By Mikey (Gillingham, Kent, UK)
Introduction
One of the greatest influential bands of the eighties, Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes, John Taylor, Andy Taylor and Roger Taylor aka Duran Duran, (the three Taylor's are not related,) marking their welcome return to the world of music, with a big comeback trail by being awarded the Outstanding Contribution to British Music at next week's annual event - The Brit Awards at Earls Court, and the impending UK tour, towards the beginning of April.
The Beginning of a dream
Duran Duran personified new wave for much of the mainstream audience. Duran Duran's reputation was built through music videos, which accentuated their fashion-model looks and glamorous sense of style. Without music videos, it's likely that the band's pop-funk - described by the group as the Sex Pistols meets Chic - would never have made them international pop stars. While Duran Duran did have sharper pop sensibilities than their New Romantic contemporaries like Spandau Ballet and Ultravox, none of their peers exploited MTV and music video like the Birmingham-based quintet. Each video the group made was distinctive, incorporating a number of cinematic styles to showcase the band as either part of the jet-setting elite ("Rio") or as worldly adventurers ("Hungry Like the Wolf"). While early videos like "Girls on Film" and "The Chauffeur" sparked controversy in England over their sexual content, their best-known clips were often based on hit contemporary movies. "Hungry Like the Wolf" uncannily recalled Raiders of the Lost Ark, while "Union of the Snake" and "The Wild Boys" brought to mind The Road Warrior. The clever videos helped make Duran Duran's rise to popularity remarkably swift. Between 1982 and 1984, they rocketed from underground British post-punk sensations to teen idols. But their fall from grace was equally fast. By the late '80s, the group's line-up had fragmented, and the remaining members had trouble landing hit singles. Nevertheless, the group pulled off a surprising, if short-lived, comeback in the early '90s as a sophisticated soft-rock trio.
Inspired by David Bowie and Roxy Music, as well as post-punk and disco, schoolmates Nick Rhodes (keyboards) and John Taylor (guitar) formed Duran Duran in 1978 with their friends Simon Colley (bass, clarinet) and Stephen Duffy (vocals). Taking their name from a character in Roger Vadim's psychedelic sci-fi film Barbarella, the group began playing gigs in the Birmingham club Barbarella, supported by a drum machine. Within a year, Duffy and Colley both left the group - Duffy would later form the Lilac Time - and were replaced by former TV Eye vocalist Andy Wickett and drummer Roger Taylor. After recording a demo, John Taylor switched to bass and guitarist John Curtis joined the band, only to leave within a matter of months.
The group placed an ad in Melody Maker, which drew the attention of Andy Taylor, who became their guitarist. However, Duran Duran was still having trouble finding a vocalist. Following Wickett's departure in 1979, a pair of singers passed through the group before Simon LeBon, a former member of the punk band Dog Days and a drama student at Birmingham University, joined in early 1980.
Duran Duran Mania
By the end of 1980, Duran Duran had become popular within the burgeoning New Romantic circuit in England and had secured a record contract with EMI. "Planet Earth," the band's first single, quickly rose to number 12 upon its spring 1981 release. Immediately, Duran Duran became the leaders of the New Romantic movement, becoming media sensations in the British music and mainstream press. The group's popularity increased through their cutting-edge music videos, especially the bizarre, racy clip for "Girls On Film." Although the BBC banned the Godley & Creme-directed video, the single became the group's first Top 10 hit, setting the stage for the fall release of their eponymous debut album. Duran Duran reached number three upon its release and stayed in the charts for 118 weeks. The band quickly followed the album with Rio in the spring of 1982. Rio entered the charts at number two, and its singles - "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Save a Prayer" - became Top 10 hits. By the November release of the US-only remix EP Carnival, the band were superstars in Europe, but only just beginning to make headway in America. Their exposure in the US was helped greatly by the emergence of MTV, who put the group's stylish videos into heavy rotation. MTV's constant playing of the videos paid off, and "Hungry Like the Wolf" became a Top Ten hit early in 1983. Rio followed that single into the Top Ten, eventually selling over two million copies.
Duran Duran-mania was in full swing across America, with "Is There Something I Should Know" reaching the Top Ten - it became the group's first English number one that summer - and the group's first album climbing its way to number 10. Duran Duran capitalized on their popularity by releasing Seven and the Ragged Tiger in time for 1983's holiday season. The record hit number one in the UK and number eight in the US, spawning the hit singles "Union of the Snake" and "The Reflex," their first number one US hit and their second British chart-topper. The band took an extended break after completing their year-and-a-half long international tour in the spring of 1984. In November, they released the non-LP single "Wild Boys," which reached number two in the UK and the US, where it was added to the live album Arena.
Separate Projects
By 1985, Duran Duran fever was beginning to cool off, and after the band completed the title track for the James Bond film A View to A Kill the group went on hiatus. Andy and John Taylor formed the super group the Power Station with vocalist Robert Palmer and former Chic drummer Tony Thompson in January, releasing their eponymous debut album in the spring; it spawned the Top 10 singles "Some Like It Hot" and "Get It On (Bang a Gong)." The remaining members of Duran Duran - Nick Rhodes, Simon LeBon and Roger Taylor - responded with their own side project, Arcadia, which released an album called So Red the Rose in the fall of 1985; the album launched the Top 10 hit "Election Day." Early in 1986, Roger Taylor announced he was taking a yearlong sabbatical from the group; he never returned. Several months later, Andy Taylor also left, reducing Duran Duran to a trio. Late in 1986, the band released Notorious, their first album in nearly three years. While it was relatively successful, going platinum in the U.S. and generating a Top Ten hit with the title track, it was noticeably less popular than their earlier records. For the remainder of the decade, Duran Duran's popularity continually declined, with 1988's Big Thing producing "I Don't Want Your Love," their last Top Ten single for five years.
