Careless Memories

Like it or not, New Romantic veterans and 1980s survivors Duran Duran excelled at making stonking radio-friendly and chart-ready singles, a highly addictive mixture of funky Chic-informed dance rhythms, arty David Bowie and Roxy Music-shaped glam-rock, edgy post-punk melodies and a bright, shiny new-wave pop slant. However, the one crucial factor that really stencilled these now-ageing Birmingham lads' names in the annals of pop-music history is their groundbreaking, often provocative (in more ways than one) music videos, which introduced and defined the idea of the video clip-as-viable-promotional tool, and arguably single-handedly elevated the nascent MTV to iconic status. Check out 'Careless Memories', one of their latter-day videos, released during the original quintet's reunion tour in 2003, a unique, fun-filled anime-informed short film that features striking visual elements like faceless assassins, giant mutant monsters, rampaging robots and an ending sequence that has a giant animated Simon Le Bon tearing down the corporate headquarters of a certain EMI Records.