“Union of the Snake” by Duran Duran

"Union of the Snake" was Duran Duran's opening shot from Seven and the Ragged Tiger, their third album, hitting the shops on 17 October 1983, a month ahead of the LP. All five share the writing credit, Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes, Andy Taylor, John Taylor and Roger Taylor, and they co-produced it with Alex Sadkin and Ian Little, with Michelle Cobbs and B.J. Nelson adding backing vocals. It's synth-pop with a sinister slink, the follow-up to "Is There Something I Should Know?" and the warm-up for "New Moon on Monday".

In Britain it reached number three. In America it went all the way to number one on Cashbox and held at three on Billboard's Hot 100 for three straight weeks as 1983 ran out, stuck behind Hall and Oates' "Say It Isn't So" and the Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson duet "Say Say Say".

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