"New Moon on Monday" by Duran Duran

Top 10 Alert!

Song#:  1754
Date:  01/14/1984
Debut:  58
Peak:  10
Weeks:  16
Genre:  New Wave, Rock



Pop Bits:  The band's third album, Seven and the Ragged Tiger, got off to a good start thanks to the #3 hit "Union of the Snake." It was a worldwide hit and they were hoping for another one with this second single. Although the song would just scrape the US Top 10 and get to #9 in the UK, it failed to be a significant hit in other countries and even missed the charts in a few. It would end up being a slight lull between bigger hits.

ReduxReview:  I didn't much care for "Union," but I started to get re-interested in the band with this song. Once again, the lyrics are silly and indecipherable, but the chorus is dang good. I especially like the transition after the first chorus back to the verse, which has a Bowie feel to it. I still had little interest in the album, but the singles were beginning to perk up.

ReduxRating:  7/10

Trivia:  Duran Duran were on a Christmas holiday break when they had to cut it short in order to shoot a video for this song. They were not real thrilled to be there, so they basically hung around and drank between their scenes. Some band members consider it their worst video, especially for the scene at the end where they awkwardly dance around. The video was directed by Brian Grant, who had some solid shoots under his belt with Olivia Newton-John's "Physical" and Donna Summer's "She Works Hard for the Money." It originally started as a mini espionage-style movie with a lengthy non-music setup. The full version ended up being seventeen minutes long, but most stations chose to air a five minute edited clip. MTV asked for further cuts to the prologue and an even shorter video played on that channel. The femme fatale in the video was played by Patricia Barzyk, who was Miss France in 1980.

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