Duran Duran, 'A View to a Kill' (1985) | The Top 10 James Bond Theme Songs | Rolling Stone The Top 10 James Bond Theme Songs Watch Katy Perry-Produced 'Don't Normalize Hate' PSA The Top 10 James Bond Theme Songs With the arrival of Adele's new Bond theme, we look back at the best songs from the franchise 10 All Stories 6. Duran Duran, 'A View to a Kill' (1985) Duran Duran were one of the biggest bands in the world when they signed on to write "A View To A Kill" in 1985. The Timothy Dalton movie is largely forgotten, but the song has become a 1980s classic. It's the only Bond song to hit Number One on the charts, and it is a regular part of the band's setlist to this day. The song also marked the last time the original five members of Duran Duran worked together for 16 years.

Duran Duran on the Songs That Inspire Them Foals frontman reveals five songs that have influenced his songwriting Shirley Bassey: Diamonds Are Forever “We listened to this one for inspiration, because we wanted to be part of that great tradition of classic Bond themes. What make this and other great Bond songs so special are the lush string elements, famously composed by John Barry. We felt very fortunate that Barry agreed to add a 60-piece orchestra arrangement to our song—it was the icing on the cake.” © AvengedS939 // YouTube Shirley Bassey: Goldfinger “Arguably the most important ingredient for a Bond song is a sense of drama and sexual potency. In order to achieve that, you need strong lyrics and an even stronger performance. No one has delivered these elements as impressively as Shirley Bassey on this track. It set the bar for Bond themes, because it has a sense of menace that encapsulates the 007 ethos perfectly.” © juanmurs // YouTube Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending “We also considered the kind of music Bond himself would enjoy.

There’s a line in Goldfinger where Sean Connery says that “drinking Dom Pérignon ’53 above the temperature of 38°F [is] as bad as listening to the Beatles without earmuffs,” so I think Bond’s a music snob. He’d rather listen to something grand and British like ‘The Lark Ascending,’ because of its beauty and drama.” © Richard Brittain // YouTube Peter Gabriel: No Self Control “When we recorded ‘A View to a Kill,’ Bond songs had stopped being momentous. Our challenge was to create a modern take on the 007 theme. Peter Gabriel’s hyper-modern drum sounds and recording technique were a big inspiration. We used synths to add sound effects to the song, which was a novelty, because at that time they were used in the Bond movies, but not in their themes.” © TheImplosiveduck // YouTube The Rolling Stones: Honky Tonk Women “Every good Bond theme needs a solid groove, so when we recorded ours at the legendary Maison Rouge Studios in London, we needed to find a good reference song for that purpose.

We eventually agreed on ‘Honky Tonk Women’ as our way to go, because of Charlie Watts’ rhythm track with that legendary cowbell intro. It’s so laid-back but still tight. It’s second to none.” A View to a Kill - Duran Duran | Song Info | AllMusic A View to a Kill google+ Song Review by Donald A. Guarisco It was a good sign of how internationally famous Duran Duran had become when they were asked to provide the theme song for the James Bond adventure A View to a Kill, an honor that placed them among a select rank of musicians that includes Tom Jones and Paul McCartney. The group rose to the task and, with a little help from series composer John Barry, produced one of the most successful themes ever spawned by this film series.

The lyrics of "A View to a Kill" capture the shady thrill of espionage in typically colorful Duran Duran terms with obtuse phrases like "The choice for you is the view to kill/Between the shades assassination standing still" and "Dance into the fire/To fatal sounds of broken dreams." The music achieves the dramatic feel necessary for an action film theme by juxtaposing languid, almost jazzy verse melodies with a dramatic chorus that is constantly ascending to heighten its tension. Duran Duran's recording of "A View to a Kill" mixes orchestral and electronic feels by presenting a mid-tempo rhythm section groove layered with synthesizers and soulful guitar riffs that is periodically spiked with angular horn riffs and swirling strings. The results were bracing stuff and gave the band a massive international hit whose success included number one peaks on the U.S. and U.K. charts. "A View to a Kill" also spawned one of the group's most memorable videos, a slick effort that featured the band cheekily satirizing the conventions of the Bond film.

Appears On Duran Duran on Sam Smith’s Bond Theme: “It’s not my favourite” « Radio.com Related: Spectres Release Alternative James Bond Theme for ‘Spectre’ Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon recently spoke to Gigwise about Smith’s theme. “I caught a little bit of [Smith’s song],” he said, “it’s not my favourite–I prefer ours.” Duran Duran recorded the theme song for the 1985 Bond film, A View To A Kill. Le Bon was quick to add that just because he wasn’t overly fond of Smith’s theme doesn’t mean he’s not a fan of the artist. “But he’s Sam Smith, he’s got a beautiful voice and I’m a big fan of him. I support him and what he stands for,” he said. When pressed about what makes a strong Bond theme, Le Bon answered, “I always think it needs something exciting, something surprising, something that shocks you a little bit. Whether it’s a chord change, a rhythmic shift or even a lyrical twist–a surprise is always a good thing.” Spectre hits theaters on October 26.

Duran Duran: 10 of the best | Music | The Guardian 10 of the best Duran Duran: 10 of the best Whatever the rock snobs thought at the time, Duran Duran were one of the great British singles bands of the 1980s. Don’t believe us? Have a listen Duran Duran … it all began with an opportunistic reference to “new romantic” in their first single, Planet Earth. Photograph: Gunter W Kienitz/Rex 1 Planet Earth Duran Duran emerged out of the state-funded art-school free-for-all of the 1970s, though their naked ambition and subsequent years of success would coincide with those of Margaret Thatcher; it’s difficult to imagine they could have existed at any other time. They were managed by the entrepreneurial Berrow brothers, owners of the Rum Runner nightclub in Birmingham, whose conviction that the five-piece would eventually hit the big time was such that Michael Berrow mortgaged his house to finance a tour with Hazel O’Connor. Their faith would be repaid handsomely as a bidding war broke out, with EMI emerging victorious.

The first signs of life came when Planet Earth was released in 1981, a gloriously catchy sci-fi adventure that owed a debt of gratitude to Japan’s Quiet Life, right down to the sequenced opening; it was the kind of homage that could have been brazened out had keyboard player Nick Rhodes not turned himself into a bleached clone of Japan’s David Sylvian. Dropping the words “new romantic” into the song earned the derision of their cooler Blitz-kid contemporaries in London, and bass player John Taylor admitted it was an “opportunistic” attempt to get their foot in the door (even if Rhodes later claimed it was sarcastic). The single peaked at No 12 in 1981, though Duran Duran were thinking bigger than a trendy club scene dominated by Spandau Ballet. They’d set their sights on the very thing they were singing about on their debut single. 2 Late Bar These days, boybands, for want of a better word, are normally militarily slick from the off, so it is a joy to behold the amateurishness of an inchoate Duran Duran.

At 6ft 2ins, Hertfordshire-born lead singer Simon Le Bon was an imposing figure, but styled in foppish collars and cuffs, he looked “more like a scrum-half who’d blundered into his mum’s washing line” according to one reviewer. What they had in spades though – aside from delectable cheekbones – were great songs, and tellingly Late Bar was tossed off as Planet Earth’s B-side, not even making the final cut of the band’s debut album. Lyrically, it deals with nothing much deeper than all-night parties in hotel rooms, but the tune is magnificent and draws you in, with Le Bon’s voice going from a deep insouciant croon to a deranged “la la la” in the chorus. It’s fair to say his vocal, and the band’s squelchy, angular attempts to emulate Chic, were works in progress, but the raw goods were all there from the beginning. And how they’d love to find a song of this quality down the back of the couch now.

