Songoftheday 2/21/15 - I can't read about it burns the skin from your eyes, I'll do fine without it here's one you don't compromise...

"Notorious" - Duran Duran
from the album Notorious (1986)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #2 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 13

Today's Song of the Day comes from the British band Duran Duran, who were going through a bit of a crossroads in the mid-80s, with the five members going off on two successful side projects (Arcadia and the Power Station). Also, both John and Andy Taylor managed to have solo top-40 pop hits in America. In 1985, the five members managed to reunite for the one-off single for the James Bond movie A View To A Kill, but by the time it came for them to record their fourth album, drummer Roger Taylor opted out from exhaustion, while guitarist Andy Taylor dropped out after only a couple of tracks. Leaving lead singer Simon Le Bon, keyboardist Nick Rhodes, and bassist John Taylor, Duran Duran went back to Chic headman Nile Rodgers, who had worked with them on their #1 "Reflex" single and subsequent hit "Wild Boys". Rodgers played guitar on the title track, which became the first single from the project, and his signature sound  (reminiscent of his transformation of David Bowie's "Let's Dance") won both the band's fanbase as well as older, more discerning ears. He even was in the music video, choreographed by Paula Abdul...

"Notorious" reached the runner-up spot on the American pop chart in January of 1987, while peaking at #26 on Billboard magazine's Dance Club Play list. Internationally, the single went to #1 in Italy and Canada, and top-10 in Germany, the Netherlands, and their native Britain.

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Here's the band (all five) reunited to perform the song...

...and again in 2012 for the Olympics (with LeBon looking all bear-daddy and all...)

Up tomorrow: A 'blue-eyed' California funkster takes it in stride the French way.