke up. They later recruited Mike ...
, Canadian punk rock band Gob, Australian band
Custard Custard is a variety of culinary preparations based on sweetened milk, cheese, or cream cooked with egg or egg yolk to thicken it, and sometimes also flour, corn starch, or gelatin. Depending on the recipe, custard may vary in consistency fro ...
, on the tribute album ''The Songs of Duran Duran: UnDone'' (1999), and the Chilean heavy metal band Los Mox, on their album ''...Con Cover'' (2006). Finnish melodic
death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...
band Diablo has covered the song, as well as Finnish symphonic metal cover supergroup
Northern Kings Northern Kings is a Finnish symphonic metal cover supergroup, made up of four well known musicians: Jarkko Ahola from Teräsbetoni, ex-Dreamtale, Marko Hietala from Tarot, ex- Nightwish, Tony Kakko from Sonata Arctica and Juha-Pekka Leppä ...
. Jay Gonzalez of
Drive-By Truckers Drive-By Truckers are an American rock band based in Athens, Georgia. Two of five current members (Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley) are originally from The Shoals region of northern Alabama and met as roommates at the University of North Alabama ...
covered the song in a
bossa nova Bossa nova () is a style of samba developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is mainly characterized by a "different beat" that altered the harmonies with the introduction of unconventional chords and an innovativ ...
style on the various artists compilation album ''Songs, Bond Songs: The Music of 007'' (2017). In 2016, Duran Duran performed the song live at the unveiling of the 2016
Mazda MX-5 (ND) The Mazda MX-5 (ND) is the fourth and current generation of the Mazda MX-5. Mazda officially unveiled the car on September 3, 2014, in the United States and Spain, and on September 4, 2014, in Japan. The new MX-5 was presented at the October 20 ...
.


Personnel

Duran Duran * Simon Le Bon – vocals * Andy Taylor – guitars * John Taylor – bass *
Roger Taylor Roger Taylor may refer to: *Roger Taylor (Queen drummer) (born 1949), drummer for Queen *Roger Taylor (Duran Duran drummer) (born 1960), drummer for Duran Duran *Roger Taylor (author), author of epic fantasy Hawklan series *Roger Taylor (college pr ...
– drums *
Nick Rhodes Nick Rhodes (born Nicholas James Bates, 8 June 1962) is an English keyboardist and producer, best known as a founding member, keyboardist, and only continuous member of the band Duran Duran. He is also informally monikered as "The Controller ...
– keyboards Technical *
Bernard Edwards Bernard Edwards (October 31, 1952 – April 18, 1996) was an American bass player and record producer, known primarily for his work in disco music with guitarist Nile Rodgers, with whom he co-founded Chic. In 2017, Edwards was selected as the ...
– co-producer * Jason Corsaro – co-producer, engineer, mixing * Duran Duran – co-producer * John Barry – orchestral arranger, conductor *
John Elias John Elias was a Christian preacher in Wales in the first half of the 19th century, as part of the Welsh Methodist revival. His preaching was noted as being exceptionally powerful, "as if talking fire down from heaven". On one occasion it is sa ...
digital sampling


Charts and certifications


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications and sales

As of October 2021 "A View to a Kill" is the seventh most
streamed Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...
Duran Duran song in the UK.


Other appearances

Albums: * ''
Decade A decade () is a period of ten years. Decades may describe any ten-year period, such as those of a person's life, or refer to specific groupings of calendar years. Usage Any period of ten years is a "decade". For example, the statement that "du ...
'' (1989) * '' Greatest'' (1998) * '' Singles Box Set 1981–1985'' (2003) * ''Encore Series 78–03 Reunion Tour'' (2003) * ''Live from London'' (2005)


See also

*
James Bond music The James Bond film series from Eon Productions has featured numerous musical compositions since its inception 1962, many of which are now considered classic pieces of British film music. The best known of these pieces is the "James Bond Theme" ...
* Outline of James Bond


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:View to a Kill, A Duran Duran songs 1985 singles Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles RPM Top Singles number-one singles Number-one singles in Belgium Number-one singles in Italy Number-one singles in Spain Number-one singles in Sweden Songs from James Bond films Song recordings produced by Bernard Edwards
Song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...
Music videos directed by Godley and Creme Songs with music by John Barry (composer) 1985 songs EMI Records singles Capitol Records singles