3 Hungry Like the Wolf “I want to be David Bowie or Iggy Pop,” complained Robbie Williams once upon a time, before conceding he was more Norman Wisdom than anything else. Le Bon similarly wanted to emulate Jim Morrison; the problem was, that with his sailing, he was less Doorsy, more outdoorsy. That didn’t stop him getting his teeth into some mucky scenarios, like on Hungry Like the Wolf, a straightforward simile alluding to sexual appetite, taken from the second album, Rio. If Duran Duran were essentially an electronic band with a heavy rock guitarist bolted on, then Hungry Like the Wolf was the sound of the rockier elements within the camp winning (the battle rather than the war). It even resonated with the grunge generation, with Hole releasing a cover as the B-side of Doll Parts in 1994: “This is the best song ever written that you all pretend not to know,” drawled Courtney Love at the outset of the live recording. With its exciting Raiders of the Lost Ark-style video shot on location in Sri Lanka, it was one of the songs that helped break the band in the US, via the new video channel MTV.

The other was Girls on Film, a song apparently about exploitation in the fashion industry. Video directors Godley and Creme obviously didn’t get that memo, making a five-minute promo that bordered on soft pornography ; it became a surprise late-night hit across the States, inadvertently convincing Middle America these makeup-wearing limeys might not be homosexual after all. 4 Save a Prayer While record companies appeared to have money to burn in the 80s, they still weren’t sure how successful the video medium would be, and so the Durans were encouraged to make three promos for the price of one on their jaunt to Sri Lanka, according to Steve Malins’s Wild Boys: The Unauthorised Biography. It turned out to be a shrewd gamble, as video became a growth industry, and the band’s good looks, energy and extravagant budgets made them the poster boys for a whole new way of flogging music. Shot on a crepuscular evening and balmy afternoon, with panoramic vistas and Le Bon in rolled-up Antony Price trousers sitting pensively on the beach, it conveyed the message that being in Duran Duran was the best fun in the world, and being a fan of Duran Duran might be the second-best option.

Save a Prayer was the first ballad they released as a single, featuring an immediately identifiable yet mysterious, almost arabesque, musical ululation at the outset and throughout. The song went to No 2 in the UK and Ireland, and No 1 in France. It has also become synonymous with tragedy, with Le Bon dedicating it to Marvin Gaye during the filming of their concert film Arena (An Absurd Notion) in 1984, and to his friend Michael Hutchence in 1998. The song has held up splendidly well, while Rio’s much-feted other ballad, The Chauffeur , sounds inexplicably metallic and whiney three decades on, somehow pulling off the unwanted trick of being minimal and overproduced at the same time. 5 Union of the Snake If Rio had been the cohesive sound of an organic pop band at their collective peak, then the direction in which Duran Duran would move for their third album would cause ructions that would ultimately lead to a schism.

The recording of Seven and the Ragged Tiger on the Côte d’Azur was, by all accounts, slow and, for many, painful, with Rhodes and producer Alex Sadkin wresting the music towards the fastidiously electronic, giving a bored Andy Taylor nothing to do. The first track released from the album was Union of the Snake, and if it sounds obscenely expensive and overblown, that’s because it is. And what a belter it is, too. Roger Taylor, the most underrated member of Duran Duran, brought an irrepressible groove as its foundation, with the rest of the band building a whole city of instrumentation on top. It’s an ostentatious perfume commercial of a song that could only possibly be outdone by the Election Day 12-inch , from Rhodes and Le Bon’s side project Arcadia, 18 months later. Union of the Snake features a face-melting sax solo from Andy Hamilton that recalls the most unconscionable excesses of late Roxy Music, with a lyric that some interpreted to be about wanking (Le Bon’s lyrics throughout the album made it sound like he’d been at the fortune cookies).

Duran’s previous single, Is There Something I Should Know? , had entered the charts at No 1 earlier in the year – a remarkable achievement in the 80s – so peaking at No 3 with the first song from a new album would have beeen regarded as a relative flop then. But time has been kind: three decades on it sounds mesmeric. 6 New Moon on Monday The follow-up to Union of the Snake is one of the great underrated Duran singles. It only reached No 9 in the charts, which must have hurt them like parents expecting great things from a child who duly fails all their exams. As fashion obsessives and purveyors of slick art rock, Duran Duran were the natural heirs to Roxy Music, and a fascination with David Bowie was par for the course for a group of guys who looked like they’d walked out of a salon modelling his every tonsorial whim of the previous 10 years. Bowie had released the album Let’s Dance six months before Seven and the Ragged Tiger arrived, and New Moon on Monday is proof that they were listening.

As well as delivering a, by now customary, lacerating Le Bon chorus, the singer also quivers and croons seductively over a hypnotic beat in the verses, with some of the incidental keyboard lines lifted straight out of China Girl. The clean, crisp production of Bowie’s globe-straddling pop was presided over by an old hero of the Durans: Nile Rodgers, making a name for himself in the control booth also for Madonna and INXS. Rodgers would become a big player in the Duran Duran story. 7 The Reflex It’s a testament to how good Duran Duran’s singles were that this list is made up of nine A-sides and one B-side. They were a “singles band” in an era when 45s ruled, and it’s fair to say these songs stuck out like glittery diamonds in otherwise adequate diadems. The track the band wanted to release first from Seven and the Ragged Tiger was The Reflex, though their label bosses weren’t convinced the insistent “why-y-y-y” of the chorus was commercial enough.

Nile Rodgers – whom John and Andy Taylor had met while recording their spin-off album as the Power Station with Chic partner Bernard Edwards – was drafted in to sprinkle some of his pop magic over the track. There were now two opposing camps in Duran Duran – the electro fops and the rockers – which became apparent with contrasting albums from Arcadia and the Power Station. Roger Taylor was used on both projects, and the pressure would help precipitate his early exit. The label wasn’t overly keen on Rodgers’ Reflex remix, declaring it “too black” for radio, according to Rhodes. Rodgers brought out elements in the track that gave it a swagger and an ebullience. Duran Duran stuck to their guns, the single was released, and it became a universal smash and their biggest hit, going to No 1 on both sides of the Atlantic. Rodgers would go on to produce their next single, Wild Boys, and their follow-up album, Notorious, though if that implies a steadying of the ship, then you couldn’t be more mistaken. HMS Duran was sailing in choppy waters and there would be men overboard.

8 A View to a Kill Writing a James Bond theme isn’t as easy as it looks, as Madonna proved with Die Another Day in 2002 – though to be fair she had Mirwais to write with, whereas Duran Duran had John Barry. Barry and the Durans apparently hated each other, though they managed to sit at the piano together long enough to achieve a Golden Globe for best original song and take a 007 theme to the top of the US charts for the first and only time. It stands as a triumph over adversity, like so much of what Duran Duran did in the mid-80s, and A View to a Kill joins a select bunch of truly great Bond songs. It had all come about when a drunken John Taylor had approached Bond film producer Cubby Broccoli at a party and asked him when he was going to get “someone decent” to record the theme song. Taylor’s manifesto from the start had been to attain “cars, girls and money”, so recording a Bond theme was in keeping. Roger Taylor walked out not long after the single came out, in an amicable departure. Andy Taylor soon followed, though his parting would be far more acrimonious.

