"Girls on Film" is the third single by the English new wave band Duran Duran, released on 13 July 1981. It became Duran Duran's first top 10 hit on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number 5 in July 1981, and an international hit reaching the top 20 in several countries, including number 1 in Portugal, number 4 in New Zealand and number 11 in Australia.
Background
Originally written and demoed in 1979 by an early line-up of the band featuring lead vocalist Andy Wickett, Duran Duran re-wrote and re-recorded the song for their 1981 debut album. The different original version, which co-writer Wickett said "was inspired by the dark side of the glitz and glamour", was released as part of an EP in 2018.[4]
Music video
A music video was made with directing duo Godley & Creme (of 10cc) and director of photography Steven Bernstein at Shepperton Studios in July 1981. Due to the inclusion of female nudity the video exists in both uncensored form (which was played in nightclubs and on The Playboy Channel) and a heavily censored version for MTV. [citation needed]
Critical reception
Retrospectively, music journalist Annie Zaleski hailed "Girls on Film" as "the perfect balance of post-disco and futuristic pop", describing it as a song that "starts with the clicking camera sound before jumping into a funky rhythmic strut — courtesy of John Taylor's rubber-band-stretch bass lines and Roger Taylor's percolating drums — and a vibrant counterpoint: Andy Taylor's lilting, slashing riffs and Nick Rhodes' avant, spacey keyboards." and lyrics featuring "warning about the downsides of fame and modeling" with "some pointed critiques of an industry that values only surface beauty."[5]
In 2024, The Guardian's Alexis Petridis ranked it Duran Duran's greatest song: "It remains the most exciting thing they ever made, its choppy distorted guitar as close as they got to achieving their original “Chic-meets-the-Sex-Pistols” blueprint. Its chorus is a six-note call sign; its lyrics are unable to decide whether they think the fashion world is an exploitative nightmare or a glamorous world to aspire to."[6]
The Greek 12" release of "Girls on Film" contains a version with a longer camera intro not found on the other 12 inches. It was also released on some versions of the 1982 CarnivalEP. It appeared for the first time on CD on the 2010 remaster of Duran Duran as the "extended night version".
The instrumental version was not released on other vinyl releases and remains unreleased on CD.
^People Weekly, Vol. 62. Time, Incorporated. 2004. "But the big-haired lineup that gave us such '80s synth-pop hits as "Girls on Film," "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Rio" has reunited for Astronaut, which finds the group taking creative flight again."
