Call it the confidence of youth, the fact that they’d already gotten a debut album under their belt, everyone’s individual talents meeting perfectly in the middle or the stars aligning just right — or all of the above and more — but with Rio Duran Duran vaulted themselves into worldwide pop fame. Certainly the videos helped with the impact of such outrageously catchy and astonishingly sleek singles as the title track and “Hungry Like the Wolf,” not to mention the moody ballad “Save a Prayer,” but songs like “Hold Back the Rain” showed the deep cuts also hit perfectly.

– Ned Raggett