Burning the Ground

"Burning The Ground" is the 20th single by Duran Duran, released in December of 1989. Althought not featured, it was to accompany the new compilation album Decade: Greatest Hits. The song is essentially a clever megamix of Duran Duran's history, featuring tidbits of all of the band's hits of the previous ten years.

About the song
Instrumental elements of "Save A Prayer", "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "The Reflex" form the core of the first part of the song, while the "chorus" is built up of alternating chants of "Girls" (from "Girls on Film") and "Boys!" (from "The Wild Boys"). The nonsense syllables from several songs, such as the "noh-noh" bits from "Notorious", the "bop bop bop" from "Planet Earth" and the "tana nana" from "The Reflex" were also incorporated. Elements from "A View To A Kill", "Notorious", "I Don't Want Your love" and later singles are gradually woven into the mix.

The song also used several sound samples from the film Barbarella, from which the band took their name: "Barbarella?" "Mr.President!" "Your Mission, Barbarella...find Duran Duran!"

The remix was created by producer John Jones, with assistance from engineer Chris Potter, in an upstairs room at Olympic Studios in Barnes while Duran Duran was downstairs recording new material for the Liberty to be released in the next year.

Music video
The video for "Burning The Ground", like the song, used snippets of many of Duran Duran's previous work. The video also used footage of burning South American rainforests, as well as the NASA space shuttle. It was directed by Adrian Martin.

B-sides, bonus tracks and remixes
The b-side was another megamix, this one more instrumental in nature, called "Decadance". The song uses the "why" bits of "The Reflex", the "no, no" from "Notorious", "wild" from "The Wild Boys", the chorus from "All She Wants Is", the solo from "Save a Prayer" mixed with "Rio", and a little bit of "Skin Trade", as well as some of the suggestive screams from "Hungry Like the Wolf".

Chart positions

 * #31 UK Singles Chart
 * #7 Italy

Track Listing
7": Parlophone - DD 13 (UK)
 * "Burning the Ground" (4:00)
 * "Decadance" (3:29)

12": Parlophone - 12DD 13 (UK)
 * "Burning the Ground" (4:00)
 * "Decadance" (3:29) [2 Risk E Remix 7"]
 * "Decadance (Extended mix)" (7:57) [2 Risk E Remix 12"]

12": Capitol - V-15546 (US)
 * "Burning the Ground" (4:00)
 * "Decadance" (3:29) [2 Risk E Remix 7"]
 * "Decadance (Extended mix)" (7:57) [2 Risk E Remix 12"]

CD5: Parlophone - CDDD 13 (UK)
 * "Burning the Ground" (4:00)
 * "Decadance" (3:29) [2 Risk E Remix 7"]
 * "Decadance (Extended mix)" (7:57) [2 Risk E Remix 12"]

Other appearances

 * Decade (1989)
 * Singles Box Set 1986-1995 (2004)

Personnel
Duran Duran are:
 * Simon Le Bon - vocals
 * Nick Rhodes - keyboards
 * John Taylor - bass guitar
 * Warren Cuccurullo - guitar
 * Sterling Campbell - drums