EXPLOSION

PINNACLE

BREAKUP

REFORMATION

CRASH

COMEBACK

TODAY

IN THE BEGINNING

Duran Duran began in 1979 in a pub in Birmingham, England called "Hole in the Wall." It was there that founding members Nick Rhodes and John Taylor came up with a moniker for their musical project, as Nick explains: "John and I were having a lunchtime drink in the Hole in the Wall (a pub in Birmingham, England), trying to decide on a name. We'd been through everything.

We'd been through books, film titles, we'd looked on walls and in the dictionary. We'd made up words and everything a band usually does. There is one name I remember - RAF. It didn't stand for anything, we just liked it. Then the film 'Barbarella' came up in conversation and I think it was John that said, 'Duran Duran, that doesn't sound bad! What about that for a name?' And there it was"

This was early on, and a number of incarnations of the band ensued. Originally, Simon Colley and Steve Duffy (later of the group Tin Tin) were members of the band. The bands actual career began at a club in Birmingham called The Rum Runner. The band needed a venue for gigs and The Rum Runner catered to the kind of music that the Durans fancied they were playing, namely a fusion of Roxy Music, Chic and the Sex Pistols. The club owners, Michael and Paul Berrow, agreed, and offered the band a space to rehearse in and play gigs. Shortly thereafter they served as Duran Duran's managers in an unofficial capacity which became official once the band reached it's first real incarnation.

At this point, two members (Alan Curtis and Jeff Thompson) left the band, and after advertising and auditioning, the Durans were finally left with the lineup fans today are still most familiar with, Simon LeBon (vocals), Nick Rhodes (keyboards), John Taylor (bass guitar), Andy Taylor (guitar) and Roger Taylor (drums). Some interesting quotes about those first heady days: "And they were the biggest bunch of weirdos that I'd ever seen. Which turned us on right away, 'cos I'd always felt like being weird, but I had no-one to be weird with in Newcastle. You know, it's that sort of thing... Nick didn't like me 'cos I had jeans on. Roger and John did." - Andy Taylor on his first meeting with the Durans after answering an ad placed in Melody Maker "I liked his book 'cos it'd got nice drawings on the front, and he'd got the most ridiculous pink-spotted leopardskin punk trousers on, and sunglasses, so you couldn't see him at all. And a 1960's jacket.

So I thought, anyone who looks that stupid and writes Rovostrov on the front of his exercise book is positively the one." - Nick Rhodes on his first impressions of Simon LeBon

THE EXPLOSION ^

Duran Duran signed their first record deal with EMI Records in January, 1981. Their signature trademark videos started with the release of this album, for which they made five videos, all of them with a very futurist look. Girls On Film, which originally featured a number of nude women wrestling and performing other antics, was banned by the fledgling MTV as too hot for American audiences.

This likely contributed to the Durans' late break into America. After releasing the first album and it's singles, Duran Duran began to enjoy a rapid climb to success in the UK and Europe - headlining their own shows as quickly as February, 1981. Success in the crucial American market eluded them, however, until the release of Rio, in 1982. After the release of Rio and it's singles, My Own Way, Hungry Like The Wolf, Rio and Save A Prayer, the Durans finally broke into America, thanks in no small part to their success on MTV with Hungry Like The Wolf. The video was such a groundbreaker for the time, and so popular with the MTV audience, that Duran Duran quickly became a household name.

"We found our identity in such a short space of time. 'Rio' is probably the first real Duran Duran album, because it's honestly us, and it's us playing off each other. We'd gone through alot of personality conflicts when we were doing 'Rio' because we were all growing up so much. We probably aged about five years in the last two 'cos things have moved so quickly. So 'Rio' was quite difficult 'cos we were niggling with each other and taking sides. But then when it was made we all sat there and we thought, well, we can argue all we like but musically it just hangs together perfectly. And then we say well, what the hell are we arguing about?" -John Taylor on Rio.

Success was quick and intense for the band, which followed up Rio with Seven and the Ragged Tiger in 1983. The album was eaten up by audiences who were by now wildly interested in all things Duran Duran, and the 1984 tour that supported Seven is widely regarded as the beginning of Duran Duran's "pinnacle" period.

THE PINNACLE ^

The 1984 tour found Duran Duran being met by legions of screaming fans (mostly young girls, go figure). The two subsequent releases, Arena (a sub-par live album based on the 1984 tour which featured one new studio track, The Wild Boys) and A View To A Kill (a single recorded for the James Bond movie of the same name) were huge hits in 1985, screaming to number one on virtually every chart. The videos that were released for these were the height of silliness but were wrought out of the idea that Duran Duran had established for themselves early on: that they were a video band for a video generation.

While they later seemed quite embarrassed about their past, many fans enjoyed and still do enjoy those days of over-the-top production, wildly surreal videos and cryptic lyrics. The last time the band in this form was to play together proved to be at the 1985 "Live Aid" concert.

THE BREAKUP^

Inexplicably, the Durans quit the game at the very height of their careers, a move that no doubt played a role in squirreling them into the obscurity that was to follow shortly thereafter. John and Andy Taylor teamed up with Robert Palmer and Chic drummer Tony Thompson to create the funk-rock outfit known as The Power Station.