9 Skin Trade The seven were three by 1986 – the Berrow brothers had been dispensed with, too – and the ragged tiger looked more like a cringing cat to outsiders. With backs to the wall, the band set about making a more mature funk record with Nile Rodgers. Rodgers has said the sessions were a bit of a blur, but the coke bloat hadn’t set in yet musically. Their fourth album, Notorious, is bursting with ideas, with the title track a stunning riposte to naysayers who assumed Duran Duran were now finished. Even better is Skin Trade, a track with a title taken from the unfinished Dylan Thomas novel, Adventures in the Skin Trade, that John Taylor was reading at the time. It’s a slinky, self-assured four-minute funk groove with a comely falsetto in the verses, marrying Prince with a lyric about prostituting oneself, literally and figuratively. Expectations had been lowered, but nobody had prepared for it to peak at No 22 in the UK charts and barely scrape into the Billboard top 50, a catastrophe for a band who had dominated the charts in the previous five years.

Duran Duran were growing up and so were their audience, but they weren’t growing up together, they were growing apart, and the latter were moving on. 10 Come Undone As the 80s became the 90s, Duran Duran weren’t only skint, they were artistically bankrupt, too. The Decade compilation album scored well, but either side of that came studio albums Big Thing and Liberty, whose names were both cases of wishful thinking more than anything else. With the band on the ropes and devoid of ideas, their replacement guitarist Warren Cuccurullo took it upon himself to provide some much-needed direction. Then, in 1993, things clicked back into place. Suddenly, for a while at least, it was as if a renascent Duran Duran had never been in the wilderness. First came Ordinary World , one of Le Bon’s most wistful and cohesive lyrics, performed confidently over what is essentially a well-produced power ballad. It stormed up the charts everywhere, and the following year Le Bon even found himself singing it alongside Luciano Pavarotti at a benefit concert for the War Child charity.

Ordinary World proved to be no fluke, with follow-up Come Undone pushing its way to No 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. Come Undone is Ordinary World’s cooler, brooding, nonchalant younger brother, armed with a flanger pedal and an irresistible rhythm track. It’s also unusual in that the backing vocals by Tessa Niles almost make it a duet, with the two voices creating a sultry, yearning intensity. This musical petite mort almost proved to be a career climax as well. Duran Duran have seen plenty of lows since: their reasonably decent 1997 album Medazzaland performed so badly in the US that the record company decided not to release it in Europe. And highs, too: 2004’s full reformation with the definitive lineup briefly incited Duraniemania all over again. Shorn of Andy Taylor once again, the four have stepped back into the studio with an on-form Mark Ronson and their old comrade Nile Rodgers on hand to help out. It would be nice for all concerned if they could perform one more earth-shaking resuscitation.

A View To A Kill by Duran Duran (14th James Bond 007 movie) - YouTube A View To A Kill by Duran Duran (14th James Bond 007 movie) Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on May 22, 2009 This song made it to #1 on the U.S. Charts in 1985 and it is so far the most popular james bond song. It was also the last song recorded by Duran Duran. Movie poster with Roger Moore on it. Category James Bond | Duran Duran Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Edit The films have grossed just over US$ 5 billion at the worldwide box office, being the second most-successful film series ever . In addition, there are two independent productions and an American television adaptation of the first novel. Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman co-produced the EON films until 1975, when Broccoli became the sole producer.

Since 1995, Broccoli's daughter Barbara and stepson Michael G. Wilson have co-produced them. Six actors have portrayed 007 in the official EON series so far (not counting stunt doubles, authorised video game voiceovers, etc.) Broccoli's (and until 1975, Saltzman's) family company, Danjaq , has held ownership of the James Bond film series through EON, and maintained co-ownership with United Artists since the mid-1970s. From the release of Dr. No (1962) up to For Your Eyes Only (1981), the films were distributed solely by UA. When Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer bought UA in 1981, MGM/UA Entertainment Co. was formed and distributed the films until 1995. MGM solely distributed three films from 1997 to 2002 after UA retired as a mainstream studio. From 2006 to present MGM and Columbia Pictures co-distribute the franchise , as Columbia's parent company, Sony Pictures Entertainment , (in a consortium including Sony, Comcast, TPG Capital, L.P.

and Providence Equity Partners) bought MGM in 2005. Development Edit Previous attempts to adapt the James Bond novels resulted in a 1954 television episode of Climax! , based on the first novel, Casino Royale , and starring American actor Barry Nelson as "Jimmy Bond". Ian Fleming desired to go one step further and approached Alexander Korda to make a film adaptation of either Live and Let Die or Moonraker , but Korda was not interested. On 1 October 1959, it was announced that Fleming would write an original film script featuring Bond for producer Kevin McClory . Jack Whittingham also worked on the script. However, Alfred Hitchcock and Richard Burton turned down roles as director and star respectively. [4 ] McClory was unable to secure the financing for the film, and the deal fell through. Fleming used the story for his novel Thunderball (1961). In 1959, producer Albert R. Broccoli expressed interest in adapting the Bond novels, but his colleague Irving Allen was unenthusiastic. In 1961, Broccoli, now partnered with Harry Saltzman , purchased the film rights to all the Bond novels (except Casino Royale) from Fleming.

However, numerous Hollywood film studios did not want to fund the films, finding it "too British" or "too blatantly sexual". The producers wanted US$1 million to either adapt Thunderball or Dr. No , and reached a deal with United Artists in July 1961. The two producers set up EON Productions and began production of Dr. No . Sean Connery (1962–1967) Edit A contest was set up to 'find James Bond', and six finalists were chosen and screen-tested by Broccoli, Saltzman, and Fleming. The winner of the contest was a 28-year-old model named Peter Anthony, who, according to Broccoli, had a Gregory Peck quality, but proved unable to cope with the role. The producers turned to Sean Connery , who ended up playing Bond for five consecutive films (and more subsequently). According to one story, Connery had been suggested by Polish director Ben Fisz, a friend of Saltzman. Saltzman viewed Connery in On the Fiddle (also called "Operation Snafu"), the actor's eleventh film.

By other accounts, Broccoli first saw Connery in a screening of Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959). Connery had worked as a milkman, truck driver, bricklayer, coffin polisher, and life guard, among other jobs, before getting a break as a dancer in the chorus line of South Pacific in 1950. Broccoli and Fleming were cool on Connery, but accepted him after rejecting Richard Johnson , James Mason , Rex Harrison , David Niven , Trevor Howard , Patrick McGoohan , and Broccoli's friend Cary Grant . As Broccoli later said, "I wanted a ballsy guy…Put a bit of veneer over that tough Scottish hide and you've got Fleming's Bond instead of all the mincing poofs we had applying for the job". (Ironically, the rejected David Niven would play an aging Bond in the 1967 parody of Casino Royale in just that mincing way.) Already balding, Connery wore a toupee in all his Bond films. Connery stated that "the character is not really me, after all". Ian Fleming, after seeing the preview screening of the first film, Dr.

