arcadia


It’s amazing to think that Simon Le Bon and Nick Rhodes, stalwarts – architects, even – of classic pop could ever have been responsible for a one-hit wonder. But here it is, the track that people have often referred to as “the best Duran Duran single that never was”, and Le Bon and Rhodes’ first as a duo while Duran were on a hiatus in 1985.

Election Day is important because it allows us to see what happens when top performers at the peak of their game get to tear up the rulebook and use up all the budget and publicity they have at their disposal to make music that excites them, as opposed to anyone else.





To say nothing of its delicious spoken-word cameo from none other than Grace Jones, then at the peak of her powers.The first of three UK singles to come from the Arcadia project,Election Day was the only one you could call a hit, reaching number seven in the UK (number six in the US).

Its UK follow-up, The Promise, only made number 37, while The Flame scraped number 58. Le Bon and Rhodes may have since parked Arcadia indefinitely, but it paved the way for various other experimental off shoots from the latter.