Lost Hits of the New Wave #5

"Save a Prayer" by Duran Duran.

When it comes to the New Wave, Duran Duran is one of the major names that comes up. Pretty Boy Five were superstars in the early 1980s, and "Rio" is debatably one of their greatest albums. For many of us in that time and place, "Save a Prayer," officially the third single from that LP, could be considered our "Stairway to Heaven."

Like many songs from UK acts in those days, the US didn't get stuff until much later. By the time "Save a Prayer" was released here, we'd all heard it a million times on college radio. It didn't matter, we still loved it, and amazingly the tune holds up wonderfully today. The video was beautifully shot by film director Russell Mulcahy in Sri Lanka.