"Planet Earth" | ||||
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Single by Duran Duran | ||||
from the album Duran Duran | ||||
B-side | "Late Bar" | |||
Released | 2 February 1981 | |||
Recorded | December 1980 | |||
Studio | Red Bus (London) | |||
Genre | Post-disco [1] | |||
Length |
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Label | ||||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | Colin Thurston | |||
Duran Duran singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Planet Earth" on YouTube |
"Planet Earth" is the debut single by the English new wave band Duran Duran, released on 2 February 1981.
It was an immediate hit in the band's native UK, reaching number 12 on the UK Singles Chart on 21 February, and did even better in Australia, hitting number 8 to become Duran Duran's first Top 10 hit anywhere in the world. Along with the track, "Girls on Film", "Planet Earth" also hit the Top 40 on the US, dance charts.
The song later appeared on the band's eponymous debut studio album Duran Duran , released in June 1981.
"Planet Earth" begins with a mid-tempo synthesised sweep backed with sequenced electronic rhythm, but the real rhythm section of throbbing bass and crisp drums soon kick in. Muted guitar carries the up-and-down throbbing as the singer joins in.
The sequenced part on this song is a Prophet-5 synth, while a Roland Jupiter-4 and a Crumar Performer were used for strings and other sounds. [2] The flanging intro sound was the Jupiter 4 processed by an MXR flanger. [3]
Record World described the song as being a "simple, catchy cut" with "a flexible bass [that] sets the consistent, throbbing pulse" and "mechanistic keyboard lines." [4]
The song was the first to explicitly acknowledge the fledgling New Romantic fashion movement, with the line "Like some New Romantic looking for the TV sound".
The original demo had an extra verse at the end, as can be heard in the Manchester Square Demo version, released in 2009:
"I came outside I saw the nightfall with the rain, Sheet lightning flashes in my brain, Whatever happened to the world we used to know? I've got you coming over fear now."
The music video for the song was directed by future film director Russell Mulcahy, who would go on to direct a dozen more for the group.
Fairly primitive by the band's later standards, the video features the band (dressed in New Romantic fashions) playing the song on a white stage tricked out with special effects to look like a platform made of ice or crystal. Interspersed with the performance are shots of the band members alongside the four elements. The video focused closely on the band's faces. The instrumental middle section features two friends of the band from the Rum Runner nightclub nicknamed Gay John and Lavinya [5] dancing in their full New Romantic regalia. In an apocalyptic science-fiction style, various world facts slide cross the bottom of the screen as the video plays, including: "the area of the surface of the earth is 196,937,600 miles"; "247,860 people are born every day"; "the oldest known song is the Shadoof Chant"; and then it ends with a warning of "Doomsday." At the end of the video, lead vocalist Simon Le Bon leaps from the stage, caught in a freeze-frame shot above an apparently bottomless abyss.
The video was recreated in the music video for the Dandy Warhols' "You Were the Last High" (which was produced by Nick Rhodes, the band's keyboardist).
For most countries, the B-side track for the "Planet Earth" 45 is a concert favourite called "Late Bar" which was one of the earliest songs Duran Duran had written together after their classic Le Bon/Rhodes/Taylor/Taylor/Taylor line-up had solidified.[ citation needed ] However, the B-side track for the North American release of "Planet Earth" is "To the Shore".
Beginning with "Planet Earth", Duran Duran began creating what they called "night versions" for each of their songs; extended versions that were featured on their twelve-inch singles. Back in 1981, the technology to do extended remixes was still quite rudimentary, so the band chose instead to create a new arrangement of the song, loosely based on the version they were playing live at the time. This formed the basis for the "night" version.
The night version of "Planet Earth" appeared in place of the original on some early American releases of the Duran Duran album.
In addition to the 12", the night version of "Planet Earth" was included on the EPs Nite Romantics and Carnival .
For the 1999 remix album Strange Behaviour , EMI inadvertently unearthed unreleased alternative mixes of both "Planet Earth" and "Hold Back the Rain".
The alternative mix of "Planet Earth" called the "night mix" also appears on the special edition of Duran Duran, released in 2010.
