Rio

In the '80s, the Birmingham, England, quintet Duran Duran became the poster boys for new wave, a synth-heavy genre that dominated the decade's music and culture. No album represented this rip-it-up-and-start-again movement better than the band's breakthrough 1982 LP, Rio. A cohesive album with a retro-futuristic sound—influences include danceable disco, tangy funk, Bowie-caliber synth-pop and swaggering glam—the full-length sold millions and spawned smashes such as "Hungry Like the Wolf" and the title track.
However, Rio wasn't a smashing success everywhere; in fact, it had to be buffed-up with extensive remixes and reissued before it found an audience in America. The album was further buoyed by colorful music videos, which established Duran Duran as leaders of an MTV-driven second British Invasion, and an embrace of cutting-edge technology. This book explores how and why Rio became a landmark new wave album, and examine how the LP was both a musical inspiration—and a reflection of a cultural and technology zeitgeist.