Duran Duran
Encyclopedia
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham
in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion
" of the United States. Since the 1980s, they have placed 14 singles in the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart
and 21 in the Billboard Hot 100
and have, according to the Sunday Mercury
, sold more than 100 million records. While they were generally considered part of the New Romantic
scene along with bands such as Spandau Ballet
when they first emerged, they later shed this image. The band worked with fashion designers to build a sharp and elegant image that earned them the nickname "the prettiest boys in rock." The band's controversial videos, which included partial nudity and suggestions of sexuality, became popular in the early 1980s on the then-new music video channel MTV. Duran Duran were among the first bands to have their videos shot by professional directors with 35 mm film movie camera
s, which gave their videos a much more polished look. In 1984, the band were early innovators with video technology in their live stadium shows.
The group was formed by Nick Rhodes
, John Taylor and Stephen Duffy
, with the later addition of Roger Taylor and, after numerous personnel changes, Andy Taylor
and Simon Le Bon
. (None of the Taylors are related, and Roger Taylor is not to be confused with the Queen
drummer of the same name.) The group has never disbanded, but the lineup has changed to include guitarist Warren Cuccurullo
from 1989 to 2001 and drummer Sterling Campbell
from 1989 to 1991. The reunion of the original five members in the early 2000s created a stir among the band's fans and music media. Andy Taylor left the band in mid-2006, and London guitarist Dom Brown
has since been working with the band as a session player and touring member.
formed Duran Duran in Birmingham
in 1978, where they would become the resident band at the city's Rum Runner
nightclub. At the club they were doing jobs such as John working the door and with Nick deejaying for £10 a night. They began rehearsing and regularly playing at the venue. There were many nearby nightclubs, and the one "significant" one, where bands such as The Sex Pistols and The Clash
played gigs, was called Barbarella's. They would go on to name the band after the villain from Barbarella
, Roger Vadim
's French science-fiction film. The villain
, played by Milo O'Shea
, is named "Dr. Durand Durand".
The band's first singer was Stephen Duffy
. Simon Colley soon joined Taylor, Rhodes and Duffy. Colley was the band's original bass player, as Taylor was the guitarist at this point. This was the first complete line-up of the band that played live shows. For drums and percussion, an electronic drum machine belonging to Rhodes was used. Colley left the band prior to the addition of Andy Taylor. A few guitarists were subsequently auditioned (for the most part, unsuccessfully) as well a handful of vocalists joining after Duffy left Duran Duran early in 1979. Among the handful of vocalists they had prior to Simon Le Bon was Andy Wickett, who had a major part in the writing of "Girls on Film
" during his tenure with the band, according to Andy Taylor's autobiography. (Wickett is also featured on some of the demos that were presented to EMI.) According to both Wickett's and John Taylor's websites, Wickett co-wrote an early version of the song that came to be known as "Rio
" Tenor sax solo by Andy Hamilton (pop musician)
. Upon Colley and Wickett's departures, the band enlisted singer Jeff Thomas and guitarist Alan Curtis, each for only a relatively brief period of time, before finally settling on Andy Taylor for lead guitar and Le Bon for vocals in 1980.
The meeting of drummer Roger Taylor (not to be confused with the Queen
drummer) in 1979 with John Taylor, Rhodes and Wickett at a party, as well as the departure of Colley, led John Taylor to switch to bass. Roger Taylor then became their original (human) drummer. It was this lineup (John Taylor on bass and guitar along with Rhodes, Wickett and Roger Taylor) that made the first-ever Duran Duran studio demo tapes. In April 1980, guitarist Andy Taylor came from Newcastle to audition after responding to an advertisement in Melody Maker
. In May 1980, London vocalist Simon Le Bon was recommended to the band by an ex-girlfriend who worked at the Rum Runner
. The owners of the club, brothers Paul and Michael Berrow, became the band's management, paying them to work as doormen, disc jockeys and glass collectors when they were not rehearsing.
The group were generally considered part of the New Romantic
scene, with other style-and-dance bands such as Spandau Ballet
, Japan
and ABC
. In 1980, they recorded two demo tapes and performed in clubs around Birmingham
and London. In late 1980, when touring as an opening act for Hazel O'Connor
, the band attracted critical attention, resulting in a bidding war between the record companies EMI
and Phonogram Records
. "A certain patriotism" toward the label of The Beatles
led them to sign with EMI in December; Nick Rhodes said in a 1998 interview with Deluxe magazine that the band felt they were "appallingly ripped off" by the EMI contract.
Duran Duran were amongst the earliest bands to work on their own remix
es. Before the days of digital synthesisers and easy audio sampling
, they created multilayered arrangements of their singles, sometimes recording entirely different extended performances of the songs in the studio. These "night versions" were generally available only on vinyl
as b-sides
to 45-rpm singles or on 12-inch club singles until the release of the compilation Night Versions: The Essential Duran Duran
in 1999.
From the very beginning of their career together, all the band members had a keen sense of visual style. They worked with stylist Perry Haines and fashion designers such as Kahn & Bell and Antony Price
to build a sharp and elegant image, soon outgrowing the ruffles and sashes of the pirate-flavored early New Romantic look that had been popularised by Adam and the Ants
during 1980–81. They have continued to present fashion as part of their package throughout their career. In the 1990s they worked with Vivienne Westwood
, and in the 2000s with Giorgio Armani
. The band retained creative control of their visual presentation and worked closely with graphic designer Malcolm Garrett
and many others over the years to create album covers, tour programs and other materials.
All five members of the band were photogenic and were labelled "the prettiest boys in rock" by People
magazine. Teen and music magazines in the UK latched onto their good looks quickly, and the US soon followed. It was a rare month in the early 1980s when there was not at least one picture of the band members in teen magazine
s such as Smash Hits
or Tiger Beat
. John Taylor once remarked that the band was "like a box of Quality Street [chocolates]; everyone is someone's favourite" Duran Duran later came to regret this early pin-up exposure, but at the time it helped attract national attention. In an interview with Rock Fever Superstars Magazine in early 1988, John Taylor stated:
The band's first album, Duran Duran was released on the EMI label in 1981. The first single, "Planet Earth
", reached the United Kingdom's Top 20 at Number 12. A follow-up, "Careless Memories
", stalled at Number 37. However it was their third single, "Girls On Film", that attracted the most attention. The song went to Number 5 in the UK before the notorious video was even filmed. The video, featuring topless women mud wrestling
, pillow fight
ing and stylised depictions of other sexual fetishes, was made with directing duo Godley & Creme
in August. The video was filmed just two weeks after MTV was launched in the United States. The band expected the "Girls On Film
" video to be played in the newer nightclubs that had video screens or on pay TV
channels like the Playboy Channel. Kevin Godley
explained the thinking behind it:
The video was heavily edited for MTV. The album peaked in the UK Top Twenty at Number 3. Later in 1981 the band embarked on their first United States club tour followed by more dates in Germany and the UK. This second tour of Britain coincided with a wave of riot
s sparked by unemployment and racial tension, including those of Moss Side
and Toxteth
. The band played an eerily quiet Birmingham the day after the Handsworth riots
. Duran Duran began to achieve worldwide recognition in 1982. In May they released their second album, Rio
, which scored four UK Top Twenty singles with "My Own Way", "Hungry Like The Wolf
", "Save A Prayer
", and the title song "Rio
". A headlining tour of Australia, Japan, and the US was followed by a stint supporting Blondie
during that band's final American tour. Diana, Princess of Wales
declared Duran Duran her favourite band, and the band were dubbed "The Fab Five" by the British press, comparing them to the Beatles
whose nickname was The Fab Four.
The Rio album did not do well in the United States at first. EMI in the UK had promoted Duran Duran as a New Romantic band but that genre was barely known in the US and EMI's American subsidiary Capitol Records
was at a loss about how to sell them. After Carnival
, an EP
of Rio's dance remixes became popular with DJs in the fall, the band arranged to have most of the album remixed by David Kershenbaum
. In June 1982, Duran Duran appeared for the first time on American television. They energetically performed "Hungry Like The Wolf" and "Rio" on Dancin' On Air, the forerunner to the national hit show Dance Party USA
. Michael Nise, executive producer of both shows, recalls how shy the "boys" were and how they kidded each other about how bad they looked on TV.
Only after it was re-released in the US in November, with heavy promotion as a dance album, did Rio begin to climb the American charts six months after its European success. MTV placed "Hungry Like The Wolf" and several other Duran Duran videos into heavy rotation, pushing it and "Rio" into the top twenty on the US charts in early 1983. The seduction ballad "Save A Prayer" also did well. "The band was a natural for music television," noted Rolling Stone
magazine. "They may be the first rock group to ride in on a video wave." In the end, the album peaked at number 6 in the US and remained on the charts there for 129 weeks — almost two and a half years. In 2003 Rio was listed at number 65 in the NME
100 Greatest Albums Of All Time.
". On its release, this song entered the chart at Number 1 in the UK (a rarity then and their first chart-topper in their home country) and reached Number 4 on the American charts. During the promotion of this album, Rhodes and Le Bon were MTV guest VJs for a show, during which artist and admirer Andy Warhol
dropped by to greet them. "Our first gigs in the United States were crazy and culty,” Rhodes said later, “But when we came back after 'Hungry' was a hit, it was mayhem. It was Beatlemania
. We were doing a signing of the 'Girls on Film' video at a store in Times Square
. We couldn’t get out of the store. The cops sealed off the streets." Also in 1983, keyboardist Nick Rhodes produced the UK number 1 and US number 5 hit "Too Shy" for the English band Kajagoogoo
and Andy Taylor became the first member of Duran Duran to get married. The band's main pop rivals were now Culture Club
and Wham!. But Duran Duran's explosive popularity easily surpassed these competing bands globally.
The band spent the next year as tax exile
s, writing songs at a chateau in France where The Tube
with Jools Holland
filmed a documentary with the band in May 1983 before they flew to Montserrat
and then Sydney to record and mix their third album. During the summer, they returned to the UK to perform two concerts, the first on 20 July in front of the Prince and Princess of Wales at the Dominion Theatre
, and 3 days later played a charity concert at Aston Villa's home ground. The band were under pressure to follow up the success of Rio and the recording process took over six months as different band members went through bouts of perfectionism and insecurity. A newly decadent lifestyle and substance abuse
issues added complications. In the documentary film Extraordinary World, filmed a decade later, Rhodes described the effect on their sound as "barely controlled hysteria, scratching beneath the surface".
The new album, Seven and the Ragged Tiger
, included the late 1983 hit "Union of the Snake
" (with the soprano sax solo by Andy Hamilton
). Following "Hungry Like the Wolf", "Rio", "Save A Prayer" and "Is There Something I Should Know", Duran Duran had had five US. Top Twenty hits from three different albums in a single year. The band made music headlines by deciding to release the "Union of the Snake" video to MTV a full week before the single was released to radio at a time when the industry feared video really might kill the radio star
. They followed up with "New Moon on Monday
", which reached Number 9 in the UK. Their next single "The Reflex
", taken from Seven and the Ragged Tiger and given a significant remix overhaul by Nile Rodgers
of Chic
fame, became their first number one hit in the United States. "The Reflex" was also their second and final UK number one and was successful in numerous other countries around the world.
The band embarked on a global tour that continued throughout the first four months of 1984 including their first major stadium dates in America. A film crew led by director Russell Mulcahy followed the band closely, leading to the documentary film Sing Blue Silver
and the accompanying concert film
Arena
. The live album Arena was also recorded during the tour and was released with the new studio single "The Wild Boys
", which went to Number 2 on both sides of the Atlantic
. In February 1984, the band appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone
magazine and won two Grammy awards in the brand-new Long Form
and Short Form
music video categories. The Live version of Save A Prayer
gained momentum in North America, and the song became a single for the second time in January 1985 reaching #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 on 16 March 1985. The live "sunrise" version of the video was used, taken from the concert video footage for Arena / As The Lights Go Down
.
During the peak of their popularity in 1985, singer Simon LeBon and bassist John Taylor became heartthrobs for many of their young teenage fans. After the tour, Roger Taylor was married in Naples, Italy, and Nick Rhodes wed in London, wearing a pink velvet tuxedo and top hat. At the end of 1984, the group were featured on the Band Aid
benefit single "Do They Know It's Christmas?
" along with other popular British musical acts. Simon Le Bon sang between contributions from George Michael
and Sting.
to form the rock/funk supergroup Power Station
, which released two Top 10 singles. Simon Le Bon and Nick Rhodes, on the other hand, wanted to further explore Duran Duran's atmospheric aspect and formed Arcadia
, who released one LP from which the single "Election Day" was released. Roger Taylor was primarily the drummer for Arcadia, but also contributed percussion to the Power Station album. Duran Duran were never the same after this break. According to Rhodes, the two side projects "were commercial suicide... But we’ve always been good at that." The band were still off balance when they regrouped to contribute A View to a Kill
to the 1985 James Bond
movie of the same name
. This single remains the only Bond theme
to go to Number 1 on the US charts, and the highest-placed Bond theme on the UK chart where it reached Number 2. It was the last single the band recorded as the original five-piece for twenty years.
As a follow-up to the Christmas 1984 Band Aid single, Duran Duran performed in front of 90,000 people (and an estimated 1.5 billion TV viewers) at the Live Aid
charity concert at John F. Kennedy Stadium
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
, on 13 July 1985 while their Bond song held the top spot on the American charts. It was not intended to be a farewell performance—the band planned only to take a break after four years of non-stop touring and public appearances—but the original five did not play live together again until July 2003. Their Live Aid set became infamous for Le Bon inadvertently hitting a falsetto
note in the chorus of "A View to a Kill", which he later described as the most humiliating moment of his career.
and Arcadia, drummer Roger Taylor retired to the English countryside, suffering from exhaustion. This was originally announced as a one year sabbatical, but it soon became clear that he would not be returning to the band. An official press release was issued in April 1986 confirming his departure. In a 2004 interview with Live Daily, Roger confirmed his reasons for leaving: "I was burned out. I think I was just exhausted. It was a very intense five years. We didn't stop. It was constant touring, constant writing, recording. We broke internationally, as well—instantly, pretty well. It's a nonstop schedule, really. I had lost myself somewhere".
