Explain me 80s pop videos: Duran Duran's Wild Boys

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Just what is going on here? Imagine the storyboarding that went on before the money was spent.

― Britain's Obtusest Shepherd (Alan), Sunday, 22 October 2006 17:15 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awTR2itFido

― Britain's Obtusest Shepherd (Alan), Sunday, 22 October 2006 17:16 (nineteen years ago)

obviously, it depicts the creation of the Macarena

― SAS (sschwartzberg), Sunday, 22 October 2006 18:25 (nineteen years ago)

It looks like someone decided to put every possible visual idea that came to his head on one video...

Or, it might depict a very personal homosexual fantasy/nightmare - notice that Simon le Bon is forced to look at a tv screen where the word "girls" flashes (brain reprogramming a la Clockwork Orange), and there's also the underwater vagina dentata representing fear of women.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Sunday, 22 October 2006 18:44 (nineteen years ago)

And windmill represents fear of going down for a woman - literally getting your head wet.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Sunday, 22 October 2006 18:48 (nineteen years ago)

VH1 ran a multi-part "History of the Music Video" doc a while back and "Wild Boys" director Russell Mulcahey discussed the video as a rare example in which the video was conceived before the song was actually written. Also, he said that ideas for a lot of the imagery were lifted from parts of the William S. Burroughs book of the same name.

― theodore (herbert hebert), Sunday, 22 October 2006 18:56 (nineteen years ago)

I remember being so stoked by all the PRICIEST VIDEO EVER hype at the time, and so disappointed by the song (and the video!) turning out to be a bit crap.

― NoTimeBeforeTime (Barry Bruner), Sunday, 22 October 2006 21:28 (nineteen years ago)

(a.) They were trying to keep up with Michael Jackson and his "Thriller" video. On top of trying to do a narrative along the lines of the William S. Burroughs novel, as theodore already mentioned.

(b.) This also explains why the video idea was there before the song idea. The song was supposed to be the theme tune for a proposed adaptation of said novel, with the video acting as a little bit of a teaser of same.

(c.) It was John Taylor, not Simon Le Bon, who was strapped to the vehicle while facing a video screen.

(d.) Simon looks panicked when being dunked into the water while strapped to that windmill because he almost drowned during one take and so understandably he'd look freaked out by having to repeat the actions that nearly caused his death.

(e.) Still dislike the clip? Blane Russell Mulcahy.

― Hi, yeah. Couldn't resist answering this. :( (krushsister), Sunday, 22 October 2006 21:47 (nineteen years ago)

The main message about this video was the following.

We've got huge video budgets and we want to prove it now!

Great song though. Their last great single except for maybe "Ordinary World" nine years later.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Sunday, 22 October 2006 22:35 (nineteen years ago)

The breaking point for the music video fad- proved that bigger didn't mean better. Good videos, it turns out, should be as concise and simple as the pop song they're selling.

― bendy (bendy), Monday, 23 October 2006 00:30 (nineteen years ago)

The video for Arcadia's "The Flame" proved they didn't learn a thing.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 23 October 2006 00:43 (nineteen years ago)

one doesn't get the chance to say "Geir OTM" every day

you left out the part about the cocaine though

― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Monday, 23 October 2006 01:03 (nineteen years ago)

I too recall this song being extremely disappointing at the time. It's absolutely horrible. Not only had the band finally officially lost the plot musically, but they were in dire need of a haircut as well.

― I am not bloody David Byrne (Bimble...), Monday, 23 October 2006 01:04 (nineteen years ago)

Geir's right about the video but not about this being their last great single til 1993. To wit: "Notorious," "Meet `El Presidente'," "All She Wants Is," and "Do You Believe in Shame?"

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 23 October 2006 01:16 (nineteen years ago)

"Bop Til You Drop" by Rick Springfield was similarly incomprehensible and faux-futuristic.

― zaxxon25 (zaxxon25), Monday, 23 October 2006 14:54 (nineteen years ago)

YouTube of the Rick Springfield vid

― zaxxon25 (zaxxon25), Monday, 23 October 2006 14:54 (nineteen years ago)

really, this was just a cheap attempt at cashing-in on the post-apocalyptic Road Warrior/Thunderdome aesthetic, so popular at the time...

― hank (hank s), Monday, 23 October 2006 15:40 (nineteen years ago)

see also, this "The Police" video http://youtube.com/watch?v=_UlSK4WVZ9A

― Britain's Obtusest Shepherd (Alan), Tuesday, 24 October 2006 10:43 (nineteen years ago)

Now, how about a "New Moon on Monday" video thread?

― Joe (Joe), Tuesday, 24 October 2006 11:54 (nineteen years ago)

Russell Mulcahy was a cool guy.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Tuesday, 24 October 2006 12:01 (nineteen years ago)

To wit: "Notorious," "Meet `El Presidente'," "All She Wants Is," and "Do You Believe in Shame?"

I could have listed "A View To a Kill" or some of the Arcadia tracks as evidence of the opposite. However, those songs are all pathetic attempts to become more "funky" and Duran Duran weren't great again until they left behind that phase. The entire "Big Thing" album was a disgrace, with "All She Wants Is" being the worst thing they ever did.

Nile Rodgers and his dance production may have been around already on "Wild Boys" but that song did at least have a proper tune and the good, old typically English Duran Duran harmonies in addition.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 24 October 2006 13:03 (nineteen years ago)

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