During the week of July 5, 1985, Phil Collins’ ‘Sussodio’ held on to the top spot of the Hot 100.

At #2 that week, on its way to a two-week stint atop the chart, was Duran Duran’s ‘A View to a Kill,’ theme song to the James Bond movie of the same name. The band got the gig after bassist John Taylor approached the movie’s producer at a party and drunkenly asked for the job. It probably helped that the band was coming off of a three-year span that included a handful of songs in the top five.

Duran Duran co-wrote the song with the film’s composer, John Barry, but it certainly sounds like the rest of their New Wave output. It’s interesting to see how Bond themes have reflected the musical trends of their time, even while having (at their best) a distinct Bond-ness.

I’m actually shocked I’ve never done a theme week or two on Bond songs. There’s a lot of material there to mine and some great songs (as well as some turkeys). I’ll add that to my to-do list.

‘A View to a Kill’ has the distinction of being the only James Bond theme to reach #1 on the Hot 100. Both Paul McCartney and Carly Simon reached #2 with their (much better) Bond songs (‘Live and Let Die’ and ‘The Spy Who Loved Me,’ respectively).