No, told his research assistant, "Dreadful. Simply dreadful." [11 ] Dr. No received mixed reviews, some quite hostile, and even received a rebuke by the Vatican. Fleming eventually warmed up to Connery sufficiently to establish a Scottish ancestry for Bond in the late novels. The role of Dr. No went to Joseph Wiseman , who had played a similar character in a The Twilight Zone episode One More Pallbearer , after Noel Coward , Christopher Lee , and Max von Sydow were suggested. (Both Lee and Sydow played Bond villains later.) With just two weeks to go before filming, the part of the first principal Bond girl, Honey Ryder , had yet to be cast. Director Young had seen a picture of Swiss-born actress Ursula Andress , then wife of John Derek , when visiting Darryl F. Zanuck over at Fox, and he borrowed the photo and showed it to the producers, who quickly approved the deal. On the next film, From Russia with Love , the producers doubled the budget, and shot locales in Europe, which had turned out to be the more profitable market for Dr. No.

Much of the team from the first film returne The film was the first to feature the pre-title sequence and the first to feature Desmond Llewelyn as Major Boothroyd, now called the Equipment Officer, who finally becomes Q in the third film. Llewelyn appears in a total of seventeen Bond films, the most for any actor playing the same role. The final confrontation between Bond and assassin Donald Grant ( Robert Shaw ) takes place on the Orient Express and Bond owes his life to Major Boothroyd's deadly attaché case. It is also the second and last film to feature the role of Sylvia Trench, who was supposed to continue through the series as Bond's somewhat regular bed partner between assignments. The violence of the second film was decidedly pumped up from the previous film, with more than double the homicides. Adding to the appeal of mounting the picture, From Russia with Love was also cited by President John F. Kennedy as one of his ten favourite books. It was likely the last film Kennedy saw before his death.

Some critics still resisted the Bond allure on the second Connery film, branding From Russia with Love "a movie made for kicks", but audiences loved it and some critics raved, such as Bosley Crowther who proclaimed "Don't Miss It!".It is the first of the series to have virtually all the elements that appear throughout the series. For the next film, Goldfinger , Guy Hamilton took over as director from Terence Young, putting more humour into Bond's character and more double entendres on the table. For the important role of Pussy Galore, Honor Blackman was lured away from her role on the Avengers television series, which later offered up Diana Rigg as well. [26 ] For Auric Goldfinger, Theodore Bikel was considered but the role went to Gert Fröbe , a well-known actor in Europe, whose heavy accent required that his voice be dubbed. Goldfinger is the most noted Bond film by popular culture. The use of a menacing laser, newly invented just years before and not widely known to the public, was a cutting edge demonstration of real technology, and a set-up to perhaps one of the most memorable lines of the Bond films: BOND: Do you expect me to talk?

GOLDFINGER: No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die! The premiere in the UK created a near riot. In America, it became the fastest-grossing film ever to date. It was the first Bond film to win an Oscar (category: Best Effects, Sound Effects). Ian Fleming died before getting to see the film. By 1961, the Fleming Thunderball novel had become the biggest hit in the Bond novel series and was the project that re-attracted Cubby Broccoli to consider producing Bond projects in 1961 — most rights to which Harry Salzman held, for he had acquired an option to the most of the Bond movie rights — with the notable exception for Thunderball, which was turned into a script in that year which became the center of a legal dispute between screenwriters and Fleming. Consequently the production of the fourth Bond film by EON, Thunderball , was delayed by those legal disputes between writers. In a court case, McClory sued Fleming, because Fleming had used Thunderball's story and characters without permission. He won the film rights to Thunderball, so when Broccoli and Saltzman made Thunderball, it was a co-production with McClory.

Part of the deal they made ensured McClory was unable to make Thunderball into a film for ten years. Apart from Connery, the principal parts were hotly contested. For the lead Bond girl, Domino, a slew of top female actresses were considered including Raquel Welch , Julie Christie , and Faye Dunaway but the role went to former Miss France Claudine Auger . Always with an eye toward European audiences, the producers gave the part of supervillain Emilio Largo to popular Italian actor Adolfo Celi. [32 ] Connery was eager to start but admitted in a pre-production interview that "My only grumble about the Bond films is that they don't tax one as an actor. All one needs is the constitution of a rugby player to get through 18 weeks of swimming, slugging, and necking…I'd like to see someone else tackle Bond." Connery would later state that Thunderball was his personal favourite performance as Bond (though in later statements, he claims that his favourite is From Russia with Love). Thunderball was the most successful Bond film to date, based on total box office, earning nearly $US1 billion (inflation-adjusted to 2008 US dollars).

It also inspired other spy films of the 1960s, including the " Harry Palmer " trilogy featuring Michael Caine , the " Derek Flint " series with James Coburn , the " Matt Helm " series with Dean Martin . For the fifth Bond film with Connery, You Only Live Twice , Bond comes face-to-face for the first time with arch-nemesis Blofeld (played by Donald Pleasance ) Number One in SPECTRE, the world's most powerful criminal organization. The title comes from a pseudo- haiku written by Fleming in the book, "You only live twice/Once when you're born/And once when you look death in the face." The Bond films are hugely popular in Japan and when the crew arrived for shooting, they were treated exuberantly. Connery, however, was somewhat resigned to the project, lacking the enthusiasm he sported for Thunderball. Glimpses of Japanese culture were progressive (again a smart bow to Asian audiences by the producers) and the martial arts and ninja sequences novel for the time.

You Only Live Twice is the very first James Bond film to jettison the plot premise of the Fleming source material, although the film retains the title, setting the plot entirely in Japan, the use of Blofeld as the main villain and a Bond girl named Kissy Suzuki — the backplot, plot and narrative were entirely screenwriter creations, and based in part on having already scouted locations such as Ninja castles and the volcanic mountains. This would be common during the Roger Moore era, but this is the only Connery film to do so this radically, as the series began to grow beyond Fleming, who soon passed away in any event. After You Only Live Twice, and despite the posters boasting that "Sean Connery is James Bond", Connery announced that it was his last film as Bond. The producers had no desire to give up the series. He was then replaced by George Lazenby , who starred in On Her Majesty's Secret Service . George Lazenby (1969) Edit Australian model George Lazenby became the new 007 in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969). Timothy Dalton , a later Bond, declined: he claimed he was too young for the role.

Lazenby had little acting experience beyond a series of chocolate advertisements. His screen tests were satisfactory, and he was offered a contract for seven films. However, convinced by his agent that the secret agent would be archaic in the 1970s, Lazenby left the series after one film. Lazenby's reviews were generally underwhelming. Many felt that he was physically convincing but looks foolish in his many loud costume changes and delivers his lines poorly.. The film also featured the only breaking of the " fourth wall " in the official EON-produced Bond series. (This also occurs in the unofficial film Never Say Never Again (1983) when Sean Connery winks to the audience). In the pre-credit teaser Lazenby cracks, in reference to Connery's Bond: "This never happened to the other fellow." In On Her Majesty's Secret Service, a conscious attempt was made to establish continuity with previous Bond films by showing scenes from several previous Bond films during the title sequence. Furthermore, when Bond is packing up items in his office, several mementos of previous cases, such as the breathing device from Thunderball, are shown, while the score plays musical motifs from those previous films.

Sean Connery's return (1971) Edit After Lazenby turned down Diamonds Are Forever ( 1971 ), the producers decided to return to the formula of Goldfinger. Director Guy Hamilton returned, as well as the regular cast. John Gavin was offered the role of Bond and accepted, but the producers were simultaneously attempting to bring Sean Connery back to the role. To clinch the deal, Connery received a remarkable contract: a record US$1.25 million salary, plus 12.5 percent of the gross profits, and an additional US$145,000 per week overtime if filming extended beyond 18 weeks. Connery admitted, "I was really bribed back into it...But it served my purpose...Playing James Bond again is still enjoyable." The original idea was to bring back Auric Goldfinger for a sequel, but that was abandoned. In Fleming's novels, Bond attempts to get revenge for the death of his wife in On Her Majesty's Secret Service in You Only Live Twice .

