"The Reflex" is the eleventh single by Duran Duran, released worldwide on 16 April 1984. The song was heavily remixed for single release and was the third and last to be taken from their third album Seven and the Ragged Tiger.
Song history
"The Reflex" became the band's most successful single. It was their second single to top the UK Singles Chart, after "Is There Something I Should Know?" in 1983, topping the chart on 5 May, and would prove to be their last UK no. 1. The single entered the charts in America on 21 April 1984 at no. 46, became Duran Duran's first of two singles to hit no. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 on 23 June 1984, and was a huge hit internationally. It was also the first of two songs that kept "Dancing in the Dark" by Bruce Springsteen out of the top spot. The band wanted it to be the lead single from Seven and the Ragged Tiger, but their label didn't like the warbling singing during the "why don't you use it" segments, thinking this would hinder its success as a stand-alone single track. The remixes for both the 7" and 12" singles were created by Nile Rodgers, of Chic fame. It was his first work with the band, and he would later go on to produce "The Wild Boys" single as well as the albumNotorious and several tracks on Astronaut. Producer Ian Little recalled the sound Nick Rhodes came up with on his Roland Jupiter-8 keyboard: "...whenever I hear that steel-drum part it always brings a smile to my face because it's so out of tune. Steel drums always are, but it was exactly right in terms of rhythm and tone. So a wood-block sound was mixed in to make it even more percussive and, successfully, it did the job."
Music video
Main photography for the video for "The Reflex" took place during the Seven and the Ragged Tiger tour at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario on 5 March 1984. Director Russell Mulcahy filmed some of the closeup footage in the indoor arena that afternoon, and the band's performance was filmed live during that evening's concert. "The Reflex" is primarily a concert video, accurately portraying Duran Duran's Sing Blue Silver tour performance style. However, in keeping with the band's insistence that their videos "never be ordinary", the video screen above the stage displayed bits of naked models wearing collars and chains illuminated with black light, occasionally interrupted by computerized video white noise. At one point, a computer graphics generated waterfall appears to pour out of the video screen above the stage to soak the audience. Keyboard enthusiasts have taken note of the Fairlight CMI that Nick Rhodes operated with a light pen in this video, and throughout the tour. Some symbolic scenes from the official video were taken and later mixed with the alternate version shown in the band's concert filmArena ; in the final segment when the band, the crowd and even the fans undertake the final and crucial battle against the evil Dr. Durand Durand.
In addition to the 4:26 single remix, the 12" also included an extended remix of "The Reflex". The live b-side "Make Me Smile " is a cover of a Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel song, recorded 16 November 1982 at Hammersmith Odeon in London, with lead Rebel Steve Harley joining the band onstage. A second live b-side released on the US single, "New Religion", was recorded 7 February 1984 at The Forum in Los Angeles. This is not the same live version that appears on the Arena album.
The song has also been featured in the soundtracks of several movies, including American Wedding, Corky Romano and Man Up. It was also used in an episode of the short-lived 2002 television series That '80s Show, in which bassist John Taylor made a guest appearance. The song is also featured in the video games DDRMAX2 Dance Dance Revolution 7thMix, Dance Dance Revolution Extreme and Saints Row 2, as part of its 1980s radio station. A chain of 1980s-themed nightclubs in the UK is named after the song. The Birmingham branch is located directly opposite the former site of the Rum Runner, Duran Duran's early home base. Comedian Dave Chappelle sings an excerpt from the song during a "Stereotype Pixies" sketch from Chappelle's Show.
