Never underestimate the power of scantily-clad women.
Duran Duran’s Rio has been named the greatest music video of all time in an MTV poll.
The 1982 video, featuring the band in suits on a Caribbean beach being teased by scantily-clad women, beat favorites such as Michael Jackson’s Thriller and Madonna’s Like a Prayer to claim the title.
I’m not sure how Rio beat out Aphex Twin’s Come To Daddy, though.
“Duran Duran’s Rio has been named the greatest music video of all time.”
I love how the original article completely neglects to mention who did the naming. Whatever happened to proper journalism?
Mateo – we never made any claim to being “proper journalists”.
Thus, the topless dj coverage, the bizarre fascination with obscure musical devices and the neverending synth porn indulgences.
While under Duran Duran they may have made some good videos, they made some terrible ones under Arcadia (side project). On a side note, I actually like Arcadia. 🙂
Evidence #1
<Evidence #2
BlueBrat – great links!
Arcadia and Duran Duran are both sort of guilty pleasures – though the Rio video is really pretty awful from today’s perspective!
“Rio” defined the early-’80s music video, good or bad. All the standard visual elements are there. Babes? Check. Water? Check. Singing into a telephone? Check. Mirrors moving to reveal other visual elements? Check.
“Sledgehammer” by Peter Gabriel would be the one I would have chosen.
Indisputable is the claim that videos in the ’80s and early ’90s were far more creative than anything done in the late ’90s or today – mostly because the medium was new and all of the cliches hadn’t been established yet.
mibrilane – you’re insane!
The 80’s was the era of cheesy videos, and the 90’s weren’t much better.
Look at what Michel Gondry’s done if you want to see some really great music videos.
I agree with Mibrilane. While Gondry’s video’s are good, they’re serious. People in the 80’s just did videos for whatever reason with no pre-disposition on making something cool. You have some very artsy videos, some horrible traffic accidents, and videos that set the precedent for what folks are doing today. Regardless, he is right, it was a very pioneering era of video making where the art was obviously more important than the sale.