The greatest hits album Decade was released late in 1989, followed several months later by Liberty, the first Duran Duran album to fail to go gold. By that point, former Missing Persons guitarist Warren Cuccurullo had become a permanent member of the group. In 1993, the band returned from a prolonged hiatus with Duran Duran, a mature, layered record of lite funk and soulful adult contemporary pop that became a surprise hit. "Ordinary World" and "Come Undone" became Top Ten hits in America, with the former reaching the Top Ten in the UK as well; the album itself climbed into the Top Ten on both continents and went platinum in America. Not only did the record restore their commercial status, but also it earned them some of their best reviews of their career. The group followed the album with one of their poorest-received efforts, 1995's all-covers Thank You, which managed to go gold in America despite its negative reviews. While Duran Duran was recording the follow-up to Thank You in 1996, John Taylor left the band to pursue a solo career, leaving the group a trio of LeBon, Rhodes, and Cuccurullo. That follow-up, Medazzaland, was released in 1997, but failed to produce any major hits. Duran Duran returned in 2000 with the album Pop Trash.
A New Lease Of Life
Which brings us full circle to the present; towards the end of 2003 they won a lifetime achievement award at the Capital FM Awards, and now in 2004, embarking on a UK tour in April, with their original line-up. Also a brand new studio album in the making, to follow. Basically it's a welcome return to the much loved band of the eighties, hopefully more eighties acts will follow, with the likes of Spandau Ballet, Ultravox, time will only tell, in this ever-changing business of the British Music Industry.
2004 UK Tour Dates
(Date, Venue, City)
11/04/04 Nottingham Arena, Nottingham
13/04/04, Wembley Arena, London
14/04/04, Wembley Arena, London
15/04/04, SECC Arena, Glasgow
17/04/04, MEN Arena, Manchester
18/04/04, NEC Arena, Birmingham
19/04/04, NEC Arena, Birmingham
21/04/04, MEN Arena, Manchester
22/04/04, Newcastle Telewest Arena, Newcastle
24/04/04, Wembley Arena, London
25/04/04, NEC Arena, Birmingham
27/04/04, Hallam FM Arena, Sheffield
28/04/04, Cardiff Arena, Cardiff
30/04/04, Wembley Arena, London
Duran Duran Discography
Singles
21 February 1981 Planet Earth - Chart Position No.12, 11 weeks on chart
09 May 1981 Careless Memories - Chart Position No.37, 7 weeks on chart
25 July 1981 Girls On Film - Chart Position No.5, 11 weeks on chart*
28 November 1981 My Own Way - Chart Position No.14, 11 weeks on chart
15 May 1982 Hungry Like The wolf - Chart Position No.5, 11 weeks on chart*
21 August 1982 Save A Prayer - Chart Position No.2, 9 weeks on chart*
13 November 1982 Rio - Chart Position No.9, 11 weeks on chart*
26 March 1983 Is There Something I Should Know - Chart Position No.1, 9 weeks on chart*
29 October 1983 Union Of The Snake - Chart Position No.3, 11 weeks on chart*
04 February 1984 The Reflex - Chart Position No.1, 14 weeks on chart*
03 November 1983 The Wild Boys - Chart Position No.2, 14 weeks on chart*
18 May 1985 A View To A Kill - Chart Position No.2, 16 weeks on chart*
01 November 1986 Notorious - Chart Position No.7, 7 weeks on chart*
21 February 1987 Skin Trade - Chart Position No.22, 6 weeks on chart
25 April 1987 Meet El Presidente - Chart Position No.24, 5 weeks on chart
01 October 1988 I Don't Want Your Love - Chart Position No.14, 5 weeks on chart
07 January 1989 All She Wants Is - Chart Position No.9, 5 weeks on chart*
22 April 1989 Do You Believe In Shame? - Chart Position No.30, 4 weeks on chart
16 December 1989 Burning The Ground - Chart Position No.31, 5 weeks on chart
04 August 1990 Violence of Summer (Love's Taking Over) - Chart Position No.20, 4 weeks on chart
17 November 1990 Serious - Chart Position No.48, 3 weeks on chart
30 January 1993 Ordinary World - Chart Position No.6, 9 weeks on chart*
10 April 1993 Come Undone - Chart Position No.13, 8 weeks on chart
04 September 1993 Too Much Information - Chart Position No.35, 3 weeks on chart
25 March 1995 Perfect Day - Chart Position No.28, 4 weeks on chart
17 June 1995 White Lines (Don't Do It) - Chart Position No.17, 5 weeks on chart#
24 May 1997 Out Of My Mind - Chart Position No.21, 2 weeks on chart
30 January 1999 Electric Barbarella - Chart Position No.23, 3 weeks on chart
10 June 2000 Someone Else Not Me - Chart Position No.53, 1 week on chart
(#): The song White Lines (Don't Do It) features Melle Mel and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five on the record.
(*): Top 10 Single
Albums
1981 Duran Duran
1982 Rio
1983 Seven and the Ragged Tiger
1984 Arena (Live)
1986 Notorious
1988 Big Thing
1989 Decade - The Greatest Hits
1990 Liberty
1993 Duran Duran (The Wedding Album)
1995 Thank You
1997 Medazzaland
1998 Greatest
2000 Pop Trash
2003 The Singles 81-85