Guitarist Andy Taylor, on the other hand, led the remaining members to believe he would return to work on a new Duran Duran album even as he was signing a solo recording contract in Los Angeles (he eventually released a solo album in 1986, Thunder). The band resorted to legal measures to get him into the studio, but after numerous delays, they let him go at last. He played on only a few songs on the next album while the disagreements were being settled.
Without a guitarist or a drummer, the three remaining members, Le Bon, Rhodes, and John Taylor had producer (and former Chic guitarist) Nile Rodgers
play a few tracks on guitar, and hired Steve Ferrone
to play drums while they searched for replacements. Finally in September 1986, Warren Cuccurullo
(formerly of Missing Persons and Frank Zappa
's touring band) was hired as a session guitarist. With Le Bon, Rhodes, and Taylor, he recorded the rest of the Notorious album, which was released in October 1986. The black-and-white documentary film Three To Get Ready chronicled the recording of the album, legal tensions, and preparations for the tour.
Although the song "Notorious
" went to Number 2 in the US, Number 7 in the UK, and album sales were strong, the band found they had lost much of the momentum and hysteria they had left behind in 1985. In the three years between the release of Seven and the Ragged Tiger and Notorious, many of their teenage fans had grown up, and the music was funkier, more mature, and less "pop", given the added experience of their work on Arcadia and Power Station and with other musicians. "Skin Trade" and "Meet El Presidente
", the two subsequent singles, made the charts but fared poorly compared to the band's earlier successes.
Subsequently, Duran Duran struggled to escape the teen idol
image and gain respect among critics with more complex music. The new serious image was not accepted at first and their popularity began to wane. Rolling Stone
said, "In their search for musical maturity, the surviving Durans have lost a good deal of their identity." Another factor was the band's dismissal of early managers the Berrow brothers. There was no announcement of the reasons for the decision, but disagreements over money, and the brothers’ involvement in Le Bon's yachting adventures (they were co-owners of Drum) were thought to have played a part. Whatever the reason, Duran Duran switched managers frequently and undertook periods of self-management in the later stages of their career. In addition, EMI (which fired its president and went through a major corporate restructuring that summer) seemed to have lost interest in promoting the band.
The next album Big Thing
(1988) yielded the singles "I Don't Want Your Love
" (Number 4 in the US), "Do You Believe In Shame
?" and "All She Wants Is
" (the last top ten hit in the UK until 1993). The record was experimental, mixing influences from house music
and rave music
with Duran's atmospheric synthpop
and the creative guitar work of Cuccurullo (now a full band member), as well as more mature lyrics.
, techno
and alternative rock
. After touring for the album finished, the band regained a five-man membership as guitarist Warren Cuccurullo and tour drummer Sterling Campbell
were made full members of Duran Duran.
The compilation album Decade: Greatest Hits
was released late in 1989, along with the megamix
single "Burning The Ground
", which consisted of woven snippets of the band's hits from the previous ten years. The single came and went with little fanfare, but the album became another major seller for the band. However, the tepid 1990 release Liberty
(a retreat from the experimentation of Big Thing) failed to capitalise on any regained momentum. The album entered the UK album chart in the top ten, but faded away quickly. The singles "Violence of Summer (Love's Taking Over)
" and "Serious" were only mildly successful, and the album's soft rock did not fare well against contemporaries like Alice in Chains
and Jane's Addiction
, while Nirvana
, Pearl Jam
and the grunge
revolution were just around the corner. For the first time, Duran Duran did not tour in support of an album, performing on only a handful of club dates and TV shows. Sterling Campbell left the band early in 1991, going on to work with Soul Asylum
and David Bowie
. The quartet of Le Bon, Rhodes, Taylor, and Cuccurullo would remain intact for six more years. In December 1991, John Taylor (then 31) married 19-year-old model/actress Amanda De Cadenet
, and she gave birth to his daughter in March 1992.
album is known as The Wedding Album (for Nick Egan's cover art featuring the wedding photos of the band members' parents) to distinguish it from the 1981 release. The release of this first "comeback" album was delayed, with then manager at Left Bank, Tommy Manzi, later telling HitQuarters
that this was due to industry resistance to the revival of the band, whom he said would rather focus on "the next hip band". Listener demand for leaked single "Ordinary World
" forced it onto radio playlists months earlier than planned; it reached Number 3 on the US chart and Number 6 in the UK and won a prestigious Ivor Novello Award award for song writing. "Come Undone", a slinky number primarily written by Cuccurullo, with lyrics by Le Bon, made Number 7 in the US and Number 13 in the UK. Both the band and the record label seemed to be caught by surprise by the album's critical and commercial success (#4 in the UK, #7 in the U.S.). Bassist John Taylor had been considering leaving the band but changed his mind. The band's largest tour ever, which included stops in the Middle East, the then recently de-embargoed South Africa, and South America, was halted after seven months when Le Bon suffered from strained vocal cords. After six weeks' recuperation, the band performed intermittently for another five months, including appearances in Israel, Thailand, and Indonesia.
In 1995, the band released the cover album Thank You
. Songs from Thank You included covers of Lou Reed
's "Perfect Day" and Melle Mel
's "White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)
" (with backing vocals from the original artists). The album also marked the temporary return of former drummer Roger Taylor, who joined the band in studio to play drums on "Watching The Detectives" and "Perfect Day" (as well as a cover of "Jeepster" by T. Rex that did not appear on the album). In a video interview provided with the album's electronic press kit
, Reed said he considered Duran Duran's version the best cover ever done of one of his songs, and they received praise from Robert Plant and Jimmy Page for their cover of Led Zeppelin's "Thank You
."
After the promo tour for Thank You was completed, John Taylor co-founded the B5 Records label and recorded a solo album, founded and toured with the supergroup
Neurotic Outsiders
, and reunited the Power Station, though the project proceeded without him when he had to withdraw to deal with his divorce from De Cadenet. Finally, after struggling for months to record the next album, Medazzaland, in January 1997, Taylor announced at the DuranCon fan convention
that he was leaving the band "for good". His departure reduced the band to two original members (Le Bon and Rhodes) and Cuccurullo, who decided to continue recording under the name Duran Duran.
. (Taylor's work remains on only four tracks.) This album marked a return to the layered experimentation of Big Thing, with intricate guitar textures and processed vocals. The track "Out of My Mind" was used as the theme song for the movie The Saint
, but the only true single to be released in the United States was the quirky "Electric Barbarella
", which was the first single ever to be sold on-line. The video for this single, featuring a sexy robot purchased and played with by band members, had to be censored before airing on MTV, but there was little of the controversy that had surrounded "Girls On Film". "Barbarella" peaked at #52 in the US in October 1997. Although Medazzaland was released in the US in October 1997, the album was never released in the UK. "Barbarella" was later released in the UK as a single from the 1998 Greatest compilation album and peaked at #23 on the UK chart in January 1999. The group played a set at The Princess Diana Tribute Concert on 27 June 1998 by special request of her family.
Duran Duran parted ways with Capitol/EMI in 1999, although the label has since used Duran Duran's back catalogue to release several compilations of remixes and rare vinyl-only b-sides. The band then signed what was intended to be a three-album contract with Disney's Hollywood Records
, but it lasted only through the poorly received 2000 album Pop Trash
. This slow-paced and heavy album seemed out-of-keeping with earlier band material. Rhodes' intricate production and Cuccurullo's songwriting and experimentation with guitar sounds and time signatures were not enough to hook the public, and the album did not perform well. The dreamy single "Someone Else Not Me" lasted barely two weeks on the radio, although its video was noted as the first to be produced entirely with Flash
animation. While supporting Medazzaland and Pop Trash, Duran Duran toured with bassist Wes Wehmiller
and drummer Joe Travers.
Throughout 2001, 2002 and 2003, the band worked on writing new material, initially renting a house in St. Tropez where sound engineer Mark Tinley
built a recording studio for their first serious writing session. They then returned to London to do some self-financed work with various producers (including old friend Nile Rodgers) and search for a new record deal. It proved difficult to find a record label willing to gamble on the band's comeback, so Duran Duran went on tour to prove the drawing power of the reunited band. The response of the fans and the media exceeded expectations. The band played a handful of 25th-anniversary dates in July 2003. Tickets sold out for each show within minutes, and celebrities turned out en masse for reunion shows booked at small venues the band had played on their first trip to America in 1981. In August, the band were booked as presenters at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards
, only to be surprised with a Lifetime Achievement Award
. They also received a Lifetime Achievement award from Q Magazine in October, and the equivalent Outstanding Contribution award at the BRIT Awards
in February 2004.
The pace picked up with a sold-out tour of America, Australia and New Zealand. The band played a full concert at a private tailgate party at Super Bowl XXXVIII
, their performance of "The Wild Boys" broadcast to millions during the pre-game show. A remix
of the new track "(Reach Up for the) Sunrise
" was released on many TV shows in February while magazines hailed (the modern "Fab Five") Duran Duran as one of the greatest bands of all time. Duran Duran then celebrated their homecoming to the UK with fourteen stadium dates in April 2004, including five sold-out nights at Wembley Arena
. The British press, traditionally hostile to the band, accorded the shows some very warm reviews. Duran Duran brought along band Goldfrapp
, as opening acts for this tour. The last two shows were filmed, resulting in the concert DVD Duran Duran: Live From London
which was released in November.
Finally, with more than thirty-five songs completed, the band signed a four-album contract with Epic Records
in June, and completed the new album, now entitled Astronaut. The album was released in October 2004 and entered the UK charts at Number 3 and the US charts at Number 17. The first single was "(Reach Up for the) Sunrise
", which reached Number 1 on the Billboard US. Dance Chart in November and peaked at number 5 on the UK singles chart, Duran Duran's highest chart position since "A View To a Kill" in 1985. A second single, "What Happens Tomorrow
", debuted at #11 on the UK charts in February. A 5.1 mix of Astronaut was created by Jeremy Wheatley for the dual-disc release of Astronaut. The CD side contains the album as-is and the DVD side contains the 5.1 mix of the album in DVD Audio format along with some DVD footage and videos.
After a world tour in early 2005, Duran Duran headlined the massive Live 8 concert, Rome
on 2 July 2005 in the Circus Maximus
.
's song "Instant Karma!
" for the Make Some Noise campaign sponsored by Amnesty International
. Their version later appeared on Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur
as an iTunes
exclusive bonus track. They also performed at two high profile events — the Nobel Prize Awards
and the 2006 Winter Olympics
. After a couple of weeks of songwriting in Northern California, the band began working with producer Michael Patterson
in London, and continued intermittently for the next several months. At one point, they reported having fifteen tracks nearly complete for an album tentatively titled Reportage
, but no further news emerged from the band for months afterward. The lost album supposedly had an edge, and wasn't released due to legal problems with the again departed Andy Taylor. In September, the band held meetings in New York City with Justin Timberlake
and producer Timbaland
with an eye to a potential collaboration and were soon reported to have completed three songs with the producer, including a duet with Justin Timberlake
.
On 25 October 2006, Andy Taylor parted ways with Duran Duran for the second time. In an official announcement on their website, Duran Duran stated that an "unworkable gulf" had developed between them and Taylor and that "we can no longer effectively function together". It was noted by Andy Taylor in his book "Wild Boy" that tensions had arisen between the group's management and himself, and he was also diagnosed with clinical depression connected with the death of his father. Dom Brown
, who had previously toured with the band, took over guitar duties and has been performing with them since. After Taylor's departure, the band scrapped the Reportage album and wrote and recorded a new album which included the Timbaland tracks. Dom Brown
is the featured guitarist.
In July, the band performed twice at Wembley Stadium
, at the Concert for Diana
and at Live Earth concert, London
. On 25 September, the Timberlake collaboration "Falling Down
" was released as a download single on iTunes
, and the band announced that they would play nine shows at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre
on Broadway to launch the album Red Carpet Massacre
. The album launch was later extended to incorporate a show in London on 3 December 2007 and one in Dublin on 5 December 2007.
In May 2008, they toured the US leg of their 2008 world tour and were supported by fellow British quintet Your Vegas
. In June 2008, they played the Louvre
in Paris in a fundraising effort that contributed to the restoration of a magnificent Louis XV drawing room. Guests dined, privately viewed some of the museum’s artworks, then attended a performance by the band in the I.M. Pei-designed Pyramid du Louvre
. The group’s performance marked a first for both the band members and the 18th century museum (which had never before allowed a rock concert to occur anywhere within the grounds or buildings).
On 2 July in Paris, Mark Ronson
performed a unique live set with Duran Duran for an exclusive, invitation-only performance. Together, they showcased specially re-worked versions of some of Duran Duran's classic hits re-created by Ronson, along with tracks from the band's new album, Red Carpet Massacre
. Simon Le Bon also performed songs from Ronson's latest album, Version
, as one of Ronson's featured guest vocalists. Unlike the band's previous album Astronaut, Red Carpet Massacre sold poorly and received mixed responses from the music press. In 2008, Rio
was included in the Classic Albums
series.
called We Were So Turned On from which all profits go to War Child
with Carla Bruni
, Devendra Banhart
, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Warpaint
and several others also contributing. The album was released on 14 September 2010 on Manimal Vinyl
Records. A limited edition split 7" single with Duran Duran and Carla Bruni
was also released on Manimal Vinyl
in December 2010.
In November 2010, Duran Duran announced the worldwide release of their 13th studio album, entitled All You Need Is Now
, that would be released on indie label S-Curve Records
. The album was produced by the Grammy Award-winning Mark Ronson
and mixed by Spike Stent, and was released exclusively on iTunes
on 21 December 2010 and hit the #1 spot on download charts in 15 countries (including the UK). The first single from the record, title track “All You Need Is Now”, was free to download worldwide on 8 December 2010 exclusively in iTunes
. Guitarist and songwriter Dom Brown
has co-written all but 2 songs on the "All You Need Is Now" album.
