Girls on Film was the single from Duran Duran’s first album, and has become their signature song. Released in July of 1981, it quickly reached no. 5 in the UK singles chart. It was the band’s second hit in the U.s. and rose to #11 in Austrailia. The song fared well on the radio and the charts before the notoriously titillating video was filmed, but the controversy that ensued helped to keep the band in the public eye and the song on the charts for many weeks. The video featured topless women mud wrestling. It was filmed just two weeks after MTV was launched in the United States, before anyone knew what an impact the music channel would have on the industry. The band expected the “Girls On Film” video to be played in the newer nightclubs that had video screens, or on pay-TV like the Playboy Channel. The raunchy video created an uproar, and it was consequently banned by the BBC and heavily edited for MTV. The band unabashedly enjoyed and capitalised on the controversy.

Duran Duran performing Girls on Film:

Duran Duran’s website