A View to a Kill

The underlying pop rock progression is deliberately straightforward, giving Duran Duran's synth-driven arrangement a clear tonal center in D major. What lifts the harmony above a standard 80s pop track is John Barry's orchestral layer: the chromatic stepwise lines and pedal-point suspensions he brought from two decades of Bond scoring sit on top of the band's chord grid and give it a cinematic density that few three-minute singles of the era matched.

John Taylor, a lifelong Bond fan, approached producer Cubby Broccoli at a party and asked — by his own admission somewhat drunkenly — if he could write a Bond theme. The band was introduced to John Barry, and an early writing session at Taylor's Knightsbridge flat ended with more drinking than composing. Once collaboration got underway in earnest, however, it moved quickly: Duran Duran handled the core songwriting while Barry shaped the final arrangement, including all orchestral parts. Simon Le Bon described Barry as 'virtually a sixth member of the group,' one who could separate the good musical ideas from the bad and build harmonic arrangements around what remained. The band completed the track in April 1985.

Released on 6 May 1985 as the title theme for the Bond film of the same name, 'A View to a Kill' became Duran Duran's biggest US chart triumph — co-written with Bond composer John Barry and recorded with a 60-piece orchestra in London. It was the last studio track by the band's classic five-piece lineup before their split, making it simultaneously their commercial peak and a farewell. No Bond theme before or since has matched it on the Hot 100.