Duran Duran – Planet Earth

just bought this single the b-side plays roger taylor (queen) laugh or cry

I've been around for several decades meanwhile, read tons of books about the history of popular music, and I still do not understand why Duran Duran "Planet Earth, Night Version" (most notably NOT just "Planet Earth") is not listed among the few compositions in popular music that were so groundbreaking that one can speak of an era before and an era after it.

Until "Planet Earth, Night Version", the twelve inch single format was associated with disco. Ironically, the first twelve inch single ever was actually an album version edit of BT Express "Do It Till You're Satisfied", because the Scepter Records production facility ran out of seven-inch vinyl and had to use album vinyl for its rush release. A year later, people like Walter Gibbons and Tom Moulton embraced the possibilities of the format (enhanced sound, longer compositions); first, the three steps towards a hit were:
1. recording the album;
2. releasing the hit track in its full length version on a promo-only 12 inch single (so you can refer to that album on the release);
3. edit the album version down so it fits on a 7 inch for mainstream use.
Later on, the idea was to use existing 3-4 minute songs and re-edit them to 7-8 minute club stompers optimised for dancing and beatmixing: the "special disco versions". Nevertheless, these versions, even though some of them sound significantly different from the original composition, all originate from the original master and from the original idea of the performing artists.

For Duran Duran "Planet Earth, Night Version", the original composition was totally decomposed, all with the band's consent and according to new ideas by the band. Every hook, every instrument, every word, every note. From the pieces, an entirely new composition was made, tailor-made for use after sunset (yes, mark the words, it is a Night version, not a Club version!). That means that the composition not only had to reflect the feeling of being in a night club but also on your way to a night club. The band and the engineers must have both the big PA systems of a night club and car HiFi sets in mind, so the composition had to be longer than the album version, plus it had to enhance danceability and it had to be heard above the revving engine of a car. And, above all things, the composition still had to be close to the original so people would recognise it from the album they bought, return to the record store for a copy of the twelve inch single that featured the "Night version" and as such expand their music collections with something rather unique.

This way of creating a new longer version together with the original artists was since then copied tons and tons and tons of times by other bands (and of course DD themselves), mostly in the New Wave and Synthpop genre. A release format that was originally destined for club promotion only and supposed to be dead after the demolition of disco, was not only brought back to life; it was giving an identity of its own. People began to ask for 12 inch records because they preferred the longer version to that of the 7 inch, and an additional 12 inch extended remix was a guaranteed booster for chart performance! Just check for yourself: pick your country's year-end charts of 1980 till 1985, count the number of tunes of which a commercially released 12 inch extended remix exists and compare the resulting numbers! This huge success was something Walter Gibbons and Tom Moulton probably would never had thought off, and it all started with Duran Duran "Planet Earth, Night Version"...