But since the latter had been filmed prior to the former, Blofeld (played by English actor Charles Gray ) is put into the story of Diamonds Are Forever to give Bond an opportunity to give Blofeld his comeuppance. This results in expanding Fleming's "Blofeld trilogy" into a tetralogy. Connery returned to the role 12 years later in Never Say Never Again . For more see Non EON-series column below. Roger Moore (1973–1985) Edit In early 1972, the search for Connery's replacement began. Jeremy Brett , Michael Billington , and Julian Glover (who would later play Aristotle Kristatos in For Your Eyes Only ) were considered for the next film in the series, Live and Let Die (1973), with the forty-five year old Roger Moore getting the nod. [1] Moore would become the longest-serving Bond, spending twelve years in the role and making seven official films. [47 ] [48 ] Moore tried not to imitate either Sean Connery or his performance as Simon Templar in The Saint , and depicted Bond in a more light-hearted and comedic way .

In sharp contrast to the way Lazenby was introduced, the first two Moore films actually avoided common Bond film motifs, having him smoke cigars instead of cigarettes, and drink a bourbon instead of a martini. One critic noted, "Roger Moore has none of the gravitas of Sean Connery…he does fit slickly into the director's presentation of Bond as a lethal comedian". Moore's second film, The Man with the Golden Gun , was a box office disappointment, and Broccoli was determined not to be upstaged. Roger Moore's third film, The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), became a turning point for the series in two ways: it was the first film produced by Broccoli alone, as Harry Saltzman was forced to sell his half of the Bond film franchise in 1975 for twenty million pounds following huge debts; and also the first to include a completely original storyline, as Ian Fleming had given permission to use only the title of the novel . Moore's fourth film, Moonraker , was the last Bond film to use the title of a Fleming novel until 2006's Casino Royale.

The next two films, For Your Eyes Only and Octoxxxxy, used both of the titles of Bond short story anthologies and each incorporated material from multiple stories in those anthologies. The film Octoxxxxxy can be read as a sequel to Fleming's short story of the same name. Moore showed interest in departing the series after 1981's For Your Eyes Only, and a string of younger actors, including James Brolin , Oliver Tobias , and Michael Billington , screen-tested for the part. However, EON eventually persuaded him to return in 1983's Octoxxxxy, due to the non-EON Bond film, Never Say Never Again, being released in the same year. Because he was rather old for the required action and the demands of the character (Moore was 55 at the time), stunt doubles were employed often (over a hundred stuntmen in total), and only the close-ups are surely Moore. Moore would only regret his last film, A View to a Kill (1985), which was poorly received by critics. In undertaking the challenge of creating his own version of Bond, Moore merged some of the characteristics of his role in his series The Saint with the Bond persona.

Critics thought this Bond more of a charmer, more debonair, more calculating, and more casually lascivious in a somewhat detached but amused manner. He appears just as strong physically as Connery (at least in the early pictures), but not quite as graceful in action. Moore's adaptation applied more fantasy and humour than other Bonds. The series managed to stay afloat by adding contemporary material and new characters to shore up the dated Fleming plots. Timothy Dalton (1987–1994) Edit Timothy Dalton had been considered to replace Sean Connery in 1968, but he walked away from his screen test feeling, at the age of 22, that he was too young for the role. 12 years later, Dalton was approached again to possibly replace Roger Moore in For Your Eyes Only but the producers did not have a script and he feared being asked to do a Spy Who Loved Me/Moonraker type of film which "Weren't my idea of Bond films." Dalton was the first actor to be offered The Living Daylights but initially had to turn it down as the original shooting date clashed with commitments on the film Brenda Starr .

Pierce Brosnan was then cast, but when his cancelled television show Remington Steele was renewed in 1986, he was prevented from continuing. Several actors were screen-tested, including Sam Neill and Lewis Collins , before Dalton was offered a revised production date which he was able to accommodate, and no sooner than he wrapped shooting on Brenda Starr than Dalton found himself in the shoulder holster for The Living Daylights. Best known for his stage and television roles and trained in the British Shakespearean tradition, Dalton's Bond differs noticeably from his predecessors. The Guardian remarked, "Dalton hasn't the natural authority of Connery nor the facile charm of Moore, but Lazenby he is not." The film returned to "realism" and a more credible plot, with less fantasy and gratuitous humour. To save on production costs and taxes, Eon decided to shoot the next Bond film, Licence to Kill , in Mexico rather than at Pinewood Studios in the UK. The film's darker and more violent plot elicited calls for cuts by the British Board of Film Classification.

Licence to Kill is the first Bond film by EON to not use the title of any Fleming novel or short story (although it uses material from the Fleming short story " The Hildebrand Rarity " and novel Live and Let Die ). It and subsequent Bond films were novelised. Reviews for the film were mixed. With box office admissions close to that of The Man with the Golden Gun, the worst attended Bond film to date, some thought that replacing the basic style and elegance of a Bond film with "realism" was a mistake. In 1989, the same year of Dalton's second and last appearance, MGM/UA was sold to the Australian based broadcasting group Quintex, which wanted to merge the company with Pathé . Danjaq, the Swiss based parent company of EON, sued MGM/UA because the Bond back catalogue was being licensed to Pathé, who intended to broadcast the series on television in several countries worldwide without the approval of Danjaq. These legal disputes engendered a six-year hiatus in the series. Nonetheless, official pre-production of another film began in May 1990, for release in late 1991.

Generic promotional materials for "Bond 17" were unveiled at the Cannes Film Festival at around the same time. A detailed story draft, widely available online and spread over 17 pages, was written by Alfonso Ruggiero Jr. and Michael G. Wilson . The ' Imagineering ' division of Walt Disney Studios were also involved in the film's development at some point, specifically in the development of the high-tech robots prominent in that early treatment. Owing to the legal disputes, the production of Dalton's third film was postponed several times. In an interview in 1993, Timothy Dalton said that Michael France was writing the story for the film, which was due to begin production in January or February 1994. It never began and in April 1994, Dalton resigned from the role.

Pierce Brosnan (1995–2004) Edit To replace Dalton, the producers cast Pierce Brosnan , whom they had met on the set of For Your Eyes Only when he came to visit his wife, Cassandra Harris (who had a small part as Countess Lisl von Schlaf), but had been prevented from taking over the role from Roger Moore in 1985 because of his contract for Remington Steele . By then, the world had changed drastically and Brosnan had gone through changes as well. Shortly after Remington Steele was cancelled in 1987, Brosnan's wife was diagnosed with cancer and he cared for her until she died in 1991. In the next three years he worked only occasionally, so by 1994 he was ready to take on the Bond role. He stated his hopes for remaking Bond: "I would like to see what is beneath the surface of this man, what drives him on, what makes him a killer. I think we will peel back the onion skin, as it were".