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
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As of October 2021 "Planet Earth" is the ninth most streamed Duran Duran song in the UK. [13]
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English pop rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor. With the addition of bassist Simon Colley and drummer Roger Taylor the following year, the band went through numerous personnel changes before May 1980, when they settled on their most famous line-up by adding guitarist Andy Taylor and lead vocalist Simon Le Bon.
Rio is the second studio album by the English pop rock band Duran Duran, released on 10 May 1982 through EMI. Produced by Colin Thurston, the band wrote and demoed most of the material before recording the album at AIR Studios in London from January to March 1982. The band utilised more experimentation compared to their debut album, from vibraphone and marimba to the sound of a cigarette being lit and cracking ice cubes. Andy Hamilton played a saxophone solo on "Rio".
Nick Rhodes is an English keyboardist and producer, best known as a founding member and the keyboardist of the band Duran Duran. He is also informally monikered as "the Controller", after being introduced as such on stage by bandmate Simon Le Bon during the Astronaut album world tours of 2004–2005.
Duran Duran is the debut studio album by the English pop rock band Duran Duran, released on 15 June 1981 through EMI. Produced by Colin Thurston, it was recorded in London and Oxfordshire between December 1980 and January 1981. The instrumental tracks were recorded quickly, but vocalist Simon Le Bon initially struggled to sing in the studio, leading to discussions about replacing him before EMI employee Dave Ambrose intervened.
"Come Undone" is a song by English rock band Duran Duran, released in March 1993 by Parlophone and Capitol as the second single from their seventh studio album, Duran Duran (1993). With their commercial and critical success reestablished by the previous single "Ordinary World", "Come Undone" continued to showcase more of the band's entry into the adult contemporary radio format.
Greatest is a greatest hits album by English rock band Duran Duran, released in 1998.
Carnival is a dance music EP by British band Duran Duran, originally released in various markets around the world in September 1982 by EMI.
"Is There Something I Should Know?" is the eighth single by English new wave band Duran Duran, released on 14 March 1983.
"Careless Memories" is the second single by English new wave band Duran Duran, released on 20 April 1981. It reached no. 37 in the UK and no. 60 in Australia.
"Skin Trade" is the fifteenth single by English rock band Duran Duran. Released as the second single from their fourth studio album, Notorious on 31 January 1987, it showcased a drastic change from their previous singles, with R&B influences, brass solos and funk guitar riffs, in addition to a Prince-style falsetto from lead vocalist Simon Le Bon.
"Save a Prayer" is a song by the English new wave band Duran Duran, released on 9 August 1982 as the third single from their second album Rio (1982). It became Duran Duran's biggest hit on the UK Singles Chart, reaching number two. As of October 2021 "Save a Prayer" is the sixth most streamed Duran Duran song in the UK.
"Girls on Film" is the third single by 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.
"My Own Way" is the fourth single by English new wave band Duran Duran, originally released on 16 November 1981.
"Hungry Like the Wolf" is a song by English new wave band Duran Duran. Written by the band members, the song was produced by Colin Thurston for the group's second studio album, Rio (1982). The song was released on 4 May 1982 as the band's fifth single in the United Kingdom, and 8 June 1982 in the United States. It reached No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart, and received a platinum certification from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).
"Rio" is the seventh single by English rock band Duran Duran. It was first released as a single in Australia, in August 1982, followed by a UK release on 1 November 1982.
"Union of the Snake" is the ninth single by English new wave band Duran Duran, released on 17 October 1983.
"A View to a Kill" is a song by English rock band Duran Duran, released on 6 May 1985. Written and recorded as the theme for the James Bond film of the same name, it became one of the band's biggest hits. It is the only James Bond theme song to have reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100; it also made it to number two for three weeks on the UK Singles Chart while stuck behind Paul Hardcastle's "19". The song was the last track recorded by the most famous five-member lineup of Duran Duran until their reunion in 2001 and was also performed by the band at Live Aid in Philadelphia, their final performance together before their first split.
"I Don't Want Your Love" is a song by English rock band Duran Duran, released on 19 September 1988 as the first single from their fifth studio album, Big Thing (1988). As with the album, the band's name was rendered on the artwork as Duranduran.
Live from London is a concert film by English rock band Duran Duran. It was filmed during the course of the last two of five sold-out nights at Wembley Arena in April 2004, during the band's first global tour after the reunion of the band's original five members.
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