Duran Duran “Duran Duran” released on this date, June 15th, 1981. I’ve written about Duran Duran’s debut album before, but its new wave, new romantic awesomeness is always worth another listen. Duran Duran reached #3 on the UK charts, remaining in the top 100 for 117 weeks. Its initial release did not do so well in the US but was subsequently re-released (with a different cover and the addition of the single “Is There Something I Should Know”) on April 25th, 1983 after the phenomenal success of Rio. Duran Duran then made it to #10 on the US Billboard charts. This original US pressing has the “Night Version” rather than the single version of “Planet Earth.” “To the Shore,” which appears on the UK pressing, was not included in order to accommodate the increased length of the Night Version (6:20 vs. 4:03).

I’ve been reading I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution and, not surprisingly, Duran Duran has a heavy presence in the book, especially for their breakthrough – and controversial – video for “Girls on Film;” MTV played the heavily edited and censored version but my Duranie friends managed to get Betamax copies of the original so we got to see what the scandal was all about. “Girls on Film” was the third single released from Duran Duran and their breakthrough hit, reaching #5 on the UK charts.