He also relished the fact that Goldfinger was the first film he had ever seen and now he would get to play Bond, "Little did I think I would be playing the role someday." Although little attention had been paid in the past to the Scottish background of Connery, Lazenby's Australian background, or the Welsh ancestry of Timothy Dalton, some British fans thought there was something odd about an Irishman playing Bond, and some referred to Pierce Brosnan as "James O'Bond". The new Bond smokes cigars and he favours Italian-made suits. More importantly, Brosnan's GoldenEye was the first film of the series to be produced since the disintegration of the Soviet Union. This cast doubt over whether Bond was still relevant in the modern world, as many of the previous films pitted him against Soviet adversaries. Gone is state-sponsored crime, now replaced by Russian mobs and gangsters. Another major change was casting Judi Dench as M, reflecting that MI5 (the UK Security Service) was now headed by a female, Dame Stella Rimington . Actress Samantha Bond was cast as Miss Moneypenny .

Some of the film industry felt that it would be "futile" to make a comeback for the Bond series, and that it was best left as "an icon of the past". However, when released, the film was viewed as a successful revivification that effectively adapted the series for the 1990s. The film had the highest admissions since Connery's You Only Live Twice. Tom Shone commented, "Brosnan shares none of Connery's virtues but has also been careful to avoid Moore's vices. It doesn't give him much room for maneuver, but then maneuvering in tight corners is the one thing Brosnan is quite good at." Another critic stated, "The film is located precisely on the cusp between fantasy and near reality. For the first time in a Bond film there is something that could be called emotion." And another, "Bond is back with a bang." After the triumph of GoldenEye, there was pressure to recreate success in its follow-up, Tomorrow Never Dies , also at MGM . The studio had recently been sold to billionaire Kirk Kerkorian , who wanted the release to coincide with their public stock offering, and the worldwide audience. Co-producer Michael G.

Wilson said, "You realise that there's a huge audience and I guess you don't want to come out with a film that's going to somehow disappoint them." The rush to complete it meant the budget spiralled to around $US110 million. Most of the locales were in Asia. Breaking completely with Fleming, with no direct references to the novels, the plot is nevertheless reminiscent of The Spy Who Loved Me. The incorporation of stealth technology and cruise missiles makes the story somewhat up-to-date. Brosnan portrayed Bond in two more films, The World Is Not Enough (1999) and Die Another Day (2002), and a video game, Everything or Nothing , before it was announced by EON that Brosnan was no longer required as the film series was about to be rebooted and the search for a new 007 (eventually Daniel Craig) was on. Though strong in its action scenes, production values, and acting, some critics found the final two Brosnan films to be too hyperkinetic with little time to savour the characters. Following the success of GoldenEye, Kevin McClory also attempted to remake Thunderball again as Warhead 2000.

Liam Neeson and Timothy Dalton were considered for 007, while Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin were developing the film at Sony Pictures . MGM launched a $US25 million lawsuit against Sony, and McClory claimed a portion of the $US3 billion profits from the Bond series. Sony backed down after a prolonged lawsuit, and McClory gave up. In exchange, MGM paid $US10 million for the rights to Casino Royale, which had come into Sony's possession after its acquisition of the companies behind Climax! years before. Daniel Craig (2006–present) Edit Pierce Brosnan had originally signed a deal for three films, with an option for a fourth, when he was cast in the role of James Bond. This was fulfilled with the production of Die Another Day in 2002. However, at this stage Brosnan was approaching his 50th birthday, and speculation began that the producers were seeking to replace him with a younger actor. Brosnan kept in mind that both aficionados and critics were unhappy with Roger Moore playing the role until he was 58, but he was receiving popular support from both critics and the franchise fanbase for a fifth instalment.

For this reason, he remained enthusiastic about reprising his role. Throughout 2004, it was rumoured that negotiations had broken down between Brosnan and the producers to make way for a new and younger actor. This was denied by MGM and EON Productions. In July 2004, Brosnan announced that he was quitting the role, stating "Bond is another lifetime, behind me"; this is thought by some to be a failed negotiating ploy. Casting involved a widespread search for a new actor to portray James Bond, despite Brosnan having proven to be a very popular Bond. Throughout 2004 and 2005, a whole legion of potential new actors to portray James Bond were speculated on by the media, ranging from established Hollywood actors, such as Eric Bana , Hugh Jackman , James Purefoy , Goran Višnjić , Julian McMahon , Gerard Butler , and Clive Owen , to many unknown actors from a number of different countries, including Sam Worthington , Alex O'Loughlin , and Rupert Friend . [81 ] At one point producer Michael G. Wilson claimed there was a list of over 200 names being considered.

English actor Colin Salmon , who had played the role of MI6 operative Charles Robinson in earlier Bond films alongside Pierce Brosnan, was also considered for the role and raised speculation that he might become the first black Bond. According to Martin Campbell , however, Henry Cavill was the only actor in serious contention for the role. But being only 22-years-old at the time, he was considered too young. In May 2005, Daniel Craig announced that Sony & MGM and producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli had assured him that he would get the role of Bond, but EON Productions at that point had not yet approached him. Later, Craig stated that the producers had indeed offered him the role, but he had declined until a script was available for him to read. Bolstered by the success of Universal Pictures ’ rival Jason Bourne franchise (as well as Warner Bros.

’ reboot of the Batman franchise with Batman Begins ), the decision was made at MGM and EON to "bring Bond back to his roots" by eliminating the increasingly silly gadgets and outlandish fantasy elements that had begun to define the series, and introducing a tougher, darker, and more realistic Bond that was more in line with the Bond of Ian Fleming's original novels than with any of his previous screen incarnations. Thus, the 21st Bond film, Casino Royale (2006), in addition to being the first film adaptation of a Fleming novel since 1974's The Man with the Golden Gun, was to be a reboot of the franchise, establishing a new timeline and narrative framework not meant to precede any previous film. This not only freed the Bond franchise from more than forty years of continuity, but allowed the film to show a less experienced and more vulnerable Bond. As with the previous introductions of new Bonds, the film provided the opportunity to remove production excesses and to get back to basics. By August 2005, speculation was high that the then 37-year-old Daniel Craig was being seriously considered, although full casting for the role was not actually done until September.

Then, on 14 October 2005, EON Productions and Sony Pictures Entertainment confirmed to the public at a press conference in London that Daniel Craig, who would soon become one of the stars of Steven Spielberg 's Munich , would be the sixth actor to portray James Bond. Significant controversy followed the decision, as it was doubted if the producers had made the right choice. Throughout the entire production period Internet campaigns such as danielcraigisnotbond.com expressed their dissatisfaction and threatened to boycott the film in protest. Craig, unlike previous actors, was not considered by the protesters to fit the tall, dark, handsome and charismatic image of Bond to which viewers had been accustomed. The Daily Mirror ran a front page news story critical of Craig, with the headline, The Name's Bland — James Bland. However, reviews for Casino Royale were favourable and the film became the highest grossing of the series. Roger Ebert commented, "Daniel Craig makes a superb Bond: leaner, more taciturn, less sex-obsessed, able to be hurt in body and soul, not giving a damn if his martini is shaken or stirred." As production of Casino Royale reached its conclusion, producers Michael G.

