Who performed the theme song for the James Bond movie "A View to a Kill"?

Roger Moore's final outing as James Bond needed a theme song as bold as the '80s themselves. The producers took a risk by breaking from tradition, recruiting a chart-topping band instead of a solo artist. But which group brought their new wave sound to 007 and got the license to thrill?

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The answer is: Duran Duran

John Taylor, Duran Duran's bassist, landed the band their Bond gig through pure unfiltered courage. He drunkenly stumbled up to producer Albert 'Cubby' Brocolli at a party and slurred, "So when are you going to have a decent theme tune again?" The sheer audacity worked.

The recording sessions paired classical composer John Barry with a band that represented everything new in popular music. Barry, master of sweeping Bond orchestrations, initially bristled at their electronic approach. But the combination of his dramatic strings and Duran Duran's modern energy created something unique in the Bond catalog.

Simon Le Bon delivered a powerhouse vocal performance, backed by a perfect marriage of synthesizers and orchestral arrangements. Duran Duran became the first band to receive full writing credits on a Bond theme, and the song became the first (and still only) Bond theme to hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, also reaching #2 in the UK. The band even filmed their video in the Eiffel Tower, because if you're going to make a theme song for the great spy movie franchise, why be subtle about it?