In March 2011 the band embarked on a concert tour in support of the album – called All You Need Is Now Tour
. There was a warm up show in London and the tour officially started on 16 March 2011 in Austin, Texas
.
The expanded physical album and various format special packages was released in March 2011, the 30th anniversary of the band's first release "Planet Earth". The CD features 14 tracks – or 5 additional tracks: "Mediterranea," "Other People's Lives," "Too Bad, You're Too Beautiful," "Diamond In The Mind," and "Return To Now." In a video posted 14 Feb 2011, on the band's website, Rhodes mentioned the mixing of another 4 tracks: "Too Close To the Sun," "Early Summer Nerves," "This Lost Weekend," and "Networker Nation." The album entered the UK chart at #11 and the Billboard chart at #29.
On 25 February 2011, while in Milan, Duran Duran Received Style Award. Letizia Moratti
, the city’s mayor, presented the Band with a key to the city, honoured to be presented with an award recognizing them as Style Icons of the 20th century.
On 23 March 2011, the band performed live at the Mayan Theater
in Los Angeles as the kickoff to the second season of “Unstaged: An Original Series from American Express
." The concert was live-streamed
on YouTube and directed by David Lynch
. The band was joined onstage by Gerard Way
of My Chemical Romance
, Beth Ditto
of Gossip
, and Kelis
.
In May 2011, Le Bon contracted laryngitis leading to either cancellation or rescheduling of most of the European dates for the 'All You Need Is Now' World Tour.
In October 2011, rumours circulated that Duran Duran would be involved in writing the theme song for the upcoming James Bond film, Skyfall with producer Mark Ronson. It would be their second time recording a Bond theme.
, "To describe them, as some have, as the first boy band, misrepresents their appeal. Their weapons were never just their looks, but self-penned songs." As Moby
said of the band in his website diary in 2003: "... they were cursed by what we can call the 'Bee Gees
' curse, which is: 'write amazing songs, sell tons of records, and consequently incur the wrath or disinterest of the rock obsessed critical establishment'."
Several of the band's contemporaries including The Bangles
, Elton John
, Kylie Minogue
, Paul Young
and even The Monkees
, have named themselves fans of the band's stylish, uplifting pop. Le Bon described the group as "the band to dance to when the bomb drops". Successors like Barenaked Ladies
, Beck
, Jonathan Davis
of Korn
, The Bravery
, Gwen Stefani
and Pink have all cited Duran Duran as a key band in their formative years. Singer Justin Timberlake
has openly admitted to being one of their biggest fans. The newest crop of performers to name Duran Duran as influences include Dido
, Franz Ferdinand
, Panic! at the Disco
, Lostprophets
(who took their name from the title of a Duran Duran bootleg tape), Goldfrapp
and Brandon Flowers
of The Killers, who said, "Nick Rhodes is an absolute hero of mine — their records still sound fresh, which is no mean feat as far as synths are concerned".
Nick Rhodes has directly lent his production techniques to Kajagoogoo
album White Feathers
and its Number One single "Too Shy
", and to The Dandy Warhols
album Welcome to the Monkey House
. The band's music has been used by several hip hop
artists, most notably Notorious B.I.G., who sampled Duran Duran's 1986 single "Notorious". Numerous bands have covered their music on record and in concert.
Hideki Kamiya
, director of the hit video game, Devil May Cry
in 2005 revealed that he chose John Taylor as the model for the game's main character, Dante
. Hideki carefully chose a rock star prototype possessing sex appeal, style and charisma to provide the necessary impetus into building this mighty character. Elements of power and mystery would balance out this character. During the interview, Hideki Kamiya commented that one of his teen band idols growing up was the famous 80s English band, Duran Duran. One of its members, bassist John Taylor, fit the bill as the model for Dante. Dante's character also mirrored John Taylor’s looks with his long, rocker hairstyle and mannerisms. The design of Dante’s face was inspired by John Taylor’s. And one can see that the faces are identically the same. Interestingly, John Taylor’s rocker fashion sense contributed to Dante’s signature long length, blood-red coat flanked by dark undertones and dark accessories.
, creating memorable images that were radically different from the then-common low budget "band-playing-on-a-stage" videos. Second, rather than simply playing their instruments, the band participated in mini-storylines (often taking inspiration from contemporary movies: "Hungry Like The Wolf" riffs on Raiders of the Lost Ark
, "The Wild Boys" on The Road Warrior, etc.). Videos were obviously headed in this direction already, but Duran Duran led the trend with a style, featuring quick editing, arresting graphic design, and surreal-to-nonsensical image inserts, that drew attention from commentators and spawned a wealth of imitators.
Duran Duran were among the first bands to have their videos shot with a professional movie camera
on 35 mm film
, rather than on videotape
with cheaper video cameras, making them look superior to many of the quickly and inexpensively shot videos which had been MTV staples until then. MTV provided Duran Duran with access to American radio markets that were unfriendly to British music, New Wave music, or "anything with synthesisers". Because MTV was not available everywhere in the United States at first, it was easy to see a pattern: where MTV went, listener demand for Duran Duran, Tears for Fears
, Def Leppard
and other European bands with interesting videos went through the roof.
The band's sun-drenched videos for "Rio", "Hungry Like The Wolf" and "Save A Prayer", and the surreal "Is There Something I Should Know?" were filmed by future movie director Russell Mulcahy
, who made eleven videos for the band. Duran Duran have always sought out innovative directors and techniques, even in their later years when MTV gave them little airplay. In addition to Mulcahy, they have had videos filmed by influential photographers Dean Chamberlain
and Ellen von Unwerth
, Chinese director Chen Kaige
, documentary filmmaker Julien Temple
, and the Polish Brothers
, among others. According to Nick Rhodes, "Video is to us like stereo was to Pink Floyd
".
In 1984, the band introduced video technology into their live stadium shows by being among the first acts to provide video screens above the stage. They have recorded concerts using IMAX
and 360 degree panoramic "immersive video" cameras, with 10.2
channel audio. In 2000, they experimented with augmented reality
technology, which allowed three-dimensional computer-generated images
to appear on stage with the band. They appeared on several century-end video countdowns: The MTV "100 Greatest Videos Ever Made" featured "Hungry Like The Wolf" at #11 and "Girls On Film" at #68, and the "VH1: 100 Greatest Videos" listed "Hungry" at #31 and "Rio" at #60. MTV named "Hungry" the fifteenth of their most-played videos of all time.
The band has released several video compilations, starting with the self-titled "video album" Duran Duran
, for which they won a Grammy award, up to the 2004 two-disc DVD release Greatest, which included alternative versions of several popular videos as Easter eggs. In addition to Greatest, the documentary Sing Blue Silver
, and the concert film Arena
(both from 1984) were released on DVD in 2004. Live From London
, a concert video from one of their sold-out 2004 reunion shows at Wembley Arena, was released in the fall of 2005.
Other video collections, concert films, and documentaries remain available only on videotape, and Duran Duran have not yet released a collection which includes all their videos. The band has said that a huge amount of unreleased concert and documentary footage has been filmed over the years, which they hope can be edited and released in some form in the near future. The video for "Falling Down" was released in October 2007.
The Nick Egan directed video for the lead single and title track from 'All You Need Is Now' was premiered via Yahoo Music on 20 December 2010.
The second video from All You Need Is Now
was released on November 8th, 2011. It features the world's biggest supermodels, like Yasmin Le Bon
, Cindy Crawford
, Naomi Campbell
, Eva Herzigova
and Helena Christensen
playing the band.
The video was directed by Jonas Akerlund
, and during the filming, an editorial was made for Harper's Bazaar
magazine.
Capitol/Parlophone
1998–2001: Hollywood Records
2001–2004: Unsigned
2004–2009: Epic Records
2009: Sony BMG (Red Carpet Massacre
)
2010–present: Tapemodern/Allido/S-Curve Records
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion
Second British Invasion
The term Second British Invasion refers to British music acts that became popular in the United States during the 1980s primarily due to the cable music channel MTV...
" of the United States. Since the 1980s, they have placed 14 singles in the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
and 21 in the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
and have, according to the Sunday Mercury
Sunday Mercury
Sunday Mercury is a Sunday tabloid published in Birmingham, UK, and owned by Trinity Mirror.The first editor was John Turner Fearon , who left the Dublin-based Freeman's Journal to take up the position...
, sold more than 100 million records. While they were generally considered part of the New Romantic
New Romantic
New Romanticism , was a pop culture movement in the United Kingdom that began around 1979 and peaked around 1981. Developing in London nightclubs such as Billy's and The Blitz and spreading to other major cities in the UK, it was based around flamboyant, eccentric fashion and new wave music...
scene along with bands such as Spandau Ballet
Spandau Ballet
Spandau Ballet are a British band formed in London in the late 1970s. Initially inspired by, and an integral part of, the New Romantic fashion, their music has featured a mixture of funk, jazz, soul and synthpop. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s, achieving ten Top Ten singles...
when they first emerged, they later shed this image. The band worked with fashion designers to build a sharp and elegant image that earned them the nickname "the prettiest boys in rock." The band's controversial videos, which included partial nudity and suggestions of sexuality, became popular in the early 1980s on the then-new music video channel MTV. Duran Duran were among the first bands to have their videos shot by professional directors with 35 mm film movie camera
Movie camera
The movie camera is a type of photographic camera which takes a rapid sequence of photographs on strips of film which was very popular for private use in the last century until its successor, the video camera, replaced it...
s, which gave their videos a much more polished look. In 1984, the band were early innovators with video technology in their live stadium shows.
The group was formed by Nick Rhodes
Nick Rhodes
Nick Rhodes is an English musician, is best known as the keyboardist of the pop rock band Duran Duran...
, John Taylor and Stephen Duffy
Stephen Duffy
Stephen Anthony James Duffy is an English singer/songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He was a founding member and vocalist/bassist of Duran Duran. He went on to record as a solo performer under several different names, and is the singer and songwriter for The Lilac Time with his older brother...
, with the later addition of Roger Taylor and, after numerous personnel changes, Andy Taylor
Andy Taylor (guitarist)
Andy Taylor is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer, best known as a member of Duran Duran and The Power Station....
and Simon Le Bon
Simon Le Bon
Simon John Charles Le Bon is an English musician, best known as the lead singer, lyricist and musician of the band Duran Duran and its offshoot, Arcadia.-Early life:...
. (None of the Taylors are related, and Roger Taylor is not to be confused with the Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
drummer of the same name.) The group has never disbanded, but the lineup has changed to include guitarist Warren Cuccurullo
Warren Cuccurullo
Warren Bruce Cuccurullo in Brooklyn, New York is an American rock musician who worked with Frank Zappa, was a founding member of Missing Persons, and has been a long term member of Duran Duran. He also has some notoriety in the porn industry after making nude appearances in a magazine and...
from 1989 to 2001 and drummer Sterling Campbell
Sterling Campbell
Sterling Campbell in New York City, New York, is an American rock drummer who has worked with numerous high-profile acts. He rose to attention in 1986, touring with Cyndi Lauper on her her True Colors World Tour, in 1986, and in 1987, joined Duran Duran...
from 1989 to 1991. The reunion of the original five members in the early 2000s created a stir among the band's fans and music media. Andy Taylor left the band in mid-2006, and London guitarist Dom Brown
Dominic Brown
Dominic "Dom" Brown is a London-based guitarist and singer-songwriter who has worked with many popular musicians, including Duran Duran, Elton John, Lionel Richie and Take That. He has also done both studio and live recordings with Justin Timberlake, Liam Gallagher and the Sugababes, along with...
has since been working with the band as a session player and touring member.
1978–1980: Formation and early years
John Taylor and Nick RhodesNick Rhodes
Nick Rhodes is an English musician, is best known as the keyboardist of the pop rock band Duran Duran...
formed Duran Duran in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
in 1978, where they would become the resident band at the city's Rum Runner
Rum Runner (nightclub)
The Rum Runner nightclub was opened on Broad Street, Birmingham in the city centre in 1964. It was demolished in 1987 to make way for the Hyatt Hotel....
nightclub. At the club they were doing jobs such as John working the door and with Nick deejaying for £10 a night. They began rehearsing and regularly playing at the venue. There were many nearby nightclubs, and the one "significant" one, where bands such as The Sex Pistols and The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
played gigs, was called Barbarella's. They would go on to name the band after the villain from Barbarella
Barbarella (film)
Barbarella is a 1968 Franco-Italian science fiction film based on Jean-Claude Forrest's French Barbarella comics. The film was directed by Roger Vadim and stars Jane Fonda, who was Vadim's wife at the time.-Plot:...
, Roger Vadim
Roger Vadim
Roger Vadim was a French screenwriter, director, and producer as well as a journalist, author and actor, who launched Brigitte Bardot's career in the film And God Created Woman.-Early life:...
's French science-fiction film. The villain
Villain
A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
, played by Milo O'Shea
Milo O'Shea
-Early life:He was born and raised in Dublin and educated by the Christian Brothers at Synge Street, along with his friend Donal Donnelly.He was discovered in the 1950s by Harry Dillon, who ran the "37 Theatre Club" on the top floor of his shop The Swiss Gem Company, 51 Lower O'Connell Street...
, is named "Dr. Durand Durand".
The band's first singer was Stephen Duffy
Stephen Duffy
Stephen Anthony James Duffy is an English singer/songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He was a founding member and vocalist/bassist of Duran Duran. He went on to record as a solo performer under several different names, and is the singer and songwriter for The Lilac Time with his older brother...
. Simon Colley soon joined Taylor, Rhodes and Duffy. Colley was the band's original bass player, as Taylor was the guitarist at this point. This was the first complete line-up of the band that played live shows. For drums and percussion, an electronic drum machine belonging to Rhodes was used. Colley left the band prior to the addition of Andy Taylor. A few guitarists were subsequently auditioned (for the most part, unsuccessfully) as well a handful of vocalists joining after Duffy left Duran Duran early in 1979. Among the handful of vocalists they had prior to Simon Le Bon was Andy Wickett, who had a major part in the writing of "Girls on Film
Girls on Film
"Girls on Film" is the third single by Duran Duran, released on 13 July 1981.The single became Duran Duran's Top 10 breakthrough in the UK Singles Chart, peaking at Number 5 in August 1981...