Wilson and Barbara Broccoli announced that pre-production work had already begun on the 22nd Bond film. After several months of speculation as to the release date, Wilson and Broccoli officially announced on 20 July 2006 that the follow-up film, Quantum of Solace , would be released on 2 May 2008 and that Craig had been signed to play Bond, with an option for a third film Quantum of Solace was eventually released on 31 October 2008 in the UK and 14 November 2008 in North America, changed from its original release date of 7 November 2008 after Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was pushed back to summer 2009. Upon its opening in the UK, it grossed £4.9 million, breaking the record for the largest Friday opening (31 October 2008) in the UK. The film then broke the UK opening weekend record, taking £15.5 million in its first weekend, surpassing the previous record of £14.9 million held by Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

The film grossed $ 27 million on its opening day in 3,451 theatres in Canada and the United States . It was the #1 film for the weekend, with $US67.5 million and $US19,568 average per theatre. It was the highest-grossing opening weekend Bond film in the US and Canada, and tied with The Incredibles for the biggest November opening outside of the Harry Potter series. Columbia Pictures co-financed and distributed Craig's first two films because they bought MGM in 2005. However, MGM chose to cease the distribution deal with Columbia following the success of Casino Royale (for which Columbia provided 75% of the budget). In the agreement, Columbia chose to finance one more Bond film, Quantum of Solace. Duran Duran Duran Duran co-wrote and performed the 1985 movie theme " A View To A Kill ". During The Summer Tour in 2009 the band played a medley of James Bond songs, which included a performance at the Edinburgh Castle Concert . John Taylor once went out with James Bond actress Janine Andrews, who appeared in the 1983 Octopussy movie.

Film list Duran Duran - The music of James Bond - Pictures - CBS News The music of James Bond Next Shirley Bassey Welsh singer Shirley Bassey has sung the most Bond theme songs, beginning with "Goldfinger," a pop hit in 1964. She also sang "Diamonds Are Forever" (1971) and "Moonraker" (1979). Photo: Singer Dame Shirley Bassey performs on stage during the Diamond Jubilee concert at Buckingham Palace on June 4, 2012, in London. Credit: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Tom Jones Tom Jones sang the theme for "Thunderball" in 1965, the same year he burst onto the music scene with his signature hit, "It's Not Unusual," and won a Grammy as best new artist. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II on March 29, 2006. Photo: Tom Jones performs on the Virgin Media Stage during the V Festival at Hylands Park on Aug. 19, 2012, in Chelmsford, England.

Credit: Samir Hussein/Getty Images Nancy Sinatra Sixties pop icon Nancy Sinatra sang the theme for the 1967 film "You Only Live Twice." Photo: Actress/singer Nancy Sinatra arrives at the 12th Annual Costume Designers Guild Awards at The Beverly Hilton hotel on Feb. 25, 2010, in Beverly Hills, Calif. Credit: Jason Merritt/Getty Images Paul McCartney and Wings Paul McCartney had a Top 10 hit with the theme song for "Live and Let Die" (1973). Photo: Paul McCartney performs at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 12, 2012, in Los Angeles. Credit: Getty Lulu Scottish singer, actress, and television personality Lulu performed the title theme for "The Man with the Golden Gun" (1974). Photo: Lulu arrives at the "Strictly Come Dancing" press launch at BBC Television Center on Sept. 7, 2011, in London.

Credit: Chris Jackson/Getty Images Carly Simon Carly Simon had a huge hit with the Marvin Hamlisch-penned "Nobody Does It Better" for the 1977 film "The Spy Who Loved Me." It was the first Bond song that had a different title than the movie, but the words "the spy who loved me" are in the song's lyrics. Photo: Carly Simon attends the "You're So Vain" after-party during the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival at 1 Oak on April 29, 2010, in New York. Credit: Joe Corrigan/Getty Images Sheena Easton Sheena Easton sang the Oscar-nominated title song for "For Your Eyes Only" (1981). The Scottish-born singer is the only Bond artist to be seen singing the title song during the opening credits. Photo: Sheena Easton performs at the grand opening of the Chaum Center on Oct. 27, 2010, in Seoul, South Korea. Credit: Chris Weeks/Getty Images Duran Duran Duran Duran had a No. 1 hit with the title song for "A View to a Kill" (1985).

It remains the only James Bond theme song to have reached the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Photo: From left, Jon Taylor, Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes and Roger Taylor of the musical group Duran Duran arrive at the "South Park" 15th Anniversary Party at The Barker Hanger on Sept. 20, 2011, in Santa Monica, Calif. Credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images Gladys Knight Motown legend Gladys Knight performed the title song for "License to Kill" in 1989. Photo: Gladys Knight arrives at the 2012 Billboard Music Awards held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 20, 2012, in Las Vegas. Credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images Tina Turner U2's Bono and The Edge wrote the main title song for 1995's "Goldeneye," sung by Tina Turner. Photo: Tina Turner attends the Emporio Armani show during Milan Fashion Week on Feb. 26, 2011, in Milan, Italy.

Credit: Vittorio Zunino Celotto Sheryl Crow The main title song for "Tomorrow Never Dies" (1997) was performed by Sheryl Crow, who co-wrote it with Mitchell Froom. Photo: Sheryl Crow performs during the Stagecoach Country Music Festival held at the Empire Polo Field on April 29, 2012, in Indio, Calif. Credit: AP Photo/Matt Sayles Garbage Alternative pop/rock band Garbage sang the title song for "The World Is Not Enough" (1999). Photo: Shirley Manson of Garbage performs onstage at the MTV World Stage Monterrey Mexico 2012 at Arena Monterrey on Sept. 12, 2012, in Monterrey, Mexico. Credit: Victor Chavez/Getty Images Madonna Madonna's title track for "Die Another Day" (2002) was a Top 10 single in the United States and No. 1 in several other countries. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for best original song. Photo: Madonna performs on stage in Nice, France, on Aug. 21, 2012.

Credit: AP Photo Chris Cornell Chris Cornell performed the title song for "Casino Royale" (2006), titled "You Know My Name." The former Audioslave frontman co-wrote the track with David Arnold, the soundtrack's composer. Photo: Chris Cornell performs live during the first day of Hard Rock Calling at Hyde Park on July 13, 2012, in London. Credit: Jim Dyson/Getty Images Jack White and Alicia Keys The first duet in the Bond series came from Jack White and Alicia Keys, who performed "Another Way to Die," the theme from "Quantum of Solace" (2008). Photos: Jack White performs at Eurockeennes Music Festival on July 1, 2012, in Belfort, France (left). Alicia Keys performs during the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards on Sept. 6, 2012, in Los Angeles (right). Credit: Getty Images Adele Adele has confirmed that she has co-written and performed the theme for the film "Skyfall" (2012).

This is the first Bond theme to have the same title as the film since Madonna's "Die Another Day" in 2002. Photo: Adele performs at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards held on Feb. 12, 2012, in Los Angeles. Credit: Getty Sam Smith Singer Sam Smith recorded "Writing's On The Wall," the theme song to 2015's "Spectre," the 24th James Bond adventure, starring Daniel Craig. It's the first James Bond theme song recorded by a British male solo artist since 1965. "This is one of the highlights of my career," Smith said. Photo: Sam Smith performs "Stay With Me" during the 57th annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 8, 2015, in Los Angeles.

Credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images The 10 best James Bond theme songs - CBS News CBS News David Morgan CBS News September 8, 2015, 9:33 AM The 10 best James Bond theme songs Next MGM/UA Grammy winner Sam Smith is the new voice behind "Writing's On the Wall," the theme song for the new James Bond film, "Spectre." It marks the first 007 theme song recorded by a British male solo artist since 1965. From Shirley Bassey to Adele, a variety of artists have recorded a track for the long-running movie franchise over the years. The 23 previous James Bond themes make up some of the most memorable movie music of all time. Click through for our countdown of the top 10 Bond songs: 10. "A View to a Kill" Written by Duran Duran and John Barry, performed by Duran Duran. The song - the English's band's second Number 1 hit in the U.S. - was a successful blend of rock and traditional Bond orchestral textures.

