Duran Duran: The Reflex - On Top Of The Pops - April 26, 1984 (My "Stereo Studio Sound" Re-Edit)

Duran Duran: The Reflex - On Top Of The Pops - April 26, 1984 (My "Stereo Studio Sound" Re-Edit)

"The Reflex" is the eleventh single by English new wave band Duran Duran, released in 1984. The song was heavily remixed for single release and was the third and last to be taken from their third studio album Seven and the Ragged Tiger (1983). The single became the band's first to reach the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and their second to top the UK Singles Chart.
Song history

"The Reflex" became the band's most successful single, topping the UK chart on May 5, 1984. It was their second UK No. 1, after 1983's "Is There Something I Should Know?", and would prove to be their last. The single entered the charts in America on April 21, 1984 at No. 46, became Duran Duran's first of two singles to hit No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 (2 weeks) on 23 June 1984, and was a huge hit internationally. (Their only other single to hit No. 1 in the US was the title song to the 1985 James Bond film A View to a Kill.) It was also the first of two songs that kept "Dancing in the Dark" by Bruce Springsteen out of the top spot (the other one being Prince's "When Doves Cry"). The band wanted it to be the lead single from Seven and the Ragged Tiger (1983), but their label did not 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 go on to produce "The Wild Boys" single as well as the album Notorious (1986) and several tracks on Astronaut (2004).

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."