“Hungry Like the Wolf” by Duran Duran

"Hungry Like the Wolf" came off Rio, Duran Duran's second album, in 1982, and it's the sound of five Englishmen chasing something across the dance floor with their tongues hanging out. The whole band shares the writing credit, Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes, Andy Taylor, John Taylor and Roger Taylor, and Colin Thurston produced and engineered it, keeping the synths glossy and the rhythm section taut and pushy.

It's a pop song built like a pursuit: a tight, twitchy groove, a guitar line that snaps at the heels, and a chorus that howls like the hunt is on. Slick as it is, it has real teeth.

America hadn't taken to the band at first, and what changed that was the video. Russell Mulcahy shot it in Sri Lanka, MTV put it into heavy rotation, and the song climbed to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1983, turning Duran Duran into an international sensation. The clip went on to win the very first Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video in 1984, proof that in the new decade the picture could sell the record.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.