The Power Station garnered two well known hits, Some Like It Hot and Bang A Gong (a cover).

In what almost seemed an afterthought, the three other members of Duran Duran formed Arcadia, a spanglo-japanese flavored art-rock outfit that (intentionally or not) ended up turning out some of the best music the band ever did in any incarnation. So Red The Rose, their first and only release, garnered two hits also, Election Day and Goodbye Is Forever.

THE REFORMATION ^

Duran Duran reformed in 1986 and released Notorious in 1987. Andy Taylor played a few tracks on the album, but ultimately left to pursue other interests, feeling that Duran Duran wasn't giving him enough personal gratification. Some said ego gratification.

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This was made worse with the release of Meet El Presidente, widely regarded as one of the weaker tracks on the album, while more popular tracks like Vertigo (Do The Demolition) and Proposition were ignored.

All in all, Notorious was considered a good effort, if quite a change of pace from what Duran Duran had been in the past. In 1988 the Durans released what many considered to be their best album since the breakup, Big Thing. The album did well, coming off the strong sales of the single I Don't Want Your Love (remixed for the radio by Madonna's own Shep Pettibone).

The album was considered a very strong one, and had two subsequent hits, All She Wants Is and to a lesser extent, Do You Believe In Shame? The Durans seemed poised for epic stardom again.

THE CRASH ^

Alas, it was not to be, thanks in large part to the release of the much-reviled Liberty.

Liberty took Durans' progression into funk a bit further than it probably should have gone, since the final product was almost universally hated by fans and went completely unnoticed by anyone else. Some speculated that Duran Duran seemed to have forgotten how to play Duran Duran music and had handed the whole project over to guitarist (since Notorious) and official new member Warren Cucurillo, since no track on the album (except for the startlingly good Violence Of Summer) bore any resemblance to anything like Duran Duran. Sterling Campbell, on drums, was also officially credited as a "member" of Duran Duran though he left after Liberty with no explanation from either himself or the Durans.

Liberty was considered by many to be the final nail in the coffin for the 80's pop outfit - a victim of trying too hard to grow up. It was unclear whether the Durans were listening to their press too much or just being tired, but even the casual observer was inclined to think the former while reading articles from the band that scathed Rio and Seven as "trash." What was happening?

THE SHAKY BUT TRIUMPHANT COMEBACK ^

What happened next shocked everyone, fans and non-fans alike. Fans had relegated themselves to being happy listening to their old copies of Rio and non-fans were secure in the fact that they'd never have to hear from the band again... or so they thought. Amid rumours that the original fab-five lineup was returning for a revitalization release, fans eagerly awaited to get the first listen of the new Duran material to see if it would sound anything like the old Duran Duran.

The reunion of the original lineup never materialized, but fans were rewarded for their efforts with the very good and very Duranlike Ordinary World, a ballad in the vein of Save A Prayer from the eponymous CD that became known as the "wedding" album. The Durans chose, for the first time in many fans' memories, to follow up Ordinary World with two more of the albums strongest tracks... the impressive Come Undone, an inspiring and watery heartbreak song that gained the band many new fans and Too Much Information. The first two singles were smash hits, to the delight of fans everywhere. It was during this time, too, that Duran Duran defined themselves as an "alternative" post-80's 80's band a-la Depeche Mode.

Suddenly, it was not only acceptable to be a fan of Duran Duran, it was downright cool! It didn't become all roses from that point. The band followed up the success of the "wedding" album with the misguided but often not-too-bad Thank You - a series of overwrought covers. The eminently danceable remake of Grandmaster Flash's White Lines notwithstanding, Thank You was a bomb.

TODAY IN HISTORY ^

Fortunately for the Durans, they sat back and took stock of their careers, their fans, their sound and what they wanted out of music and came up with the new CD Medazzaland. The new album was extremely well-received and was accompanied by a nifty new video.

Early 1998 brought another major change to Duran Duran: They parted ways with their record label in the US, Capitol. In early April 1998, EMI released "Essential Duran Duran: Night Versions" as pasrt of their "Essentials" limited edition CD series. The disc contains many 12" remixes which have never been before released on CD. As a bonus, people who have computers could use the bonus CD that came with it. As the 12" mix of "New Moon On Monday" play, a "video" is show...actually images of the covers of Duran Duran's old singles "floated by" on the screen. Many fans thought this was very cheesy and expected more.

Early November 1998 saw the release of another "greatest hits" album, titled "Greatest". This one went a step further than "Decade" as it included nearly every single from 1981 (Planet Earth) to 1997 (Electric Barbarella). Alot of fans felt it was almost a waste, feeling it was nothing but a "rehashed Decade" with a few extra tracks.

In December 1998, Duran Duran did a tour of the UK to promte Greatest. The tour was aptly called the "Latest and Greatest Tour". Also, VH-1 recently aired a "Behind the Music" special featuring the band.

Duran Duran is currently working on a new studio album, tentatively titled "Hallucinating Elvis". No one is really sure what this album will be released on (either a label or on their own), but the band plans to have it finished before they head out on on their latest tour of the US this summer, titled Let It Flow.

THE END?

Not likely.

Information taken from - http://www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/morrison/200/