" during his tenure with the band, according to Andy Taylor's autobiography. (Wickett is also featured on some of the demos that were presented to EMI.) According to both Wickett's and John Taylor's websites, Wickett co-wrote an early version of the song that came to be known as "Rio
Rio (song)
"Rio" is the seventh single by Duran Duran, released on 1 November 1982.The song was the fourth, final, and title single lifted from the band's album of the same name, and was edited for its release...
" Tenor sax solo by Andy Hamilton (pop musician)
Andy Hamilton (pop musician)
Andy Hamilton is a British saxophonist who has played with Duran Duran , Wham!, Elton John, Pet Shop Boys, Tina Turner, George Michael, Paul McCartney, Radiohead, Bon Jovi and David Bowie....
. Upon Colley and Wickett's departures, the band enlisted singer Jeff Thomas and guitarist Alan Curtis, each for only a relatively brief period of time, before finally settling on Andy Taylor for lead guitar and Le Bon for vocals in 1980.
The meeting of drummer Roger Taylor (not to be confused with the Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
drummer) in 1979 with John Taylor, Rhodes and Wickett at a party, as well as the departure of Colley, led John Taylor to switch to bass. Roger Taylor then became their original (human) drummer. It was this lineup (John Taylor on bass and guitar along with Rhodes, Wickett and Roger Taylor) that made the first-ever Duran Duran studio demo tapes. In April 1980, guitarist Andy Taylor came from Newcastle to audition after responding to an advertisement in Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
. In May 1980, London vocalist Simon Le Bon was recommended to the band by an ex-girlfriend who worked at the Rum Runner
Rum Runner (nightclub)
The Rum Runner nightclub was opened on Broad Street, Birmingham in the city centre in 1964. It was demolished in 1987 to make way for the Hyatt Hotel....
. The owners of the club, brothers Paul and Michael Berrow, became the band's management, paying them to work as doormen, disc jockeys and glass collectors when they were not rehearsing.
The group were generally considered part of the New Romantic
New Romantic
New Romanticism , was a pop culture movement in the United Kingdom that began around 1979 and peaked around 1981. Developing in London nightclubs such as Billy's and The Blitz and spreading to other major cities in the UK, it was based around flamboyant, eccentric fashion and new wave music...
scene, with other style-and-dance bands such as Spandau Ballet
Spandau Ballet
Spandau Ballet are a British band formed in London in the late 1970s. Initially inspired by, and an integral part of, the New Romantic fashion, their music has featured a mixture of funk, jazz, soul and synthpop. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s, achieving ten Top Ten singles...
, Japan
Japan (band)
Japan were a British New Wave group, formed in 1974 in Catford, South London. The band achieved success in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when they were often associated with the burgeoning New Romantic fashion movement .- History :The band began as a group of friends...
and ABC
ABC (band)
ABC are an English band, that charted ten UK and five US Top 40 singles between 1981 and 1990. The band continues to tour and released a new album, Traffic, in 2008.-Formation:...
. In 1980, they recorded two demo tapes and performed in clubs around Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
and London. In late 1980, when touring as an opening act for Hazel O'Connor
Hazel O'Connor
Hazel O'Connor is an English singer-songwriter and actress. She is the daughter of a soldier from Galway who settled in England after World War II to work in a car plant...
, the band attracted critical attention, resulting in a bidding war between the record companies EMI
EMI Records
EMI Records is the flagship record label founded by the EMI company in 1972 and launched in January 1973 as the successor to its Columbia label. The EMI label was launched worldwide...
and Phonogram Records
Phonogram Records
Phonogram Records was started in 1962 as a joint venture between Philips Records and Deutsche Grammophon. In 1972, Phonogram was merged with Polydor Records into PolyGram....
. "A certain patriotism" toward the label of The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
led them to sign with EMI in December; Nick Rhodes said in a 1998 interview with Deluxe magazine that the band felt they were "appallingly ripped off" by the EMI contract.
Duran Duran were amongst the earliest bands to work on their own remix
Remix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
es. Before the days of digital synthesisers and easy audio sampling
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
, they created multilayered arrangements of their singles, sometimes recording entirely different extended performances of the songs in the studio. These "night versions" were generally available only on vinyl
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
as b-sides
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
to 45-rpm singles or on 12-inch club singles until the release of the compilation Night Versions: The Essential Duran Duran
Night Versions: The Essential Duran Duran
Night Versions: The Essential Duran Duran is a compilation album of remixes by Duran Duran. From the very beginning of their career, the band had dubbed the extended dance remixes of their songs "night versions", as they were intended for play in nightclubs.Unlike many of their contemporaries,...
in 1999.
From the very beginning of their career together, all the band members had a keen sense of visual style. They worked with stylist Perry Haines and fashion designers such as Kahn & Bell and Antony Price
Antony Price
Antony Price is a London fashion designer who is best known for glamorous evening wear and suits, and for the seventies icon of the cap sleeve t-shirt...
to build a sharp and elegant image, soon outgrowing the ruffles and sashes of the pirate-flavored early New Romantic look that had been popularised by Adam and the Ants
Adam and the Ants
Adam and the Ants were a British rock band active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The original group, which existed from 1977 to 1980, became notable as a cult band marking the transition from the late-1970s punk rock era to the post-punk and New Wave era...
during 1980–81. They have continued to present fashion as part of their package throughout their career. In the 1990s they worked with Vivienne Westwood
Vivienne Westwood
Dame Vivienne Westwood, DBE, RDI is a British fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream.-Early life:...
, and in the 2000s with Giorgio Armani
Giorgio Armani
Giorgio Armani is an Italian fashion designer, particularly noted for his menswear. He is known today for his clean, tailored lines. He formed his company, Armani, in 1975, and by 2001 was acclaimed as the most successful designer to come out of Italy, with an annual turnover of $1.6 billion and a...
. The band retained creative control of their visual presentation and worked closely with graphic designer Malcolm Garrett
Malcolm Garrett
Malcolm Garrett is a British graphic designer, who has worked for music artists such as Simple Minds, Magazine, Duran Duran and Peter Gabriel...
and many others over the years to create album covers, tour programs and other materials.
All five members of the band were photogenic and were labelled "the prettiest boys in rock" by People
People (magazine)
In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...
magazine. Teen and music magazines in the UK latched onto their good looks quickly, and the US soon followed. It was a rare month in the early 1980s when there was not at least one picture of the band members in teen magazine
Teen magazine
Teen magazines are magazines aimed at female teenage readers. They usually consist of gossip, news, fashion tips and interviews and may include posters, stickers, small samples of cosmetics or other products and inserts. Magazines targeting teenage boys are not often called teen...
s such as Smash Hits
Smash Hits
Smash Hits was a pop music based magazine, aimed at teenagers and young adults and originally published in the United Kingdom by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006 and was issued fortnightly for most of that time...
or Tiger Beat
Tiger Beat
Tiger Beat is an American fan magazine marketed primarily to adolescent girls. It is currently published by Laufer Media, Inc. of Los Angeles, California, which also produces its sister publication, Bop....
. John Taylor once remarked that the band was "like a box of Quality Street [chocolates]; everyone is someone's favourite" Duran Duran later came to regret this early pin-up exposure, but at the time it helped attract national attention. In an interview with Rock Fever Superstars Magazine in early 1988, John Taylor stated:
We used to be a very chi-chi name to drop in '79, but then the Fab Five hype started and something went wrong. Something went really wrong. That wasn't what I wanted. [...] Not that I didn't like being screamed at. At one point I really did."
1981–1982
Planet Earth (song)
"Planet Earth" is the debut single by the English pop rock band Duran Duran, released on 2 February 1981.It was an immediate hit in the band's native UK, reaching #12 on the UK Singles Chart on 21 February, and did even better in Australia, hitting #8 to become Duran Duran's first Top 10 hit...
", reached the United Kingdom's Top 20 at Number 12. A follow-up, "Careless Memories
Careless Memories
"Careless Memories" is the second single by Duran Duran, released on 20 April 1981.The band's debut single "Planet Earth" had been a Top 20 hit, so it was regarded as a major setback when "Careless Memories" stalled at #37 in the UK charts, particularly as it was to herald the June release of the...
", stalled at Number 37. However it was their third single, "Girls On Film", that attracted the most attention. The song went to Number 5 in the UK before the notorious video was even filmed. The video, featuring topless women mud wrestling
Mud wrestling
Mud wrestling is defined as physical confrontation that occurs in mud or a mud pit. The popular modern interpretation specifies that participants wrestle while wearing minimal clothing and usually going barefoot, with the emphasis on presenting an entertaining spectacle as opposed to physically...
, pillow fight
Pillow fight
A pillow fight is a common game mostly played by young children in which they engage in mock physical conflict, utilizing pillows as weapons....
ing and stylised depictions of other sexual fetishes, was made with directing duo Godley & Creme
Godley & Creme
Godley & Creme were an English pop music duo composed of Kevin Godley and Lol Creme. The pair began releasing albums as a duo after splitting from the pop band 10cc. In 1979 they directed their first music video for their own single "An Englishman in New York"...
in August. The video was filmed just two weeks after MTV was launched in the United States. The band expected the "Girls On Film
Girls on Film
"Girls on Film" is the third single by Duran Duran, released on 13 July 1981.The single became Duran Duran's Top 10 breakthrough in the UK Singles Chart, peaking at Number 5 in August 1981...
" video to be played in the newer nightclubs that had video screens or on pay TV
Pay TV
Pay television, premium television, or premium channels refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by both analog and digital cable and satellite, but also increasingly via digital terrestrial and internet television...
channels like the Playboy Channel. Kevin Godley
Kevin Godley
Kevin Godley is a British musician and music video director.He was born in a family of Jewish descent, and went to North Cestrian Grammar School in Altrincham....
explained the thinking behind it:
We were very explicitly told by Duran Duran's management to make a very sensational and erotic piece that would be for clubs, where it would get shown uncensored just to make people take notice and talk about it.
The video was heavily edited for MTV. The album peaked in the UK Top Twenty at Number 3. Later in 1981 the band embarked on their first United States club tour followed by more dates in Germany and the UK. This second tour of Britain coincided with a wave of riot
Riot
A riot is a form of civil disorder characterized often by what is thought of as disorganized groups lashing out in a sudden and intense rash of violence against authority, property or people. While individuals may attempt to lead or control a riot, riots are thought to be typically chaotic and...
s sparked by unemployment and racial tension, including those of Moss Side
Moss Side
Moss Side is an inner-city area and electoral ward of Manchester, England. It lies south of Manchester city centre and has a population of around 17,537...
and Toxteth
Toxteth
Toxteth is an inner city area of Liverpool, England. Located to the south of the city, Toxteth is bordered by Liverpool City Centre, Dingle, Edge Hill, Wavertree and Aigburth.-Description:...
. The band played an eerily quiet Birmingham the day after the Handsworth riots
1981 Handsworth riots
The 1981 Handsworth riots were three days of rioting that took place in the Handsworth area of Birmingham, England in July 1981. The major outbreak of violence took place on the night of Friday 10/11 July, with smaller disturbances on the following two nights....
. Duran Duran began to achieve worldwide recognition in 1982. In May they released their second album, Rio
Rio (album)
Rio is the second studio album by the British rock band Duran Duran, originally released worldwide on 10 May 1982. It reached #2 in the UK and #1 in Australia....
, which scored four UK Top Twenty singles with "My Own Way", "Hungry Like The Wolf
Hungry Like the Wolf
"Hungry Like the Wolf" is a song by the British New Wave band Duran Duran. Written by the band members, the song was produced by Colin Thurston for the group's second studio album Rio . The song was released in May 1982 as the band's fifth single in the United Kingdom...
", "Save A Prayer
Save A Prayer
"Save a Prayer" is the sixth single by Duran Duran, released on 9 August 1982.The song was the third single from the band's second album Rio...
", and the title song "Rio
Rio (song)
"Rio" is the seventh single by Duran Duran, released on 1 November 1982.The song was the fourth, final, and title single lifted from the band's album of the same name, and was edited for its release...
". A headlining tour of Australia, Japan, and the US was followed by a stint supporting Blondie
Blondie (band)
Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s...
during that band's final American tour. Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, whom she married on 29 July 1981, and an international charity and fundraising figure, as well as a preeminent celebrity of the late 20th century...
declared Duran Duran her favourite band, and the band were dubbed "The Fab Five" by the British press, comparing them to the Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
whose nickname was The Fab Four.
The Rio album did not do well in the United States at first. EMI in the UK had promoted Duran Duran as a New Romantic band but that genre was barely known in the US and EMI's American subsidiary Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
was at a loss about how to sell them. After Carnival
Carnival (EP)
Carnival is a dance music EP by Duran Duran, originally released in various markets around the world in September 1982 by EMI.-Background:...
, an EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
of Rio's dance remixes became popular with DJs in the fall, the band arranged to have most of the album remixed by David Kershenbaum
David Kershenbaum
David Kershenbaum is an American record producer and entrepreneur, born in Springfield, Missouri. He has worked with many artists including Duran Duran, Tracy Chapman, Joe Jackson, Bryan Adams, Supertramp, Cat Stevens, Elkie Brooks, and Tori Amos. As a producer he has earned 75 international gold...
. In June 1982, Duran Duran appeared for the first time on American television. They energetically performed "Hungry Like The Wolf" and "Rio" on Dancin' On Air, the forerunner to the national hit show Dance Party USA
Dance Party USA
Dance Party USA is an American dance television show that aired on cable's USA Network from April 12, 1986, to June 27, 1992. It was originally a half-hour, but was expanded to an hour in 1987....
. Michael Nise, executive producer of both shows, recalls how shy the "boys" were and how they kidded each other about how bad they looked on TV.
