Hungry Like the Wolf

Infobox Single |
Name = Hungry Like the Wolf


Caption =
Artist = Duran Duran
from Album = Rio
B-side = "Careless Memories" (live)
Released = 4 May, 1982
Format = 7", 12"
Recorded = Air Studios, London 1982
Genre = Rock, New Wave
Length = 4:11 or 5:14
Label = EMI - EMI 5295
Writer = Duran Duran
Producer = Colin Thurston
Last single = "My Own Way"
(1981)
This single = "Hungry Like the Wolf"
(1982)
Next single = "Save a Prayer"
(1982)
Misc = Extra tracklisting
Album = Rio
Type = studio
prev_track = "Lonely In Your Nightmare"
prev_no = 3
this_track = Hungry Like the Wolf
track_no = 4
next_track = "Hold Back the Rain"
next_no = 5Extra tracklisting
Album = Arena
Type = live
prev_track = "New Religion"
prev_no = 1
this_track = "Hungry Like the Wolf"
track_no = 2
next_track = "Is There Something I Should Know?"
next_no = 3Extra tracklisting
Album = Greatest
Type = compilation
prev_track = "Rio"
prev_no = 6
this_track = "Hungry Like the Wolf"
track_no = 7
next_track = "Girls on Film"
next_no = 8

"Hungry Like the Wolf" is the fifth single by Duran Duran, released on 4 May, 1982. It is regarded as one of the band's signature songs. Fact|date=May 2008

History

The single hit the stores one week before the band's second album, "Rio" and became Duran Duran's second Top 5 single in the UK Singles Chart, peaking at #5 on May 15, 1982. [ [http://www.durandurantimeline.com/years/1982.html The Duran Duran Timeline: 1982] ]

The song was not released in the United States until December 3, 1982, after the remix album "Carnival" (September), and the David Kershenbaum remaster of the "Rio" (November), began to gain popularity among DJ's. At first, US radio was resistant to play the song, but when the newly emerging MTV began playing the accompanying music video in heavy rotation, requests began to pour into radio stations. The single became the band's first to hit the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #3 on December 25, 1982.

It topped the Canadian RPM charts for one week on March 19, 1983

About the song

"Hungry Like the Wolf" was written and recorded quickly on a Saturday afternoon in the spring of 1982 at the basement studios of EMI's London headquarters. "That track came from fiddling with the new technology that was starting to come in," guitarist Andy Taylor recollects in an interview with Blender." [http://www.blender.com/guide/articles.aspx?id=829 The Greatest Songs Ever! Hungry Like the Wolf] ", "Blender", Jan/Feb 2003] This refers to the rhythmic backing track they came up with by joining a Roland 808 drum machine with a sequencer and a Roland Jupiter 8 keyboard.

"As soon as we heard that, we knew we had something, and I started working out a Marc Bolan-ish guitar part, a very Marshall-sounding Les Paul guitar lick, to go on top of it," Taylor continues. "Then we added the bass and drums, and the whole track was finished that day, including Simon's vocal melody and lyric. He has a great ear for putting a melody to a bunch of chords. I didn't realize it at the time, but his inspiration for that lyric was Little Red Riding Hood!"

A final version was recorded in at London's AIR Studios with producer Colin Thurston (Kajagoogoo, Bow Wow Wow). "He was a great organizer and arranger," Taylor remembers. "We gave him far more ideas and music than the track actually needed, and he was important in the process of whittling them down to the essential elements." Thurston and the band decided to keep the demo's original electronic backing track and just rerecord the other instruments and vocals. "AIR was a big acoustic room with a very warm sound, which gave the track a distinctive sound," Taylor says.

This song was filmed in Sri Lanka.

