Songfacts®:

• This song is about a man who falls in love with his robot lover. Duran Duran is named after the mad scientist character Durand-Durand in the 1968 movie Barbarella, but this song has very little to do with the movie's plot, which finds Barbarella traveling through space looking for a device that will save earth. The wacky sound effects from the movie are incorporated into this song.
• Ellen Von Unwerth, a fashion photographer who worked on the album art, directed the video, in which lead singer Simon Le Bon plugs in a curling iron between the legs of his robot lover (played by a real person).
  
  Von Unwerth specializes in sensual, striking images of beautiful women; Rihanna, Britney Spears and Claudia Schiffer have all been in front of her lens, but this is most likely the first time she portrayed one as an android.
• This was the first single from Medazzaland, which sold poorly and marked a low point for Duran Duran. Their fortunes turned after the original five members of the band reunited in 2001 and played some very successful shows. Many contemporary artists came out in support of the band, citing them as an influence, Justin Timberlake and Gwen Stefani among them.