Only after it was re-released in the US in November, with heavy promotion as a dance album, did Rio begin to climb the American charts six months after its European success. MTV placed "Hungry Like The Wolf" and several other Duran Duran videos into heavy rotation, pushing it and "Rio" into the top twenty on the US charts in early 1983. The seduction ballad "Save A Prayer" also did well. "The band was a natural for music television," noted Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine. "They may be the first rock group to ride in on a video wave." In the end, the album peaked at number 6 in the US and remained on the charts there for 129 weeks — almost two and a half years. In 2003 Rio was listed at number 65 in the NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
100 Greatest Albums Of All Time.
1983–1985: The "Fab Five"
The band began 1983 by playing the MTV New Year's Eve Rock 'n' Roll Ball with "Hungry Like The Wolf" still climbing the charts in the US, and the American reissue of the "Rio" single to follow in March. To satisfy America's appetite for their music, the band re-released their eponymous first album in the US in the middle of the year with the addition of the new single "Is There Something I Should Know?Is There Something I Should Know?
"Is There Something I Should Know?" is the eighth single by Duran Duran, released on 19 March 1983.The song was released as a stand-alone single and became the band's first UK number one record. It debuted in the #1 position on the UK Singles Chart on 26 March 1983...
". On its release, this song entered the chart at Number 1 in the UK (a rarity then and their first chart-topper in their home country) and reached Number 4 on the American charts. During the promotion of this album, Rhodes and Le Bon were MTV guest VJs for a show, during which artist and admirer Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
dropped by to greet them. "Our first gigs in the United States were crazy and culty,” Rhodes said later, “But when we came back after 'Hungry' was a hit, it was mayhem. It was Beatlemania
Beatlemania
Beatlemania is a term that originated during the 1960s to describe the intense fan frenzy directed toward The Beatles during the early years of their success...
. We were doing a signing of the 'Girls on Film' video at a store in Times Square
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
. We couldn’t get out of the store. The cops sealed off the streets." Also in 1983, keyboardist Nick Rhodes produced the UK number 1 and US number 5 hit "Too Shy" for the English band Kajagoogoo
Kajagoogoo
Kajagoogoo are a British pop band, best known for their hit single, "Too Shy", which reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart and No. 5 on the U.S...
and Andy Taylor became the first member of Duran Duran to get married. The band's main pop rivals were now Culture Club
Culture Club
Culture Club are a British rock band who were part of the 1980s New Romantic movement. The original band consisted of Boy George , Mikey Craig , Roy Hay and Jon Moss...
and Wham!. But Duran Duran's explosive popularity easily surpassed these competing bands globally.
The band spent the next year as tax exile
Tax exile
A tax exile is one who chooses to leave a country with a high tax burden and instead to reside in a foreign nation or jurisdiction which takes a lower portion of earnings. Going into tax exile is a means of tax mitigation or avoidance.-Legal status:...
s, writing songs at a chateau in France where The Tube
The Tube (TV series)
The Tube was an innovative United Kingdom pop/rock music television programme, which ran for five seasons, from 5 November 1982 until 1987...
with Jools Holland
Jools Holland
Julian Miles "Jools" Holland OBE, DL is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer, and television presenter. He was a founder of the band Squeeze and his work has involved him with many artists including Sting, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, The Who, David Gilmour and Bono.Holland is a...
filmed a documentary with the band in May 1983 before they flew to Montserrat
Montserrat
Montserrat is a British overseas territory located in the Leeward Islands, part of the chain of islands called the Lesser Antilles in the West Indies. This island measures approximately long and wide, giving of coastline...
and then Sydney to record and mix their third album. During the summer, they returned to the UK to perform two concerts, the first on 20 July in front of the Prince and Princess of Wales at the Dominion Theatre
Dominion Theatre
The Dominion Theatre is a West End theatre on Tottenham Court Road close to St Giles Circus and Centre Point Tower, in the London Borough of Camden.-History:...
, and 3 days later played a charity concert at Aston Villa's home ground. The band were under pressure to follow up the success of Rio and the recording process took over six months as different band members went through bouts of perfectionism and insecurity. A newly decadent lifestyle and substance abuse
Substance abuse
A substance-related disorder is an umbrella term used to describe several different conditions associated with several different substances .A substance related disorder is a condition in which an individual uses or abuses a...
issues added complications. In the documentary film Extraordinary World, filmed a decade later, Rhodes described the effect on their sound as "barely controlled hysteria, scratching beneath the surface".
The new album, Seven and the Ragged Tiger
Seven and the Ragged Tiger
Seven and the Ragged Tiger is the third studio album by English pop rock band Duran Duran, released globally in November 1983. It would prove to be the last studio album for the band's original lineup until 2004's Astronaut....
, included the late 1983 hit "Union of the Snake
Union of the Snake
"Union of the Snake" is the ninth single by Duran Duran, released on 17 October 1983."Union of the Snake" was the lead single from the band's third album Seven and the Ragged Tiger and preceded its release by one month...
" (with the soprano sax solo by Andy Hamilton
Andy Hamilton (pop musician)
Andy Hamilton is a British saxophonist who has played with Duran Duran , Wham!, Elton John, Pet Shop Boys, Tina Turner, George Michael, Paul McCartney, Radiohead, Bon Jovi and David Bowie....
). Following "Hungry Like the Wolf", "Rio", "Save A Prayer" and "Is There Something I Should Know", Duran Duran had had five US. Top Twenty hits from three different albums in a single year. The band made music headlines by deciding to release the "Union of the Snake" video to MTV a full week before the single was released to radio at a time when the industry feared video really might kill the radio star
Video Killed the Radio Star
"Video Killed the Radio Star" is a song by the British synthpop/New Wave group The Buggles, released as their debut single on 7 September 1979, on Island Records from their debut album The Age of Plastic. It celebrates the golden days of radio, describing a singer whose career is cut short by...
. They followed up with "New Moon on Monday
New Moon on Monday
"New Moon on Monday" is a song by Duran Duran, released as the band's tenth single in January 1984.The second single to be lifted from the band's 1983 album Seven and the Ragged Tiger, the song was another success, reaching the Top 10 on both the British and American music charts...
", which reached Number 9 in the UK. Their next single "The Reflex
The Reflex
"The Reflex" is the eleventh single by Duran Duran, released worldwide on 16 April 1984.The song was heavily remixed for single release and was the third and last to be taken from their third album Seven and the Ragged Tiger.-Song history:...
", taken from Seven and the Ragged Tiger and given a significant remix overhaul by Nile Rodgers
Nile Rodgers
Nile Gregory Rodgers is an American musician, producer, composer, arranger, and guitarist.-Biography:...
of Chic
Chic (band)
Chic was an African American disco and R&B band that was organized during 1976 by guitarist Nile Rodgers and bassist Bernard Edwards. It is known best for its commercially successful disco songs, including "Dance, Dance, Dance " , "Everybody Dance" , "Le Freak" , "I Want Your Love" , "Good Times"...
fame, became their first number one hit in the United States. "The Reflex" was also their second and final UK number one and was successful in numerous other countries around the world.
The band embarked on a global tour that continued throughout the first four months of 1984 including their first major stadium dates in America. A film crew led by director Russell Mulcahy followed the band closely, leading to the documentary film Sing Blue Silver
Sing Blue Silver
Sing Blue Silver is a documentary about Duran Duran's 1983-1984 World Tour directed by Michael Collins. A sixty-minute edited version of the documentary was aired on MTV under the title Blue Silver....
and the accompanying concert film
Concert film
A concert movie, or concert film, is a type of documentary film, the subject of which is an extended live performance or concert by a musician ....
Arena
Arena (An Absurd Notion)
Arena is a concept concert video filmed during the course of Duran Duran's 1984 Sing Blue Silver North American Tour in support of the album Seven and the Ragged Tiger.-Background:...
. The live album Arena was also recorded during the tour and was released with the new studio single "The Wild Boys
The Wild Boys (song)
"The Wild Boys" is the twelfth single by Duran Duran, released in October 1984.The song was the only studio track on the live album Arena, and was produced by Nile Rodgers, who had previously remixed the single "The Reflex"...
", which went to Number 2 on both sides of the Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
. In February 1984, the band appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine and won two Grammy awards in the brand-new Long Form
Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video
The Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video is an accolade presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally named the Gramophone Awards, to performers, directors, and producers of quality videos or musical programs...
and Short Form
Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video
The Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to performers, directors, and producers of quality short form music videos...
music video categories. The Live version of Save A Prayer
Save A Prayer
"Save a Prayer" is the sixth single by Duran Duran, released on 9 August 1982.The song was the third single from the band's second album Rio...
gained momentum in North America, and the song became a single for the second time in January 1985 reaching #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 on 16 March 1985. The live "sunrise" version of the video was used, taken from the concert video footage for Arena / As The Lights Go Down
As The Lights Go Down
Duran Duran's Oakland, California concerts that were filmed for the Arena movie were also edited to form the one-hour As The Lights Go Down concert video...
.
During the peak of their popularity in 1985, singer Simon LeBon and bassist John Taylor became heartthrobs for many of their young teenage fans. After the tour, Roger Taylor was married in Naples, Italy, and Nick Rhodes wed in London, wearing a pink velvet tuxedo and top hat. At the end of 1984, the group were featured on the Band Aid
Band Aid (band)
Band Aid was a charity supergroup featuring British and Irish musicians and recording artists. It was founded in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia by releasing the song "Do They Know It's Christmas?" for the Christmas market that year. The single...
benefit single "Do They Know It's Christmas?
Do They Know It's Christmas?
"Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a song written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in 1984 to raise money for relief of the 1984–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The original version was produced by Midge Ure and released by Band Aid on 29 November 1984....
" along with other popular British musical acts. Simon Le Bon sang between contributions from George Michael
George Michael
George Michael is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer who rose to fame in the 1980s when he formed the pop duo Wham! with his school friend, Andrew Ridgeley...
and Sting.
1985: Side projects
Even with Duran Duran on hold, band members were soon anxious to record new music, leading to a supposedly temporary split into two side projects. John and Andy Taylor wanted to break away from the Duran Duran sound and pursue hard rock material; they collaborated with Robert Palmer and Tony ThompsonTony Thompson
Anthony T. "Tony" Thompson was a session drummer best known as a member of Chic. He was raised in the middle-class community of Springfield Gardens, in Queens, NY.-Chic:...
to form the rock/funk supergroup Power Station
Power Station (band)
Power Station was a 1980s supergroup made up of singer Robert Palmer, former Chic drummer Tony Thompson, and Duran Duran members John Taylor and Andy Taylor . Bernard Edwards, also of Chic, was involved on the studio side as recording producer. For a short time he also functioned as Power...
, which released two Top 10 singles. Simon Le Bon and Nick Rhodes, on the other hand, wanted to further explore Duran Duran's atmospheric aspect and formed Arcadia
Arcadia (band)
Arcadia were the pop group formed in 1985 by Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes and Roger Taylor of Duran Duran, during a break in that band's schedule. However, Roger Taylor appeared in only a few band photographs and in none of the music videos, and stated he was only to be involved in the recording side...
, who released one LP from which the single "Election Day" was released. Roger Taylor was primarily the drummer for Arcadia, but also contributed percussion to the Power Station album. Duran Duran were never the same after this break. According to Rhodes, the two side projects "were commercial suicide... But we’ve always been good at that." The band were still off balance when they regrouped to contribute A View to a Kill
A View to a Kill (song)
"A View to a Kill" is the thirteenth single by Duran Duran, released in May 1985.It was a stand-alone single, created for the James Bond movie A View to a Kill, and it remains the only James Bond theme song to have reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100; it also made it to #2 for 3 weeks on the UK...
to the 1985 James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
movie of the same name
A View to a Kill
A View to a Kill is the fourteenth spy film of the James Bond series, and the seventh and last to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Although the title is adapted from Ian Fleming's short story "From a View to a Kill", the film is the fourth Bond film after The Spy Who Loved...
. This single remains the only Bond theme
James Bond music
The James Bond series of films from EON Productions has had numerous signature tunes over the years, many of which are now considered classic pieces of cinematic music...
to go to Number 1 on the US charts, and the highest-placed Bond theme on the UK chart where it reached Number 2. It was the last single the band recorded as the original five-piece for twenty years.
As a follow-up to the Christmas 1984 Band Aid single, Duran Duran performed in front of 90,000 people (and an estimated 1.5 billion TV viewers) at the Live Aid
Live Aid
Live Aid was a dual-venue concert that was held on 13 July 1985. The event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the "global jukebox", the event was held simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom ...
charity concert at John F. Kennedy Stadium
John F. Kennedy Stadium
John F. Kennedy Stadium was an open-air stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that stood from 1925 to 1992. The South Philadelphia stadium was situated on the east side of the far southern end of Broad Street at a location that is now part of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex...
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, on 13 July 1985 while their Bond song held the top spot on the American charts. It was not intended to be a farewell performance—the band planned only to take a break after four years of non-stop touring and public appearances—but the original five did not play live together again until July 2003. Their Live Aid set became infamous for Le Bon inadvertently hitting a falsetto
Falsetto
Falsetto is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous edges of the vocal folds, in whole or in part...
note in the chorus of "A View to a Kill", which he later described as the most humiliating moment of his career.
1986–1989: Le Bon, Rhodes and John Taylor trio
After releasing three studio albums and one live album in five years, each accompanied by heavy media promotion and lengthy concert tours, the band lost two of its core members to fatigue and tension in 1986. After Live AidLive Aid
Live Aid was a dual-venue concert that was held on 13 July 1985. The event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the "global jukebox", the event was held simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom ...
and Arcadia, drummer Roger Taylor retired to the English countryside, suffering from exhaustion. This was originally announced as a one year sabbatical, but it soon became clear that he would not be returning to the band. An official press release was issued in April 1986 confirming his departure. In a 2004 interview with Live Daily, Roger confirmed his reasons for leaving: "I was burned out. I think I was just exhausted. It was a very intense five years. We didn't stop. It was constant touring, constant writing, recording. We broke internationally, as well—instantly, pretty well. It's a nonstop schedule, really. I had lost myself somewhere".
Guitarist Andy Taylor, on the other hand, led the remaining members to believe he would return to work on a new Duran Duran album even as he was signing a solo recording contract in Los Angeles (he eventually released a solo album in 1986, Thunder). The band resorted to legal measures to get him into the studio, but after numerous delays, they let him go at last. He played on only a few songs on the next album while the disagreements were being settled.
