'' is the 22nd single by
Duran Duran . Released
1 October ,
1990 , it was the second single from the ''
Liberty '' album.
By the time the single for "Serious" was released, interest in the ''Liberty'' album had waned. This wasn't helped by a decision to not tour in support of the album.
Due to poor promotion the single stalled at #48 in the UK charts, the worst charting single for the band up until that point (11 places lower than their second single, "
Careless Memories ").
Again, the single suffered from lack of a remix for the title track, as EMI opted to use a slight edit of the album track instead.
To compensate, the label tried to whet fans' appetites with bonus material. The single's b-side, "Yo Bad Azizi", was an experimental track built around a lyric from "
Is There Something I Should Know? ": "''You're about as easy as a nuclear war''" had morphed into "''Yo Bad Azizi as a nuclear war''".
The bonus b-side on the 12" and CD was a remix of "All Along The Water" entitled "Water Babies". Due to pressing errors, some copies of the CD contained the actual song "All Along The Water" (instead of the remix) as the bonus b-side.
In November, "Serious" was released in the USA. As "Yo Bad Azizi" had already been used there for the b-side to the single "Violence Of Summer", an uninspired
Capitol Records decided to include two fade cuts of ''Liberty'' album tracks as a sweetener.
Due to the overwhelming failure of the "Serious" single, plans for future singles were shelved. The third single in the USA was to have been the rocker "First Impression", while Europe were to have gotten the album's title track, "Liberty". EMI's decision to cancel the singles came just days before filming began on the video for "First Impression".
In 2005, Dutch producer and DJ
Ferry Corsten sampled this track for his single "Fire", which was credited as "Ferry Corsten featuring Simon Le Bon"
# "Serious (single version)" (3:56)
# "Yo Bad Azizi" (3:03)
# "Serious (single version)" (3:56)
# "Yo Bad Azizi" (3:03)
# "Water Babies" (5:35)
- EMI tried a couple of gimmicks with the 12" to drum up interest including gatefold sleeve (12 DDG 15) and a laser etched one-sided disc with free poster (12 DDS 15).
# "Serious (single version)" (3:56)
# "Yo Bad Azizi" (3:03)
# "Water Babies" (5:35)
- Some copies of the CD single erroneously included "All Along The Water" instead of "Water Babies" as the second b-side.
# "Serious (single version)" (3:56)
# "Yo Bad Azizi" (3:03)
# "Water Babies" (5:35)
# "All Along The Water" (3:47)
# "Serious (single version)" (3:56)
# "Yo Bad Azizi" (3:03)
# "Liberty (fade)" (1:36)
# "First Impression (fade)" (1:43)
- The fades are literally the first 90 seconds or so of the album cuts.
Apart from the single, "Serious" has also appeared on:
