There are 13 (!!) different remixes of the “Rio” single: this UK 12″ has Part 1 and Part 2, both longer than the Single version. It reached #9 in the UK, #14 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and #5 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. The B-side on this release is “My Own Way;” the mix, by David Kershenbaum, was the same as the version on the Carnival EP, it just faded out a few seconds earlier. In my heady early teen Duranie days, we would imagine that the band stayed in a hotel in New York, called out in the lyrics: “I’m on 45, between 6th & Broadway, 7UP, between 6th & Broadway” – they boys were obviously in a room on the 7th floor so we just had to get there somehow to hang out with them. (I also always misheard the next line in the song: instead of “Hmm…busy, this is how I like it” I heard “Mmmm…fizzy! Just how I like it” – Simon is drinking soda! Or champagne!)

In the US the B-side of “Rio” was “Hold Back the Rain” – and if you need a some light in your day today, check out this video of Duran’s performance from ‘82: Simon’s white jazz shoes! Nick in a white jumpsuit!  Terry-cloth sweat wrist bands! The audience’s awkward 80′s dancing?

The post Duran Duran “Rio (part 2)” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

The B-52′s made it to #59 on the Billboard charts and has been cited on many “Best of” album lists. The first, and enduringly popular, single “Rock Lobster” reached #56 on the US charts and #37 in the UK, while in Canada it went to #1. “Planet Claire” was also released as a single, making it to #24 on the US Hot Dance Club chart. I also really love the non-singles “Lava” – “Fire, fire, burnin’ bright, turn on your love lava, turn on your lava light” and the space-alieny “There’s a Moon in the Sky (Called the Moon)” which I remember dancing to at teen Y dances back in the mid-80′s. My punkish teenage ears misheard the lyrics “Cause there are thousands of others like you, others like you, others like you” as “there are thousands of others like you. I DON’T LIKE YOU!” and happily chanted, mistakenly, along, “Yeah! I DON’T LIKE YOU!”

We saw The B-52′s at Summerfest in Milwaukee in July 2010. I remember dancing to most of the set (and hopefully singing along more accurately) and then sprinting across the entire Summerfest venue to get to the other end to catch Joan Jett playing. A breathlessly excellent 80′s music evening.

The post The B-52′s “The B-52′s” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.