Duran Duran Nearly Ruined Elton John’s ‘I’m Still Standing’ Video

Elton John discovered himself within the south of France in 1983, scheduled to shoot a promotional video for his music “I’m Still Standing.”

Directed by Russell Mulcahy, the video was shot in Cannes and Nice on the Cote d’Azur, and choreographed by Arlene Phillips. But the colourful location, which yielded an equally shiny clip, did not imply the method was not with out mishaps; at one level, some movie was misplaced when Mulcahy and his digicam fell into the ocean.

That was simply the beginning. As it turned out, Duran Duran was additionally on the town and able to trigger bother.

“This was before Elton became teetotal, so he was still a steaming party animal. We went up to see him at his hotel and spent the afternoon getting blasted on martinis,” Andy Taylor wrote in his 2008 e-book 

We determined it will be fun to get him drunk, and we had been slinging the drinks down him. ‘Ooh, you might be pretty boys,’ he screeched, loving each minute of it. We obtained him so drunk that ultimately he went upstairs and threw a wobbler in his suite. It prompted all kinds of chaos, however it was an excellent get together.”

John recounted his side of the story — or what he could remember — in his 2019 book, Me: Simon Le Bon asked him if he’d ever had a vodka martini. “I had not. Perhaps I ought to strive one,” he wrote. “Depending on who you consider, I had both six or eight extra of them within the area of an hour, and a few strains of coke. I then apparently returned to the video set, demanded they start working the cameras, took all my garments off and began rolling round on the ground bare.”

Watch Elton John’s ‘I’m Still Standing’ Video

The nudity didn’t end up in the video; neither did the punch John reportedly landed on his manager John Reid, who attempted to confront the singer about his drunkenness. “Some observers stated it regarded like I’d damaged his nostril,” John recalled.

John’s final escapade of the evening was to trash the hotel room of personal assistant Bob Halley. He saw the damage the following day. “‘Fucking hell,’ I stated. ‘What occurred?'” John recalled. “There was a protracted pause. ‘Elton,’ he stated ultimately. ‘You occurred.'”

Seven years later, John got sober and turned his life around.