“Ordinary World” by Duran Duran

"Ordinary World" was the first single from Duran Duran's second self-titled album, the 1993 record everyone calls the Wedding Album, and it's the sound of the band at their most grown-up. It's a ballad, with all four writers, Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes, John Taylor and Warren Cuccurullo, pouring themselves into a slow, glistening lament, and the band produced it with John Jones.

Le Bon has never sounded better: weary, open, reaching for something to hold on to as the guitars weep around him and the arrangement swells like a tide. It's bruised and tender, with not a trace of flash.

It became a huge hit: number three on the Billboard Hot 100, number six in the UK, number two in Iceland and Sweden, and a chart-topper on the US Top 40/Mainstream chart, in Canada and in Italy. Nick Egan directed the video in California. The song picked up an Ivor Novello nomination and a Performing Right Society award as the most performed song of its year, and Le Bon later sang it with Luciano Pavarotti at a benefit for War Child. Decades on, it is still one of their most-loved songs.

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