The Reflex

“The Reflex” is new-wave rock band Duran Duran’s most successful single, being their second single to top the British charts, after their 1983 track “Is There Something I Should Know?”. It is the first track off of their “Seven and the Ragged Tiger” album.
“The Reflex” was a huge hit internationally, leading to it being successful in multiple countries across the globe. It is an upbeat, disco/dance/groove track about “the reflex”, which is quoted to be many things in the track: “a lonely child, who’s waiting by the park”, “the reflex is in charge of finding treasure in the dark”. It is never confirmed what exactly the reflex is, be it an object, individual or a metaphor.

The music video was filmed by the groups’ favourite director Russell Mulcahy, who has directed all the music videos for the new-wave band. The video opens up with TV static, showing the band performing the track live at a concert in Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Canada in 1983. The video screen behind the band showed videos of naked models, illuminated in black light and covered in chains. The screen behind the and also generated a waterfall that appeared to be coming out the screen: this was considered to be very ahead of its time in terms of graphics. The video has over 1.5 million views as of September 2019, but reuploaded audio videos of the track has significantly more, one with over 6.4 million views.

Release Date: 16th April 1984 (worldwide) & 21st April 1984 (US).

Songwriter/s: Duran Duran

Producer/s: Duran Duran, Alex Sadkin & Ian Little

Label/s: EMI / Capitol

Music Video Release Date: 1984

Music Video Director: Russell Mulcahy

Chart Rankings & Certifications: “The Reflex” performed extremely well on global charts, reaching #1 in Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, the UK and the US. It also reached Australian, New Zealand, Spanish, Italian and Swiss charts. The track is certified Gold in both the Netherlands and the US, Platinum in Canada and Silver in the UK.