Happy Anniversary: Duran Duran, “Is There Something I Should Know?”

31 years ago today, Duran Duran released their eighth single, asking a question that took them to the top of the UK charts for the first time in their career: “Is There Something I Should Know?”

The band’s eighth single, “Is There Something I Should Know?” was a standalone effort in the UK, not actually attached to an album, but when it emerged in the U.S. several months later, it was tacked onto the reissue of the band’s self-titled 1981 debut. Why? Because the band hadn’t really broken in the States when the singles from Duran Duran were being released, so it proved to be a good excuse for Capitol to milk their newfound popularity a bit more by putting it out again, this time with their latest single thrown into the mix as added incentive for fans to pick up a copy.

The video for the song was directed by Russell Mulcahy, who’d already worked magic for the band with his behind-the-camera efforts on “”Planet Earth,” “Hungry Like the Wolf,” “Save a Prayer,” and “Rio,” and the mixture of blue shirts, bouncing balls, and breaking glass made it as much of an instant must-add for MTV as its predecessors.

As for the song itself, there’s no question that it’s one of the most memorable tracks in Duran Duran’s discography, but given that it was released in the ‘80s, you can only imagine that the line that really made radio listeners sit up and take notice came when Simon Le Bon sang, “You’re about as easy as a nuclear war.” Sadly, it wasn’t enough to get the song to the top spot in the States, but “Is There Something I Should Know?” still made it to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and sold more than a million copies, which is certainly nothing to sneeze at.