The Reflex – Duran Duran | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning

Chart Performance: Pop (#1 for 2 weeks); 1984

Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne

Barbarella, the 1967 Roger Vadim film starring the oh-so-sexy looking Jane Fonda, inspired guitarist-turned-bassist John Taylor to crib the villain’s name – Duran Duran – for his band.

The movie reference was wonderfully appropriate, since Duran Duran, headed by the Hollywood good looks of Simon LeBon, owed their success in America to fantasy videos more than anything else.

By the end of 1982, DD was already onto its seventh consecutive hit single in the group’s native England, before Hungry Like The Wolf (the fifth U.K. hit single) finally broke onto the Hot 100. Constant exposure on MTV via the exotic videos for Hungry and Rio resulted in instant stardom.

Dubbed the Fab Five by the glossy teen mags, LeBon and company logged their first U.S. #1 with The Reflex, a single more notable for its foldout poster picture sleeve than its cryptic lyrics.

This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.

Produced by:

  • Duran Duran
  • Alex Sadkin
  • Ian Little

Lyrics Written by:

  • Simon Le Bon
  • John Taylor
  • Roger Taylor
  • Andy Taylor
  • Nick Rhodes

Check Out all the Song Meanings of the 80s
Top 100 Songs Of The 1980s

Ed Osborne

Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).