Musical Monday - Union of the Snake by Duran Duran

#1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Never.

#1 on the Cash Box Top 100: December 31, 1983 through January 14, 1984.

#1 on the U.K. Chart: Never.

Union of the Snake is almost archetypically emblematic of Duran Duran's style. The song itself is passable dance pop with entirely inchoate lyrics that feature a nonsensical, but ear-catching chorus. This kind of mediocre pop music is attached to a memorable but completely incomprehensible video that drove the popularity of the song to heights the music itself probably didn't deserve.

The music video is by far the most interesting element of this song: Visually stunning despite is complete incoherence as a storytelling device. To a certain extent, the video looks like someone said they wanted to make a video like the video made for Men at Work's Down Under, but creepy instead of whimsical. Alternatively, the style of the video might have been inspired by the 1981 post-apocalyptic movie Road Warrior, although some elements of the video seem to presage the imagery used in Beyond Thunderdome, the 1985 sequel to Road Warrior. No matter its inspiration and despite being complete nonsense, the video is still fun to watch.

Previous Musical Monday: Say Say Say by Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson

Subsequent Musical Monday: Pipes of Peace by Paul McCartney

Previous #1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Say Say Say by Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson

Subsequent #1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Owner of a Lonely Heart by Yes

List of #1 Singles from the Billboard Hot 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles from the Cash Box Top 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles on the U.K. Chart for 1980-1989

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