Hungry Like the Wolf (1982)

"Hungry Like the Wolf" is a song by the English pop rock band Duran Duran. Written by the band members, the song was produced by Colin Thurston for the group's second studio album, Rio (1982).

The music video for "Hungry Like the Wolf" was directed by Russell Mulcahy and filmed in Sri Lanka. Although the band initially failed to break into the US market, MTV placed the "Hungry Like the Wolf" video into heavy rotation.

Subsequently, the group gained much exposure; the song peaked at the No. 3 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1983, and Duran Duran became an international sensation.

The video won the first Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video in 1984.

The 2015 song "Hey Everybody!" by 5 Seconds of Summer contains elements from "Hungry Like the Wolf", and Duran Duran were given a writing credit on the song.

Writing and recording

"Hungry Like the Wolf" was written and recorded on a Saturday in the spring of 1982, at the basement studios of EMI's London headquarters. The song was built throughout the day as each band member arrived, and by the evening it was essentially complete.

"That track came from fiddling with the new technology that was starting to come in", guitarist Andy Taylor said in an interview with Blender magazine.

Rhodes came up with an idea for the backing track in the car while he was going to the studio. He started playing with the Roland Jupiter-8 keyboard, while lead vocalist Simon Le Bon was working with the lyrics. The lyrics were inspired by Little Red Riding Hood, and the repeating of the word "do" at the end of each verse takes its melody from the instrumentals in Gordon Lightfoot's song "If You Could Read My Mind".

Andy Taylor worked out a Marc Bolan-ish guitar part, a very Marshall-sounding Les Paul guitar lick that was added to the track. The bass and drums were then added, and the whole track was finished that day, including Le Bon's vocal melody and lyrics.

The laugh at the beginning of the song and the moans during the song's fade-out were performed and recorded live by Rhodes' girlfriend at the time.

The group re-recorded the song for the Rio album a few months later at London's AIR Studios with producer Colin Thurston, who also co-produced the hit "Too Shy" for Kajagoogoo.

Andy Taylor remembers: "He was a great organizer and arranger, we gave him far more ideas and music than the track actually needed, and he was important in the process of whittling them down to the essential elements." Thurston and the band decided to keep the demo's original electronic backing track and just re-record the other instruments and vocals.

John Taylor has stated that he "[doesn't] really know" what the lyrics mean, speculating that the song is probably about "meeting girls" and/or "wanting to have sex with someone".

Critical reception

Upon its release in May 1982 it received a poor reception in Smash Hits magazine. "This seems curiously lifeless even by their own standards", reviewer Dave Rimmer wrote, "The wolf of the title appears to be a character who hunts women. Charming."

Retrospectively, it has been praised as one of Duran Duran's best songs. In a 2003 review of the Singles Box Set 1981–1985, Rob Mitchum of Pitchfork Media said that "singles don't come much stronger than 'Hungry Like the Wolf'", praising its "bubbly keys around a slashing guitar riff", adding that the song "show off how Duran Duran was a band, not just a synthesizer".

Jon Pareles from The New York Times said the song "put an oblique, sometimes apocalyptic spin on pop romance in the verses but kept the choruses clear and catchy, never disguising their pop intentions", adding that the "posing was always a little preposterous, but no less enjoyable for that."

AllMusic's Ned Raggett said the song "blended a tight, guitar-heavy groove with electronic production and a series of instant hooks", adding that it was one of Rio's "biggest smashes" that "open[ed] the door in America for the New Romantic/synth rock crossover".

Stewart Mason, also from AllMusic, called "Hungry Like the Wolf" a "spectacular pop single" and "the finest song Duran Duran ever wrote", adding that it was a "much more kinetic and exciting song than earlier flop singles like 'Planet Earth'." In 2024, The Guardian music journalist Alexis Petridis ranked it Duran Duran's third best song, writing: "The appealingly cocky sound of a band intent on conquering America, certain they know how to do it. Hungry Like the Wolf has been polished until virtually every sound on it feels like a hook: the synth arpeggio, the guitar riff, the verses that sound like choruses, the spoken-word asides."

In 2006, VH1 ranked "Hungry Like the Wolf" No. 3 on its list of the "100 Greatest Songs of the ‘80s". In 2021, Rolling Stone listed the song at No. 398 on "the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time", and in 2022, at No. 5 on their list "100 Best Songs of 1982".