Music video

Music video director Russell Mulcahy, who had directed the band's first video "Planet Earth", was brought back to make the music videos for "Hungry Like the Wolf" and several other songs for the band's ambitious 1983 video album. The band had a vision of jungles and exotic women, and Mulcahy suggested Sri Lanka, a country he had just visited, which had the advantage of being inexpensive. Keyboardist Nick Rhodes remained behind to finish the mixing of the "Rio" album while the rest of the band began filming in April; Rhodes flew straight to Sri Lanka after handing over the final masters to EMI.

The video was lush and cinematic, with shots of jungles, rivers, elephants, cafes and marketplaces evoking the atmosphere of the film "Raiders of the Lost Ark", thanks to the enviromental advantage of Sri Lanka. The storyline reflected the lyrics "I'm on the hunt, I'm after you," featuring singer Simon Le Bon pursuing a tiger-like woman from parties in the city through obstacles in the jungle, culminating in a final chase and struggle in a jungle clearing. In the meantime, other band members hunted for Le Bon.

Les Garland, senior executive vice president at MTV, said “I remember our director of talent and artist relations came running in and said, ‘You have got to see this video that’s come in.’ Duran Duran were getting zero radio airplay at the time, and MTV wanted to try to break new music. ‘Hungry Like the Wolf’ was the greatest video I’d ever seen.” Odell, Michael. [http://www.blender.com/guide/articles.aspx?id=316 “Fame Had Its Way With Us!”] . "Blender", June/July 2003. Accessed May 28, 2006.]

"Hungry Like the Wolf" was #11 on the century-end MTV "100 Greatest Videos Ever Made" [ [http://www.rockonthenet.com/archive/1999/mtv100.htm MTV: 100 Greatest Music Videos Ever Made (1999)] ] and #31 on the "VH1: 100 Greatest Videos". [ [http://www.rockonthenet.com/archive/2001/vh1videos.htm VH1: 100 Greatest Videos (2001)] ] MTV also named "Hungry" the fifteenth of their most-played videos of all time. [ [http://www.duranduran.com/bio.html DuranDuran.com: Official Bio] ]

B-sides, bonus tracks and remixes

The "night version" remix of "Hungry" appeared on the 12" single. For some reason, it was released in various mixes with various BPM.

A live version of "Careless Memories", recorded in December 1981 at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, was released in 1982 as the b-side to "Hungry Like the Wolf".

Complete list of mixes

# "Hungry Like the Wolf" - 3:40 (127 BPM)
# "Hungry Like the Wolf [Album Version] " - 3:35 (132 BPM)
# "Hungry Like the Wolf [Single Version] " - 3:27 (127.5 BPM)
# "Hungry Like the Wolf [Single Version] " - 3:25 (130 BPM)
# "Hungry Like the Wolf [Night Version] " - 5:14 (127 BPM)
# "Hungry Like the Wolf [Night Version] " - 5:12 (129 BPM)
# "Hungry Like the Wolf [US Album Remix] " - 4:02 (127.5 BPM)

Covers, samples, & media references

Over the years the song has been covered by many artists, including Reel Big Fish, Less Than Jake, Hole, Incubus, Black Light Burns, Buck O’ Nine, and Jebediah. In live performances the band Reel Big Fish jokingly claimed that the song was originally a Charlton Heston poem.

On their June 18 2006 in San Francisco, Gnarls Barkley performed dressed as chefs and opened the show with a cover of "Hungry Like the Wolf".

The song has been used in the soundtracks of several movies, including "Hot Dog... The Movie" (1984), "Small Sacrifices" (1989 TV movie), "Big Fat Liar" (2002), and "Old School" (2003). The "Far Far Away Idol" contest at the end of the movie "Shrek 2" featured a performance of the song by the Big Bad Wolf. It has also appeared in episodes of the television shows "Keen Eddie", "King of the Hill", "Lizzie McGuire" and "The Shield".

The song is also used as the walk on music by BDO darts player Martin Adams.

The song was referenced in a deleted voiceover by Jason Lee's character Brodie Bruce in the movie "Mallrats", stating that a Duran Duran-based fast food restaurant called "Hungry Like the Wolf" resided at the mall before being replaced by a carpet store.

