DURAN DURAN - HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF

Released: May 4, 1982 (UK); June 8, 1982 (US)

Charted:  US: #3  UK: #5 

“Hungry Like The Wolf” is a song written by the band members, and produced by Colin Thurston for the group's second studio album “Rio”. It’s the song that broke them out in America, with an exotic, adventurous video that had Le Bon, with an Indiana-Jones-inspired fedora perched on his head, chasing a beautiful woman through Sri Lanka.

The band attributed the inspiration for “Hungry Like The Wolf” to an interpolation of Gordon Lightfoot’s “If You Could Read My Mind” and the children’s fable “Little Red Riding Hood.” If we add that the band's girlfriends provided the makeup that helped shape their look, a strange tangle of influences was formed that contributed to increasing both, the visual and musical aesthetics of the new musical trend that was making its way around the world.

The song is about someone who is determined and passionate in pursuing their lover. In the song, the lyrics and imagery suggest that the singer is like a wild animal who will not be deterred in their pursuit of their love. The chorus of "hungry like the wolf" conveys a sense of determined longing; the singer is focused on persisting in their search and willing to take whatever risks necessary to find it. This metaphor of being "hungry like the wolf" then speaks to a powerful need and desire that is stronger than any obstacles or doubts that might arise.

Russell Mulcahy, who was Duran Duran's go-to director, did the video which was filmed in Sri Lanka, in tribute to Raiders Of The Lost Ark, and loosely based on Apocalypse Now too, with the rest of the band searching for Simon Le Bon in an exotic locale. It was shot in the city of Galle, with scenes of Simon running through a market. The night before the shoot, Le Bon went to a stylist to get blond highlights in his hair, but she botched the job and his hair turned orange. That's why he's wearing a hat in the video. MTV executives loved this video, playing it frequently each day, and the single made it to number three in the U.S. The video was the first to win the Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video; both the song and the video have ranked on several “best of” lists. It remains one of their most streamed songs, and one of the most definitive songs from that era of music.

Keyboard player Nick Rhodes' girlfriend Cheryl appeared on this song, providing the laugh at the beginning and the moaning at the end, possibly the sounds of the wolf sating his hunger. Cheryl also did the laughing you hear on "Rio”.

This is perhaps the band's most rocking song in their early days, with a catchy interplay of guitar with synths and Simon LeBon's exhilarating chorus, driving the song so that it becomes embedded in your brain and repeats while you are humming the do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do. For many, it’s the first song that comes to mind with mention of Duran Duran, specially in the US.