A View to a Kill (song)

Last updated

"A View to a Kill"
Duran Duran A view to a kill.jpg
Artwork for the UK single
Single by Duran Duran
from the album A View to a Kill (soundtrack)
B-side "A View to a Kill" (That Fatal Kiss)
Released7 May 1985 (1985-05-07) [1]
RecordedEarly 1985
Studio
  • Maison Rouge
  • CTS (London)
Genre
Length3:37 (single version)
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Duran Duran singles chronology
"The Wild Boys"
(1984)
"A View to a Kill"
(1985)
"Notorious"
(1986)
James Bond theme singles chronology
"All Time High"
(1983)
"A View to a Kill"
(1985)
"The Living Daylights"
(1987)

Certifications and sales

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada) [54] Gold50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI) [55] Silver250,000^
United States149,000 [56]

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

DJ's Factory, a Eurodance project of German producer Bülent Aris and British keyboarder Adrian Askew, released a dancefloor-oriented version of the song in summer 1985, reaching No. 22 on the German single charts. [57]

In 1987, Shirley Bassey covered the song for her album The Bond Collection , which contained her renditions of Bond theme songs. However, she wasn't satisfied with the quality, so the album was withdrawn from sale.

In 2008, the song was covered in a bossa nova style by former Morcheeba singer Skye on the various artists compilation album Hollywood, Mon Amour, containing cover versions of songs from 1980s films.

Måns Zelmerlöw performed a live version of the song at the beginning of the Andra Chansen (Second Chance) round of Melodifestivalen 2010 in Örebro, Sweden. [58]

Further cover versions of the song have been recorded by the Welsh alternative metal band Lostprophets, [14] Canadian punk rock band Gob, [14] Australian band Custard, on the tribute album The Songs of Duran Duran: UnDone (1999), [59] and the Chilean heavy metal band Los Mox, on their album ...Con Cover (2006). Finnish melodic death metal band Diablo has covered the song, as well as Finnish symphonic metal cover supergroup Northern Kings. [14] Jay Gonzalez of Drive-By Truckers covered the song in a bossa nova style on the various artists compilation album Songs, Bond Songs: The Music of 007 (2017). [60]

In 2016, Duran Duran performed the song live at the unveiling of the 2016 Mazda MX-5 (ND). [61]

See also

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