Without a guitarist or a drummer, the three remaining members, Le Bon, Rhodes, and John Taylor had producer (and former Chic guitarist) Nile Rodgers
Nile Rodgers
Nile Gregory Rodgers is an American musician, producer, composer, arranger, and guitarist.-Biography:...
play a few tracks on guitar, and hired Steve Ferrone
Steve Ferrone
Steven "Steve" Ferrone is a British drummer.He was a member of the Average White Band, and has recorded and performed with numerous other high-profile acts, including Slash, Chaka Khan, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Scritti Politti...
to play drums while they searched for replacements. Finally in September 1986, Warren Cuccurullo
Warren Cuccurullo
Warren Bruce Cuccurullo in Brooklyn, New York is an American rock musician who worked with Frank Zappa, was a founding member of Missing Persons, and has been a long term member of Duran Duran. He also has some notoriety in the porn industry after making nude appearances in a magazine and...
(formerly of Missing Persons and Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
's touring band) was hired as a session guitarist. With Le Bon, Rhodes, and Taylor, he recorded the rest of the Notorious album, which was released in October 1986. The black-and-white documentary film Three To Get Ready chronicled the recording of the album, legal tensions, and preparations for the tour.
Although the song "Notorious
Notorious (song)
"Notorious" is the 14th single by Duran Duran. It was released internationally by EMI on 20 October 1986. "Notorious" was the first single issued from the album Notorious, and the first released by Duran Duran as a 3-piece band after the departure of Roger Taylor and Andy Taylor...
" went to Number 2 in the US, Number 7 in the UK, and album sales were strong, the band found they had lost much of the momentum and hysteria they had left behind in 1985. In the three years between the release of Seven and the Ragged Tiger and Notorious, many of their teenage fans had grown up, and the music was funkier, more mature, and less "pop", given the added experience of their work on Arcadia and Power Station and with other musicians. "Skin Trade" and "Meet El Presidente
Meet El Presidente
"Meet El Presidente" is the 16th single from Duran Duran, and the third single from the Notorious album.-About the song:According to a studio report in Star Hits magazine, one of the early drafts of this song was called "One of the Faithful"...
", the two subsequent singles, made the charts but fared poorly compared to the band's earlier successes.
Subsequently, Duran Duran struggled to escape the teen idol
Teen idol
A teen idol is a celebrity who is widely idolized by teenagers; he or she is often young but not necessarily teenaged. Often teen idols are actors or pop singers, but some sports figures have an appeal to teenagers. Some teen idols began their careers as child actors...
image and gain respect among critics with more complex music. The new serious image was not accepted at first and their popularity began to wane. Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
said, "In their search for musical maturity, the surviving Durans have lost a good deal of their identity." Another factor was the band's dismissal of early managers the Berrow brothers. There was no announcement of the reasons for the decision, but disagreements over money, and the brothers’ involvement in Le Bon's yachting adventures (they were co-owners of Drum) were thought to have played a part. Whatever the reason, Duran Duran switched managers frequently and undertook periods of self-management in the later stages of their career. In addition, EMI (which fired its president and went through a major corporate restructuring that summer) seemed to have lost interest in promoting the band.
The next album Big Thing
Big Thing
Big Thing is the fifth album by Duran Duran, released worldwide in 1988. It reached #15 in the UK and #24 in the US.A CD reissue was released in 1994. The album is was reissued as a three disc boxset on .- Background :...
(1988) yielded the singles "I Don't Want Your Love
I Don't Want Your Love
"I Don't Want Your Love" is the seventeenth single from Duran Duran and the first single from the Big Thing album. It was released on September 1988...
" (Number 4 in the US), "Do You Believe In Shame
Do You Believe In Shame
"Do You Believe In Shame?" is the nineteenth single by Duran Duran. Released 10 April 1989 it was the third and final single from the Big Thing album.-About the song:...
?" and "All She Wants Is
All She Wants Is
"All She Wants Is" is the eighteenth single from Duran Duran, and the second single from the Big Thing album. It was released in December 1988, and reached #9 on the UK Singles Chart and #22 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States.-Music video:...
" (the last top ten hit in the UK until 1993). The record was experimental, mixing influences from house music
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...
and rave music
Rave music
Rave music may either refer the late 1980s genre or any genre of electronic dance music that may be played at an electronic dance party such as a rave. Very rarely, the term is used to refer to less electronic related genres glam, powerpop, psychedelic rock and dub music parties...
with Duran's atmospheric synthpop
Synthpop
Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...
and the creative guitar work of Cuccurullo (now a full band member), as well as more mature lyrics.
1989–1991: Five again, Decade and Liberty
By the end of 1989 and at the start of the 1990s, the popularity of Synthpop was fading a bit and losing fans to other momentum-gaining music genres at the time, such as hip hopHip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
, techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...
and alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
. After touring for the album finished, the band regained a five-man membership as guitarist Warren Cuccurullo and tour drummer Sterling Campbell
Sterling Campbell
Sterling Campbell in New York City, New York, is an American rock drummer who has worked with numerous high-profile acts. He rose to attention in 1986, touring with Cyndi Lauper on her her True Colors World Tour, in 1986, and in 1987, joined Duran Duran...
were made full members of Duran Duran.
The compilation album Decade: Greatest Hits
Decade: Greatest Hits
Decade – Greatest Hits is a greatest hits album by Duran Duran, released on November 15, 1989 .The remix single "Burning the Ground" was released to radio to promote this album; it was created by producer John Jones mixing snippets of the band's biggest hits from the previous decade into a new...
was released late in 1989, along with the megamix
Megamix
A megamix is a medley remix containing multiple songs in rapid succession. There may be only one verse or even just a brief chorus of each song used, sometimes in addition to samples of the same or other songs. There may also be some elements of bastard pop in some, though not as much as a mashup...
single "Burning The Ground
Burning The Ground
"Burning The Ground" is the 20th single by Duran Duran, released in December 1989. It was created as a stand-alone single to promote the compilation album Decade: Greatest Hits, but didn't appear on the album itself. However, its music video was included on the band's audiovisual compilation...
", which consisted of woven snippets of the band's hits from the previous ten years. The single came and went with little fanfare, but the album became another major seller for the band. However, the tepid 1990 release Liberty
Liberty (album)
Liberty is the sixth studio album by Duran Duran, released on . It entered the top 10 in the UK albums chart, and garnered a #6 hit for the single "Serious" in Japan.-Recording:...
(a retreat from the experimentation of Big Thing) failed to capitalise on any regained momentum. The album entered the UK album chart in the top ten, but faded away quickly. The singles "Violence of Summer (Love's Taking Over)
Violence Of Summer
"Violence of Summer " is the 21st single by Duran Duran, and the first single from the 1990 Liberty album.Having finished the 1980s with the Decade singles compilation, Duran Duran found the 1990s a new challenge, in which success would initially elude them...
" and "Serious" were only mildly successful, and the album's soft rock did not fare well against contemporaries like Alice in Chains
Alice in Chains
Alice in Chains is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1987 by guitarist and songwriter Jerry Cantrell and original lead vocalist Layne Staley. The initial lineup was rounded out by drummer Sean Kinney, and bassist Mike Starr...
and Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction is an American alternative rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985. The band's original line-up featured Perry Farrell , Dave Navarro , Eric Avery and Stephen Perkins . After breaking up in 1991, Jane's Addiction briefly reunited in 1997 and again in 2001, both times...
, while Nirvana
Nirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...
, Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included Eddie Vedder , Jeff Ament , Stone Gossard , and Mike McCready...
and the grunge
Grunge
Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...
revolution were just around the corner. For the first time, Duran Duran did not tour in support of an album, performing on only a handful of club dates and TV shows. Sterling Campbell left the band early in 1991, going on to work with Soul Asylum
Soul Asylum
Soul Asylum is an American alternative rock band that formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1983.The band originally formed in 1981 under the name Loud Fast Rules, with the original line-up consisting of Dan Murphy, Dave Pirner, Karl Mueller and Pat Morley. The latter was replaced by Grant Young in...
and David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
. The quartet of Le Bon, Rhodes, Taylor, and Cuccurullo would remain intact for six more years. In December 1991, John Taylor (then 31) married 19-year-old model/actress Amanda De Cadenet
Amanda de Cadenet
-Biography:De Cadenet is the daughter of racing car driver Alain de Cadenet. She began her career as a co-presenter for The Word, a late-night Channel 4 magazine show. She also co-hosted The Big Breakfast....
, and she gave birth to his daughter in March 1992.
1992–1996: Quartet lineup and a brief comeback
In 1993, the band released a second self-titled album: this Duran DuranDuran Duran (1993 album)
Duran Duran is the seventh studio album and the second self-titled album by Duran Duran, released on 23 February 1993. The cover art by Nick Egan features wedding photos from the parents of the four band members.Recording of the album was completed in early 1992 with an impending release by...
album is known as The Wedding Album (for Nick Egan's cover art featuring the wedding photos of the band members' parents) to distinguish it from the 1981 release. The release of this first "comeback" album was delayed, with then manager at Left Bank, Tommy Manzi, later telling HitQuarters
HitQuarters
HitQuarters is an international music industry publication and contact database founded in 1999. It is noted for in-depth interviews with industry figures, with past subjects including Simon Cowell, Martin Kierszenbaum, Jason Flom, Diane Warren, Peter Edge, Ron Fair and RedOne, as well as its A&R...
that this was due to industry resistance to the revival of the band, whom he said would rather focus on "the next hip band". Listener demand for leaked single "Ordinary World
Ordinary World
"Ordinary World" is the first single from Duran Duran's self-titled 1993 album, better known as The Wedding Album. The song peaked at No. 3 in the American charts and No. 6 in the British charts...
" forced it onto radio playlists months earlier than planned; it reached Number 3 on the US chart and Number 6 in the UK and won a prestigious Ivor Novello Award award for song writing. "Come Undone", a slinky number primarily written by Cuccurullo, with lyrics by Le Bon, made Number 7 in the US and Number 13 in the UK. Both the band and the record label seemed to be caught by surprise by the album's critical and commercial success (#4 in the UK, #7 in the U.S.). Bassist John Taylor had been considering leaving the band but changed his mind. The band's largest tour ever, which included stops in the Middle East, the then recently de-embargoed South Africa, and South America, was halted after seven months when Le Bon suffered from strained vocal cords. After six weeks' recuperation, the band performed intermittently for another five months, including appearances in Israel, Thailand, and Indonesia.
In 1995, the band released the cover album Thank You
Thank You (Duran Duran album)
Thank You is a covers album by Duran Duran released in April 1995, their follow-up to 1993's Duran Duran . It did well on the charts , but was received very negatively by critics...
. Songs from Thank You included covers of Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
's "Perfect Day" and Melle Mel
Melle Mel
Grandmaster Mele Mel , also known as Melle Mel , is an American hip-hop musician — one of the pioneers of old school hip hop as lead rapper and main songwriter for Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.- Biography :...
's "White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)
White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)
"White Lines " is a song by Grandmaster Melle Mel, released as a 12" in 1983 on Sugar Hill Records. The song, which warns against the dangers of cocaine, addiction, and drug smuggling, is one of Melle Mel's signature tracks...
" (with backing vocals from the original artists). The album also marked the temporary return of former drummer Roger Taylor, who joined the band in studio to play drums on "Watching The Detectives" and "Perfect Day" (as well as a cover of "Jeepster" by T. Rex that did not appear on the album). In a video interview provided with the album's electronic press kit
Electronic Press Kit
An electronic press kit is a press kit equivalent in electronic form. An EPK usually takes the form of a website or e-mail, though they are also known to exist in CD and DVD form....
, Reed said he considered Duran Duran's version the best cover ever done of one of his songs, and they received praise from Robert Plant and Jimmy Page for their cover of Led Zeppelin's "Thank You
Thank You (Led Zeppelin song)
"Thank You" is a song written by Robert Plant and Jimmy Page that was released by English rock band Led Zeppelin on their 1969 album Led Zeppelin II.-Overview:...
."
After the promo tour for Thank You was completed, John Taylor co-founded the B5 Records label and recorded a solo album, founded and toured with the supergroup
Supergroup (music)
In the late 1960s, the term supergroup was coined to describe "a rock music group whose performers are already famous from having performed individually or in other groups"....
Neurotic Outsiders
Neurotic Outsiders
Neurotic Outsiders was a supergroup founded in 1995, consisting of Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols, Matt Sorum and Duff McKagan of Guns N' Roses, and John Taylor of Duran Duran. The very first line-up featured Billy Idol and Steve Stevens , but they were soon replaced by Jones and Taylor...
, and reunited the Power Station, though the project proceeded without him when he had to withdraw to deal with his divorce from De Cadenet. Finally, after struggling for months to record the next album, Medazzaland, in January 1997, Taylor announced at the DuranCon fan convention
Fan convention
A fan convention, or con , is an event in which fans of a particular film, television series, comic book, actor, or an entire genre of entertainment such as science fiction or anime and manga, gather to participate and hold programs and other events, and to meet experts, famous personalities, and...
that he was leaving the band "for good". His departure reduced the band to two original members (Le Bon and Rhodes) and Cuccurullo, who decided to continue recording under the name Duran Duran.
1997–2000: John Taylor departs, results in second trio
Freed from some internal writing conflicts, the band returned to the studio to rewrite and re-record many of the songs on MedazzalandMedazzaland
Medazzaland is the ninth album by British pop rock group Duran Duran. It was released by Capitol Records on in the U.S., where it reached #58 on the Billboard album chart. It was never officially released in Europe....
. (Taylor's work remains on only four tracks.) This album marked a return to the layered experimentation of Big Thing, with intricate guitar textures and processed vocals. The track "Out of My Mind" was used as the theme song for the movie The Saint
The Saint (film)
The Saint is a 1997 film based on the character of Simon Templar created by Leslie Charteris in 1928 for a series of books published as "The Saint." The film stars Val Kilmer, Elisabeth Shue and Rade Šerbedžija...
