A View to a Kill (song) A View to a Kill (song) "A View to a Kill" is the thirteenth single by the English new wave and synthpop band Duran Duran, released on 6 May 1985. Written and recorded as the theme for the 1985 James Bond movie of the same name, it became one of the band's biggest hits. It remains the only James Bond theme song to have reached number 1 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100; it also made it to number 2 for three weeks on the UK Singles Chart. In 1986, composer John Barry and Duran Duran were nominated for the
A View to a Kill approached producer Cubby Broccoli at a party, and somewhat drunkenly asked "When are you going to get someone "decent" to do one of your theme songs?" During the opening sequence, a cover version of the 1965 Beach Boys song "California Girls", performed by Gidea Park with Adrian Baker (a tribute band), is used during a chase in which Bond snowboards; it has been suggested that this sequence helped initiate interest in snowboarding. This was the first Bond film with a premiere outside the UK, opening on 22 May 1985 at San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts. The British premiere was