According to the band, the Burger King company has repeatedly asked to use the song in its advertising since the year it came out, but Duran Duran has consistently refused.

While the song itself was not played , the classic "painted wild woman" from the video was briefly recreated in the opening scenes of the second season (summer 2006) premiere episode of the animated series "The Venture Bros." The scene included the famous "faces screaming at each other" pose.

The Reel Big Fish cover of the song gets referenced in the webcomic [http://impy.aorange.com/index.php?date=2007-01-01 Impy and Aevy]

In 2006, online voters rated "Hungry Like the Wolf" #3 on VH1's list of "The 100 Greatest Songs of the '80s" behind Bon Jovi's "Livin' On A Prayer" at number 1 and Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar on Me" at number 2.

In May 2007, Old Spice released a commercial featuring Bruce Campbell performing a piano version of "Hungry Like the Wolf" to a group of female admirers.

The song was also featured in the 2008 Simpsons episode "E Pluribus Wiggum". It was played in a montage in which Homer eats at every fast food restaurant possible in order to enjoy his last day before he diets.

Contestant David Cook performed the song on the May 6th episode of American Idol.

Psychobilly band The Young Werewolves recorded a cover of this song on their yet to be released 2008 album Cheat the Devil.

The song will be released as part of "Rock Band 2"'s main set-list, to be released September 2008 on Xbox 360 and other platforms later this year. [ [http://www.rockband2.com/song-list Rock Band 2] ]

Chart positions

Track listing

7": EMI / EMI 5295 (United Kingdom)

tracklist
headline =
all_writing = Duran Duran
title1 = Hungry Like the Wolf (Single version)
length1 = 5:14
title2 = Careless Memories (Live Version)
length2 = 4:11

7": Harvest / B-5195 (United States)

tracklist
headline =
all_writing = Duran Duran
title1 = Hungry Like the Wolf (Night version) *
length1 = 5:14
title2 = Hungry Like the Wolf (US album remix)
length2 = 4:02

* This "Night Version" runs at 127 bpm

12": EMI / 12 EMI5295 (United Kingdom)

tracklist
headline =
all_writing = Duran Duran
title1 = Hungry Like the Wolf (Night version)
note1 = *
length1 = 5:14
title2 = Careless Memories (Live Version)
length2 = 4:11

* This "Night Version" runs at 127 bpm

CD: Part of "Singles Box Set 1981-1985" boxset

tracklist
headline =
all_writing = Duran Duran
title1 = Hungry Like the Wolf (Single version)
length1 = 5:14
title2 = Careless Memories (Live Version)
length2 = 4:11
title3 = Hungry Like the Wolf [Night version)*
length3 = 5:12

* This "Night Version" runs at 129 bpm

Notes

* "Careless Memories" was recorded live at Hammersmith Odeon, December 1981
* Remixes done by David Kershenbaum

Other appearances

Albums:
* "Rio" (1982)
* "Arena" (1984)
* "" (1989)
* "Greatest" (1998)
* "" (1998)
* "Strange Behaviour" (1999)
* "Singles Box Set 1981-1985" (2003)
* "Singles Box Set 1986-1995" (2004)

Singles:
* "Ordinary World" (1993)
* "Too Much Information" (1993)

Videos:
* "Duran Duran" [Long Video] (1983)
* "Duran Duran Video 45" (1983)
* "Sing Blue Silver" [Video/DVD] (1984)
* "Arena (An Absurd Notion)" [Video/DVD] (1984)
* "Live from London" [DVD] (2005)

Personnel

Duran Duran are:
*Simon Le Bon - vocals
*Nick Rhodes - keyboards
*John Taylor - bass guitar
*Roger Taylor - drums
*Andy Taylor - guitar

Also credited:
*Colin Thurston - producer and engineer

References