, but the only true single to be released in the United States was the quirky "Electric Barbarella
Electric Barbarella
"Electric Barbarella" is the 29th single by Duran Duran, and the first official single from the album Medazzaland. In 1997, the single and album were released only in the United States; "Electric Barbarella" was not issued as a single in the UK until January 1999 on the back of the late 1998...
", which was the first single ever to be sold on-line. The video for this single, featuring a sexy robot purchased and played with by band members, had to be censored before airing on MTV, but there was little of the controversy that had surrounded "Girls On Film". "Barbarella" peaked at #52 in the US in October 1997. Although Medazzaland was released in the US in October 1997, the album was never released in the UK. "Barbarella" was later released in the UK as a single from the 1998 Greatest compilation album and peaked at #23 on the UK chart in January 1999. The group played a set at The Princess Diana Tribute Concert on 27 June 1998 by special request of her family.
Duran Duran parted ways with Capitol/EMI in 1999, although the label has since used Duran Duran's back catalogue to release several compilations of remixes and rare vinyl-only b-sides. The band then signed what was intended to be a three-album contract with Disney's Hollywood Records
Hollywood Records
Hollywood Records is an American record label owned by Disney Music Group, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company.-History:Hollywood Records was founded in 1989 by then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner with the idea of expanding the music operations of the company and to develop and promote...
, but it lasted only through the poorly received 2000 album Pop Trash
Pop Trash
"Last Day on Earth" directs here. For the 2009 song by Kate Miller-Heidke, see The Last Day on EarthReleased in 2000, Pop Trash is Duran Duran's tenth album. The album marked their first release not under Capitol Records/EMI, with whom they'd been signed since 1981. It was also the last to...
. This slow-paced and heavy album seemed out-of-keeping with earlier band material. Rhodes' intricate production and Cuccurullo's songwriting and experimentation with guitar sounds and time signatures were not enough to hook the public, and the album did not perform well. The dreamy single "Someone Else Not Me" lasted barely two weeks on the radio, although its video was noted as the first to be produced entirely with Flash
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
animation. While supporting Medazzaland and Pop Trash, Duran Duran toured with bassist Wes Wehmiller
Wes Wehmiller
Wes Wehmiller was a bass guitarist who performed with Duran Duran and Missing Persons.He was born in New York City, and named after John Wesley Powell...
and drummer Joe Travers.
2001–2006: Reunion
In 2000, Le Bon approached John Taylor with a proposal to reform Duran Duran's classic line-up. They agreed, and after completing the Pop Trash tour fired Cuccurullo by letter. Cuccurullo then announced on his website that he was leaving Duran Duran to resume work with his 1980s band Missing Persons. This announcement was confirmed the next day by Duran Duran's website, followed a day later by the news that John, Roger, and Andy Taylor had rejoined. To fulfill contractual obligations, Cuccurullo played three Duran Duran concerts in Japan in August 2001, ending his tenure in the band.Throughout 2001, 2002 and 2003, the band worked on writing new material, initially renting a house in St. Tropez where sound engineer Mark Tinley
Mark Tinley
Mark Ty-Wharton is a British author, composer and philosophical speaker who specialises in presentations using sound art....
built a recording studio for their first serious writing session. They then returned to London to do some self-financed work with various producers (including old friend Nile Rodgers) and search for a new record deal. It proved difficult to find a record label willing to gamble on the band's comeback, so Duran Duran went on tour to prove the drawing power of the reunited band. The response of the fans and the media exceeded expectations. The band played a handful of 25th-anniversary dates in July 2003. Tickets sold out for each show within minutes, and celebrities turned out en masse for reunion shows booked at small venues the band had played on their first trip to America in 1981. In August, the band were booked as presenters at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards
MTV Video Music Awards
An MTV Video Music Award , is an award presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in music videos...
, only to be surprised with a Lifetime Achievement Award
MTV Video Vanguard Award
The following is a list of recipients of the MTV Video Vanguard Award.The Video Vanguard Award, also known as the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award or the Lifetime Achievement Award, is given to musicians who have made a profound effect on the MTV culture...
. They also received a Lifetime Achievement award from Q Magazine in October, and the equivalent Outstanding Contribution award at the BRIT Awards
Brit Awards
The Brit Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain" or "Britannia", but subsequently became a backronym for British Record Industry Trust...
in February 2004.
The pace picked up with a sold-out tour of America, Australia and New Zealand. The band played a full concert at a private tailgate party at Super Bowl XXXVIII
Super Bowl XXXVIII
Super Bowl XXXVIII was an American football game played on February 1, 2004 at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas to decide the National Football League champion following the 2003 regular season....
, their performance of "The Wild Boys" broadcast to millions during the pre-game show. A remix
Remix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
of the new track "(Reach Up for the) Sunrise
(Reach Up For The) Sunrise
" Sunrise" is a song by Duran Duran, the first single from the album Astronaut and their 31st single overall. It was the first single since "A View to a Kill" in 1985 to feature all five of the original members of the band.-Music video:...
" was released on many TV shows in February while magazines hailed (the modern "Fab Five") Duran Duran as one of the greatest bands of all time. Duran Duran then celebrated their homecoming to the UK with fourteen stadium dates in April 2004, including five sold-out nights at Wembley Arena
Wembley Arena
Wembley Arena is an indoor arena, at Wembley, in the London Borough of Brent. The building is opposite Wembley Stadium.-History:...
. The British press, traditionally hostile to the band, accorded the shows some very warm reviews. Duran Duran brought along band Goldfrapp
Goldfrapp
Goldfrapp are an English electronic music duo, formed in 1999 in London, England, that consists of Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory ....
, as opening acts for this tour. The last two shows were filmed, resulting in the concert DVD Duran Duran: Live From London
Live from London (Duran Duran)
Live from London is a concert film by the British group, Duran Duran. It was filmed during the course of the last two of five sold-out nights at Wembley Arena in April 2004, during the band's first global tour after the reunion of the band's original five members.The concert features hits from...
which was released in November.
Finally, with more than thirty-five songs completed, the band signed a four-album contract with Epic Records
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
in June, and completed the new album, now entitled Astronaut. The album was released in October 2004 and entered the UK charts at Number 3 and the US charts at Number 17. The first single was "(Reach Up for the) Sunrise
(Reach Up For The) Sunrise
" Sunrise" is a song by Duran Duran, the first single from the album Astronaut and their 31st single overall. It was the first single since "A View to a Kill" in 1985 to feature all five of the original members of the band.-Music video:...
", which reached Number 1 on the Billboard US. Dance Chart in November and peaked at number 5 on the UK singles chart, Duran Duran's highest chart position since "A View To a Kill" in 1985. A second single, "What Happens Tomorrow
What Happens Tomorrow
"What Happens Tomorrow" is a song by British pop rock band Duran Duran and is featured on their 2004 album, Astronaut. It was also released in January 2005 as the second single from that album, and the band's thirty-third single overall...
", debuted at #11 on the UK charts in February. A 5.1 mix of Astronaut was created by Jeremy Wheatley for the dual-disc release of Astronaut. The CD side contains the album as-is and the DVD side contains the 5.1 mix of the album in DVD Audio format along with some DVD footage and videos.
After a world tour in early 2005, Duran Duran headlined the massive Live 8 concert, Rome
Live 8 concert, Rome
On 2 July 2005, a Live 8 concert was held at the Circus Maximus, Rome, Italy.The event is also referred to as "Live 8 Rome" or "Live 8 Italy"-Lineup:Past Live Aid performers are listed with an asterisk...
on 2 July 2005 in the Circus Maximus
Circus Maximus
The Circus Maximus is an ancient Roman chariot racing stadium and mass entertainment venue located in Rome, Italy. Situated in the valley between the Aventine and Palatine hills, it was the first and largest stadium in ancient Rome and its later Empire...
.
2006–2008: Red Carpet Massacre, second departure of Andy Taylor and second quartet
In early 2006, Duran Duran covered John LennonJohn Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
's song "Instant Karma!
Instant Karma!
"Instant Karma!" is a song written by John Lennon, released as a single in 1970 on Apple Records, catalogue Apple 1003 in the United Kingdom, Apple 1818 in the United States. It is the third solo single issued by Lennon, and it peaked at #3 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Top 100 singles...
" for the Make Some Noise campaign sponsored by Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
. Their version later appeared on Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur
Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur
Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur is a compilation album of various artists covering songs of John Lennon to benefit Amnesty International's campaign to alleviate the crisis in Darfur...
as an iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
exclusive bonus track. They also performed at two high profile events — the Nobel Prize Awards
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
and the 2006 Winter Olympics
2006 Winter Olympics
The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XX Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in Turin, Italy from February 10, 2006, through February 26, 2006. This marked the second time Italy hosted the Olympic Winter Games, the first being the VII Olympic Winter...
. After a couple of weeks of songwriting in Northern California, the band began working with producer Michael Patterson
Michael Patterson (producer)
Michael Patterson is an American record producer and mixer. He has worked on the critically and commercially acclaimed albums Midnite Vultures by Beck , Life After Death by Notorious B.I.G, the debut album by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, B.R.M.C. , and dark pop duo She Wants Revenge's first...
in London, and continued intermittently for the next several months. At one point, they reported having fifteen tracks nearly complete for an album tentatively titled Reportage
Reportage (album)
Reportage is the provisional title of an album that the British band Duran Duran wrote and recorded as successor to their 2004 album Astronaut.Not to be confused with the Duran Duran Bootleg CD "Reportage Mountebank"....
, but no further news emerged from the band for months afterward. The lost album supposedly had an edge, and wasn't released due to legal problems with the again departed Andy Taylor. In September, the band held meetings in New York City with Justin Timberlake
Justin Timberlake
Justin Randall Timberlake is an American pop musician and actor. He achieved early fame when he appeared as a contestant on Star Search, and went on to star in the Disney Channel television series The New Mickey Mouse Club, where he met future bandmate JC Chasez...
and producer Timbaland
Timbaland
Timothy Zachery Mosley , better known by his stage name Timbaland, is an American record producer, songwriter and rapper....
with an eye to a potential collaboration and were soon reported to have completed three songs with the producer, including a duet with Justin Timberlake
Justin Timberlake
Justin Randall Timberlake is an American pop musician and actor. He achieved early fame when he appeared as a contestant on Star Search, and went on to star in the Disney Channel television series The New Mickey Mouse Club, where he met future bandmate JC Chasez...
.
On 25 October 2006, Andy Taylor parted ways with Duran Duran for the second time. In an official announcement on their website, Duran Duran stated that an "unworkable gulf" had developed between them and Taylor and that "we can no longer effectively function together". It was noted by Andy Taylor in his book "Wild Boy" that tensions had arisen between the group's management and himself, and he was also diagnosed with clinical depression connected with the death of his father. Dom Brown
Dominic Brown
Dominic "Dom" Brown is a London-based guitarist and singer-songwriter who has worked with many popular musicians, including Duran Duran, Elton John, Lionel Richie and Take That. He has also done both studio and live recordings with Justin Timberlake, Liam Gallagher and the Sugababes, along with...
, who had previously toured with the band, took over guitar duties and has been performing with them since. After Taylor's departure, the band scrapped the Reportage album and wrote and recorded a new album which included the Timbaland tracks. Dom Brown
Dominic Brown
Dominic "Dom" Brown is a London-based guitarist and singer-songwriter who has worked with many popular musicians, including Duran Duran, Elton John, Lionel Richie and Take That. He has also done both studio and live recordings with Justin Timberlake, Liam Gallagher and the Sugababes, along with...
is the featured guitarist.
In July, the band performed twice at Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium
The original Wembley Stadium, officially known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the new Wembley Stadium that opened in 2007...
, at the Concert for Diana
Concert for Diana
Concert for Diana was a concert held at the then new Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom in honour of Diana, Princess of Wales, on 1 July 2007, which would have been her 46th birthday; 31 August that year brought the 10th anniversary of her death...
and at Live Earth concert, London
Live Earth concert, London
The Live Earth concert in the United Kingdom was held at Wembley Stadium, London, England on 7 July 2007.-Running order:In order of appearance :...
. On 25 September, the Timberlake collaboration "Falling Down
Falling Down (Duran Duran song)
"Falling Down" is a single by English band Duran Duran from Duran Duran's 2007 album Red Carpet Massacre, and was sent to radio and available to download from iTunes USA on . It was recorded in two sessions in Blueprint Studios, Manchester and Sarm Studios, London...
" was released as a download single on iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
, and the band announced that they would play nine shows at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre
Ethel Barrymore Theatre
The Ethel Barrymore Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 243 West 47th Street in midtown-Manhattan, named for actress Ethel Barrymore....
on Broadway to launch the album Red Carpet Massacre
Red Carpet Massacre
Red Carpet Massacre is the 12th studio album by English pop rock band Duran Duran. It was released on 19 November 2007 in Europe, and on the 13th in the United States....
. The album launch was later extended to incorporate a show in London on 3 December 2007 and one in Dublin on 5 December 2007.
In May 2008, they toured the US leg of their 2008 world tour and were supported by fellow British quintet Your Vegas
Your Vegas
Your Vegas are a British rock band from Leeds, England.-Background:The band started playing music together while attending Prince Henry's Grammar School in Otley, West Yorkshire. Their first band was called Orka but they later changed their name to Salvadore...
. In June 2008, they played the Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
in Paris in a fundraising effort that contributed to the restoration of a magnificent Louis XV drawing room. Guests dined, privately viewed some of the museum’s artworks, then attended a performance by the band in the I.M. Pei-designed Pyramid du Louvre
Louvre Pyramid
The Louvre Pyramid is a large glass and metal pyramid, surrounded by three smaller pyramids, in the main courtyard of the Louvre Palace in Paris. The large pyramid serves as the main entrance to the Louvre Museum...
. The group’s performance marked a first for both the band members and the 18th century museum (which had never before allowed a rock concert to occur anywhere within the grounds or buildings).
