Duran Duran – The Reflex

“The Reflex” – Single by Duran Duran from the album Seven and the Ragged Tiger
Released April 16th, 1984.

“The Reflex” is a very early and effective use of sampling, which is how they created the “re-re-re-re-flex” sound.

The original version of the song appears as the first track of their third album, Seven And The Ragged Tiger, and doesn’t contain the samples. This version runs 5:29 and wasn’t deemed suitable for a single.

After the album was released in November 1983, the band heard the INXS song “Original Sin” and became smitten with Nile Rodgers’ production. The commissioned him to do a remix of “The Reflex,” and working with Duran Duran synth guru Nick Rhodes, developed the famous version of the song (cut to 4:26) that was released as a single and used in the video. Sampling was so new, when he sent his remix to the band, they weren’t sure what they were hearing. “We weren’t sure if he was scratching,” Simon Le Bon said. “Then we figured out he was repeating certain tracks but within the mix, not the whole track. It was quite innovative.”

Embed

Copy and paste this HTML code into your webpage to embed.

Duran Duran - The Reflex

Duran Duran - The Reflex (Official Video), Full HD (Digitally Remastered and Upscaled)04:31

Main photography of the music video for “The Reflex” took place during the Seven and the Ragged Tiger tour at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on 5 March 1984. Director Russell Mulcahy filmed some of the close-up 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 music 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 (the first digital sampling synthesiser) that 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 film Arena (An Absurd Notion) (1985); in the final segment when the band, the crowd and the fans undertake the final and crucial battle against the evil Dr. Durand Durand.

Charted: No.1 in UK and No.1 in US

Visits: 30