And the lyrics have a rueful Bondian flavor: Until we dance into the fire, That fatal kiss is all we need, Dance into the fire, To fatal sounds of broken dreams. 9. "Nobody Does It Better" From "The Spy Who Loved Me." Music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager; performed by Carly Simon. This enormously popular hit was one of only three songs from official Bond films to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song (the others being "Live and Let Die" and "Skyfall"). Musically it's a little repetitive, but Carly Simon's soothing vocals make us completely believe that she's actually in love with James Bond. It's also a rare Bond song that can exist quite well outside the universe of secret agents, despite the telling line: The spy who loved me Is keeping all my secrets safe tonight. 8. "Thunderball" Music by John Barry, lyrics by Don Black; performed by Tom Jones. The Welsh singer's swagger is perfectly matched against the boisterous brass of this arrangement. It's not exactly subtle, but then, neither is the film.

Strangely, while the song and film's title refers to intelligence agencies' plan to retrieve stolen nuclear warheads (Operation Thunderball), the lyrics seem to tell us more about the hero: He always runs while others walk. He acts while other men just talk. They call him the winner who takes all - And he strikes like Thunderball. ... Any woman he wants, he'll get; He will break any heart without regret. His days of asking are all gone. His fight goes on and on and on. But he thinks that the fight is worth it all - So he strikes like Thunderball. 7. "Diamonds Are Forever" Music by John Barry, lyrics by Don Black; performed by Shirley Bassey. Shirley Bassey gained a lot of street cred from her dazzling performance of "Goldfinger," and so we cut her some slack on her other Bond performances (for the anemic theme from "Moonraker," and the rejected song for "Quantum of Solace"). But she brought her A-game to "Diamonds Are Forever," which challenged her voice and endurance of breath as much as "Goldfinger" had.

The song has an advantage over some other Bond themes of having lyrics that are less pointed ("The Man With the Golden Gun" is about as plot-specific as a song can get), but the chorus is a tad repetitious repetitious repetitious. 6. "The World is Not Enough" Music by David Arnold, lyrics by Don Black; performed by Garbage. People like us There's no point in living If you can't feel the life. We know when to kiss And we know when to kill. If we can't have it all Then nobody will. It's performed by the Scottish-American alternative rock band Garbage (featuring singer Shirley Manson), which would lead one to anticipate a much harsher sound from the creators of the 1996 song, "Stupid Girl." But this collaboration between the group and the film's composer, David Arnold, backed by a 60-piece orchestra, created a lush amalgamation of electronica beats and seductive strings. 5. "For Your Eyes Only" Music by Bill Conti, lyrics by Mike Leeson; performed by Sheena Easton. The Scot who'd made a splash with her hit singles "Modern Girl" and "9 to 5" (released in the U.S.

as "Morning Train") became the first singer to appear on screen performing the title song amid Maurice Binder's evocative visuals. 4. "You Only Live Twice" Music by John Barry, lyrics by Leslie Bricusse; performed by Nancy Sinatra. You only live twice, or so it seems: One life for yourself and one for your dreams. You drift through the years and life seems tame, Till one dream appears, and love is its name. The melody and chord changes of "You Only Live Twice" have a mesmeric quality that flows from the preceding pre-credit sequence (when we believe we've watched Bond get killed). While Nancy Sinatra doesn't get to deliver the brash confidence of "These Boots Are Made for Walking," her insouciance carries her (and us) away on John Barry's lilting strings. 3. "Skyfall" Written by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth; performed by Adele. Musically it's a rich evocation of the time-honored standards of Bond music as originally encapsulated in John Barry's horn-rich orchestrations, minor chords, and ceaseless energy.

Lyrically, it delves deeply into the plot of the film, and of Bond's relationship with M and MI6. And in terms of performance, the only singer today who could match Shirley Bassey is Adele. You may have my number, you can take my name, But you'll never have my heart. Let the sky fall, Put your hand in my hand And we'll stand. There was some concern that the song, arranged by J. A. C. Redford, couched its sound too heavily in chords borrowed from the classic Monty Norman/John Barry Bond theme and be ruled ineligible for the Academy Awards , but cooler heads prevailed over this very cool tune -- which wound up being the first Bond song to win an Oscar. 2. "Live and Let Die" Written by Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney; performed by Paul McCartney and Wings. How many tonal shifts can you have in a theme song? From pop ballad to hard rock to classical, they're all here, with an invigorating, pounding drive that is impossible to resist (See Jennifer Lawrence in "American Hustle" for an entertaining example). 1.

"Goldfinger" Music by John Barry, lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley; performed by Shirley Bassey. It set the standard for Bond theme songs, and to date it hasn't been topped. Goldfinger, He's the man, the man with the Midas touch, A spider's touch. Beckons you to enter his web of sin, But don't go in Golden words he will pour in your ear, But his lies can't disguise what you fear, For a golden girl knows when he's kissed her - It's the kiss of death from Mister Goldfinger. Pretty girl, beware of his heart of gold, This heart is cold. Just as Bond films usually succeed or fail on the strength of their villain, the theme for "Goldfinger" demonstrates that a song about a bad guy can be so much more intriguing than a song about a good guy. There's just so much more to dig into - a charismatic character who instills dread and fear - that stirs the singer to such a guttural, enthralling, rafter-rattling shout of a performance. Bravo, Shirley! Now get yourself a cup of tea with honey.

Honorable Mention The following are worthy of mention even if they do not fall into the category of opening title songs. "From Russia With Love" Music by John Barry, lyrics by Lionel Bart; performed by Matt Monro. Technically, this may not count as a theme song since it was not played with its vocals under the film's opening titles, but within the film (as a radio source music), and finally under the end credits. But the melody is much more memorable than the words anyway: I've seen places, faces and smiled for a moment But oh, you haunted me so. Still my tongue-tied young pride Would not let my love for you show In case you'd say no. To Russia I flew, but there and then I suddenly knew you'd care again. My running around is through. I fly to you, from Russia with love. "My running around is through"? This is James Bond, we're talking about! At least it can be heard without lyrics under the opening titles (and under a lot of jiggling female flesh). Honorable Mention "Surrender (Tomorrow Never Dies)" Music by David Arnold and David McAlmont, lyrics by Don Black; performed by K.D. Lang.

The original opening title track for "Tomorrow Never Dies," sung by K.D. Lang, was rejected in favor of another song sung by Sheryl Crow. So Lang's song was retitled "Surrender" and relegated to the film's end credits. There were no curvy, silhouetted models dripping in oil, but in the writing and in Lang's powerful vocals, "Surrender" beats Crow's "Tomorrow Never Dies" hands down. Honorable Mention "We Have All the Time in the World" From "On Her Majesty's Secret Service." Music by John Barry, lyrics by Hal David; performed by Louis Armstrong. The least Bond-ish of Bond songs, this slow ballad sung by the great Satchmo was heard not under the opening titles (which instead featured a great instrumental number by John Barry), but during the film, under a happy romantic montage featuring James Bond (George Lazenby) and Tracy (Diana Rigg), who would drive off together into the sunset (but not, we will learn, toward a happy ending).

Question: Which Duran Duran song was the theme of a Bond film?
Answer: """A View to a Kill"""