Greatest (Duran Duran album)


Greatest is a greatest hits compilation album by English new wave/synth-pop band Duran Duran, released in 1998.

Background and release

Greatest is an update of the 1989 tenth anniversary compilation album, Decade. The new release includes songs from their eponymous debut album through 1997's Medazzaland. The album includes all 14 songs featured in Decade, plus "New Moon on Monday" and four singles from the '90s. However, several songs on the disc are presented in their edited forms in order to fit on a single CD.
The album was released by EMI after parting ways with the band following the disastrous Medazzaland album release in 1997, marking the first of many releases designed to capitalize on the band's extensive EMI-controlled back catalog. To coincide with the release of the Greatest album in the United Kingdom, the song "Electric Barbarella" was released as a single in that territory. This track was originally released as a single in North America in 1997 to promote the Medazzaland album. "Electric Barbarella" was also the basis for a retroactive correction in licensing payments in the band's favour, after guitarist Warren Cuccurullo discovered that the song was mistakenly credited as having been licensed by Capitol Records instead of the band itself.
By 2008, the collection had sold 1.3 million copies in the United States, and was certified Platinum by the RIAA. The collection is the band's most commercially successful release overall, but to date, a full collection of Duran Duran's singles on one album still has not been released.

Track listing

  1. "Is There Something I Should Know?" – 4:10
  2. "The Reflex" – 4:24
  3. "A View to a Kill" – 3:34
  4. "Ordinary World" – 4:42
  5. "Save a Prayer" – 3:47
  6. "Rio" – 4:45
  7. "Hungry Like the Wolf" – 3:25
  8. "Girls on Film" – 3:27
  9. "Planet Earth" – 3:57
  10. "Union of the Snake" – 4:22
  11. "New Moon on Monday" – 4:16
  12. "The Wild Boys" – 4:17
  13. "Notorious" – 4:00
  14. "I Don't Want Your Love" – 3:48
  15. "All She Wants Is" – 4:26
  16. "Electric Barbarella" – 4:17
  17. "Serious" – 3:56
  18. "Skin Trade" – 4:26
  19. "Come Undone" – 4:15

    VHS edition

The album release was followed in 1999 by the release of a videotape compilation of the band's groundbreaking music videos, also entitled Greatest. It was not released on DVD at the time. The video album was certified platinum by the RIAA on January 29, 2004.

Video album track listing

  1. "Planet Earth"
  2. "Girls on Film"
  3. "The Chauffeur"
  4. "Hungry Like the Wolf"
  5. "Save a Prayer"
  6. "Rio"
  7. "Is There Something I Should Know?"
  8. "Union of the Snake"
  9. "New Moon on Monday"
  10. "The Reflex"
  11. "The Wild Boys"
  12. "A View to a Kill"
  13. "Notorious"
  14. "Skin Trade"
  15. "I Don't Want Your Love"
  16. "All She Wants Is"
  17. "Serious"
  18. "Burning the Ground"
  19. "Ordinary World"
  20. "Come Undone"
  21. "Electric Barbarella"
  22. "My Own Way"
  23. The Wedding Album EPK

    DVD edition

In November 2003, the videotape compilation was released in DVD format, titled Duran Duran: Greatest — The DVD, with hidden extra materials, including alternative versions of some of the videos and interviews of the band; however, this version is much criticised for its extensive use of easter egg features, which make it difficult to find and play some materials.

DVD Easter eggs

DVD one

A) Girls on Film :
B) Union of the Snake :
C) New Moon on Monday :
  1. Dancing on the Valentine version, with moon shots – 5:30
  2. Alternative version 1, with intro dialogue; not the same one shown on MTV – 5:00
  3. Alternative version 2 – 5:01
  4. short version, without intro – 3:43
  5. Movie version, with extended dialogue, uses unique extended version of song, not the 12" remix – 17:37
D) The Wild Boys :
La Galerie De Duran
From the main menu, enter the "Galerie" by selecting the "A" in the word "GREATEST".
a) Planet Earth :
b) A Day in the Life featurette 2:26:
c) Girls on Film :
d) Midsummer Night's Tube Feature :
e) Wild Boys Interview :
f) View to a Kill Interview :
From the main menu, enter the "Galerie" by selecting the "A" in the word "GREATEST".
a) Liberty album Electronic Press Kit :
b) Serious :
c) The Wedding Album Television Commercial
d) Come Undone
The hidden tracks may be accessed directly using the Title/Chapter number keys on a DVD player. This may not necessarily work from "inside" the disc's navigation menus depending on the DVD player. On some players the disc must be fully stopped to navigate directly to a Title, on others the disc must be playing. This DVD contains user operation prohibition on jumping directly to Titles in an attempt to prevent direct Title access, but not all DVD players obey such prohibitions. There are several duplicates of standard videos among the hidden tracks, in addition to the easter eggs.

DVD one

Weekly charts

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Year-end charts

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