On 2 July in Paris, Mark Ronson
Mark Ronson
Mark Daniel Ronson is an English DJ, guitarist, music producer, artist and co-founder of Allido Records. He currently works with his band under the music alias of Mark Ronson & The Business Intl....
performed a unique live set with Duran Duran for an exclusive, invitation-only performance. Together, they showcased specially re-worked versions of some of Duran Duran's classic hits re-created by Ronson, along with tracks from the band's new album, Red Carpet Massacre
Red Carpet Massacre
Red Carpet Massacre is the 12th studio album by English pop rock band Duran Duran. It was released on 19 November 2007 in Europe, and on the 13th in the United States....
. Simon Le Bon also performed songs from Ronson's latest album, Version
Version (album)
-iTunes digital edition:-Japanese CD edition:-Chart performance:-Release history:-External links:* at MetaCritic...
, as one of Ronson's featured guest vocalists. Unlike the band's previous album Astronaut, Red Carpet Massacre sold poorly and received mixed responses from the music press. In 2008, Rio
Rio (album)
Rio is the second studio album by the British rock band Duran Duran, originally released worldwide on 10 May 1982. It reached #2 in the UK and #1 in Australia....
was included in the Classic Albums
Classic Albums
Classic Albums is a documentary series about pop and rock albums that are considered the best or most distinctive of a well-known band or musician or that exemplify a stage in the history of music.-Format:...
series.
2009–present: All You Need is Now
The band split from Epic Records in 2009, after releasing just 2 albums. In early 2010, it was revealed that the band would be contributing a cover of "Boys Keep Swinging" to a tribute/charity record for David BowieDavid Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
called We Were So Turned On from which all profits go to War Child
War Child
War Child or Warchild may refer to:* Child soldiers, children who are used in war, as soldiers or in combat support* Military brat, military slang for a child or teenager of a military family* Refugee, children who are refugees of war...
with Carla Bruni
Carla Bruni
Carla Bruni-Sarkozy is an Italian-French songwriter, singer, actress, and former model...
, Devendra Banhart
Devendra Banhart
Devendra Obi Banhart is a singer-songwriter and visual artist. Banhart was born in Houston, Texas and was raised by his mother in Venezuela, until he moved to California as a teenager. He began to study at the San Francisco Art Institute in 1998, but dropped out to perform music in Europe, San...
, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Warpaint
Warpaint (band)
Warpaint is an American art rock group from Los Angeles, formed in 2004. The band's members are Emily Kokal , Theresa Wayman , Jenny Lee Lindberg , and Stella Mozgawa . The band's membership has also included actress Shannyn Sossamon and Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer...
and several others also contributing. The album was released on 14 September 2010 on Manimal Vinyl
Manimal Vinyl
Manimal Vinyl is a Los Angeles based record label founded in 2006 by fashion stylist, Paul Beahan. They are known for releasing underground and experimental pop music. They were originally known as a folk label that makes annual tribute records for worldwide charities, having eventually switched to...
Records. A limited edition split 7" single with Duran Duran and Carla Bruni
Carla Bruni
Carla Bruni-Sarkozy is an Italian-French songwriter, singer, actress, and former model...
was also released on Manimal Vinyl
Manimal Vinyl
Manimal Vinyl is a Los Angeles based record label founded in 2006 by fashion stylist, Paul Beahan. They are known for releasing underground and experimental pop music. They were originally known as a folk label that makes annual tribute records for worldwide charities, having eventually switched to...
in December 2010.
In November 2010, Duran Duran announced the worldwide release of their 13th studio album, entitled All You Need Is Now
All You Need Is Now
All You Need Is Now is the thirteenth studio album by the British pop/rock band Duran Duran. Produced by Grammy Award-winner Mark Ronson, a truncated version of the album was released as a download on 21 December 2010. It is the band's first album not released by a major record label; it appeared...
, that would be released on indie label S-Curve Records
S-Curve Records
S-Curve Records was founded in 2000 by former Mercury Records executive Steve Greenberg. It is based in New York City. In 2001 the label established a distribution and licensing agreement with EMI Records. In 2007 Greenberg relaunched the label after a two year hiatus, during which he served as...
. The album was produced by the Grammy Award-winning Mark Ronson
Mark Ronson
Mark Daniel Ronson is an English DJ, guitarist, music producer, artist and co-founder of Allido Records. He currently works with his band under the music alias of Mark Ronson & The Business Intl....
and mixed by Spike Stent, and was released exclusively on iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
on 21 December 2010 and hit the #1 spot on download charts in 15 countries (including the UK). The first single from the record, title track “All You Need Is Now”, was free to download worldwide on 8 December 2010 exclusively in iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
. Guitarist and songwriter Dom Brown
Dominic Brown
Dominic "Dom" Brown is a London-based guitarist and singer-songwriter who has worked with many popular musicians, including Duran Duran, Elton John, Lionel Richie and Take That. He has also done both studio and live recordings with Justin Timberlake, Liam Gallagher and the Sugababes, along with...
has co-written all but 2 songs on the "All You Need Is Now" album.
In March 2011 the band embarked on a concert tour in support of the album – called All You Need Is Now Tour
All You Need Is Now Tour
All You Need Is Now Tour is an ongoing worldwide concert tour by English New Wave band Duran Duran in support of the group's 13th studio album, All You Need Is Now, which was released exclusively on iTunes on 21 December 2010 and the expanded physical album and various format special packages will...
. There was a warm up show in London and the tour officially started on 16 March 2011 in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
.
The expanded physical album and various format special packages was released in March 2011, the 30th anniversary of the band's first release "Planet Earth". The CD features 14 tracks – or 5 additional tracks: "Mediterranea," "Other People's Lives," "Too Bad, You're Too Beautiful," "Diamond In The Mind," and "Return To Now." In a video posted 14 Feb 2011, on the band's website, Rhodes mentioned the mixing of another 4 tracks: "Too Close To the Sun," "Early Summer Nerves," "This Lost Weekend," and "Networker Nation." The album entered the UK chart at #11 and the Billboard chart at #29.
On 25 February 2011, while in Milan, Duran Duran Received Style Award. Letizia Moratti
Letizia Moratti
Letizia Brichetto-Arnaboldi Moratti is an Italian businesswoman and politician. She is the former mayor of Milan.-Biography:...
, the city’s mayor, presented the Band with a key to the city, honoured to be presented with an award recognizing them as Style Icons of the 20th century.
On 23 March 2011, the band performed live at the Mayan Theater
Mayan Theater
The Mayan Theater at 1014 South Hill Street in Los Angeles, California is a landmark former picture palace.Designed by Stiles O. Clements of Morgan, Walls & Clements and opened in August 1927, the facade of the Mayan includes stylized pre-Columbian patterns and figures designed by sculptor...
in Los Angeles as the kickoff to the second season of “Unstaged: An Original Series from American Express
American Express
American Express Company or AmEx, is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Three World Financial Center, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. Founded in 1850, it is one of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is best...
." The concert was live-streamed
Streaming media
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a streaming provider.The term "presented" is used in this article in a general sense that includes audio or video playback. The name refers to the delivery method of the medium rather...
on YouTube and directed by David Lynch
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian", and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound...
. The band was joined onstage by Gerard Way
Gerard Way
Gerard Arthur Way is an American musician and comic book writer who has served as lead vocalist and co-founder of the band My Chemical Romance since its formation in 2001...
of My Chemical Romance
My Chemical Romance
My Chemical Romance is an American alternative rock band from New Jersey, formed in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist Gerard Way, guitarists Ray Toro and Frank Iero, and bassist Mikey Way and have a diverse sound incorporating elements of punk, emo, glam metal, and progressive rock...
, Beth Ditto
Beth Ditto
Mary Beth Patterson, known by her stage name Beth Ditto , is an American singer-songwriter, most famous for her work with the indie rock band Gossip.-Personal life:...
of Gossip
Gossip (band)
Gossip is a three-piece American indie rock band formed in 1999. The band consists of singer Beth Ditto, guitarist Brace Paine and drummer Hannah Blilie. After releasing several recordings, the band broke through with their 2006 studio album, Standing in the Way of Control . A follow-up, Music for...
, and Kelis
Kelis
Kelis Rogers Kelis Rogers Kelis Rogers (born August 21, 1971 is an American musical artist. She is a BRIT Award, Q Award and NME Award winner and has been nominated for two Grammy Awards. She has had nine top 10 singles on the UK Singles Chart...
.
In May 2011, Le Bon contracted laryngitis leading to either cancellation or rescheduling of most of the European dates for the 'All You Need Is Now' World Tour.
In October 2011, rumours circulated that Duran Duran would be involved in writing the theme song for the upcoming James Bond film, Skyfall with producer Mark Ronson. It would be their second time recording a Bond theme.
Influences
Although they began their career as "a group of art school, experimental, post punk rockers", the band's quick rise to stardom, polished good looks, and embrace of the teen press, almost guaranteed disfavour from music critics. During the 1980s, Duran Duran were considered the quintessential manufactured, throw-away pop group. However, according to the Sunday HeraldSunday Herald
The Sunday Herald is a Scottish Sunday newspaper launched on 7 February 1999. The ABC audited circulation in April 2011 showed sales of 31,123.From the start it has combined a centre-left stance with support for Scottish devolution...
, "To describe them, as some have, as the first boy band, misrepresents their appeal. Their weapons were never just their looks, but self-penned songs." As Moby
Moby
Richard Melville Hall , better known by his stage name Moby, is an American musician, DJ, and photographer. He is known mainly for his sample-based electronic music and his outspoken liberal political views, including his support of veganism and animal rights.Moby gained attention in the early...
said of the band in his website diary in 2003: "... they were cursed by what we can call the 'Bee Gees
Bee Gees
The Bee Gees are a musical group that originally comprised three brothers: Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio was successful for most of their 40-plus years of recording music, but they had two distinct periods of exceptional success: as a pop act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and as a...
' curse, which is: 'write amazing songs, sell tons of records, and consequently incur the wrath or disinterest of the rock obsessed critical establishment'."
Several of the band's contemporaries including The Bangles
The Bangles
The Bangles are an American all-female band that originated in the early 1980s, scoring several hit singles during the decade.-Formation and early years :...
, Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
, Kylie Minogue
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...
, Paul Young
Paul Young (singer and guitarist)
Paul Antony Young is an English pop musician. Formerly the frontman of the short-lived bands Kat Kool & The Kool Cats, Streetband and Q-Tips, his following solo success as a solo recording artist turned him into a 1980s teenage pop idol...
and even The Monkees
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...
, have named themselves fans of the band's stylish, uplifting pop. Le Bon described the group as "the band to dance to when the bomb drops". Successors like Barenaked Ladies
Barenaked Ladies
Barenaked Ladies is a Canadian alternative rock band. The band is currently composed of Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, Ed Robertson, and Tyler Stewart. Barenaked Ladies formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario, then a suburban municipality outside the City of Toronto...
, Beck
Beck
Beck Hansen is an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known by the stage name Beck...
, Jonathan Davis
Jonathan Davis
Jonathan Houseman Davis is the lead vocalist and frontman for the nu metal band Korn. Davis was ranked 16th on Hit Parader 's list of "Heavy Metal's All-Time Top 100 Vocalists".-Early life:...
of Korn
Korn
Korn is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, formed in 1993. The current band line up includes four members: Jonathan Davis, James "Munky" Shaffer, Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu, and Ray Luzier. The band was formed as an expansion of L.A.P.D.The band released their first demo album,...
, The Bravery
The Bravery
The Bravery is an American rock band from New York City that consists of Sam Endicott , Michael Zakarin , John Conway , Mike Hindert , and Anthony Burulcich...
, Gwen Stefani
Gwen Stefani
Gwen Renée Stefani is an American singer-songwriter and fashion designer. Stefani is the lead vocalist for the rock and ska band No Doubt. Stefani recorded her first solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. in 2004. The album was inspired by music of the 1980s, and was a success with sales of over...
and Pink have all cited Duran Duran as a key band in their formative years. Singer Justin Timberlake
Justin Timberlake
Justin Randall Timberlake is an American pop musician and actor. He achieved early fame when he appeared as a contestant on Star Search, and went on to star in the Disney Channel television series The New Mickey Mouse Club, where he met future bandmate JC Chasez...
has openly admitted to being one of their biggest fans. The newest crop of performers to name Duran Duran as influences include Dido
Dido (singer)
Dido Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O'Malley Armstrong , known as Dido, is an English singer-songwriter.Dido shot to worldwide success with her debut album, No Angel...
, Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand (band)
Franz Ferdinand are a Scottish post-punk revival band formed in Glasgow in 2002. The band is composed of Alex Kapranos , Bob Hardy , Nick McCarthy , and Paul Thomson .The band first experienced chart success when their second single, "Take Me Out", reached #3 in...
, Panic! at the Disco
Panic! at the Disco
Panic! at the Disco is an American alternative rock duo, formed in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2005. Since its split, the band's line-up includes Brendon Urie and Spencer Smith . Former members Ryan Ross and Jon Walker left the group in 2009...
, Lostprophets
Lostprophets
Lostprophets is a Welsh rock band from Pontypridd, formed in 1997. Founded by vocalist Ian Watkins, bassist Mike Lewis, drummer Mike Chiplin and guitarist Lee Gaze, they were originally a side-project to hardcore punk band Public Disturbance. To date, Lostprophets have released four studio...
(who took their name from the title of a Duran Duran bootleg tape), Goldfrapp
Goldfrapp
Goldfrapp are an English electronic music duo, formed in 1999 in London, England, that consists of Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory ....
and Brandon Flowers
Brandon Flowers
Brandon Richard Flowers is an American musician, best known as the frontman of the Las Vegas-based rock band The Killers. He has also released a solo album titled Flamingo.-Early life:...
of The Killers, who said, "Nick Rhodes is an absolute hero of mine — their records still sound fresh, which is no mean feat as far as synths are concerned".
Nick Rhodes has directly lent his production techniques to Kajagoogoo
Kajagoogoo
Kajagoogoo are a British pop band, best known for their hit single, "Too Shy", which reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart and No. 5 on the U.S...
album White Feathers
White Feathers
White Feathers is the debut album by British New Romantic band Kajagoogoo, released in spring 1983. It was produced by Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran and Colin Thurston, who was Duran Duran's producer at the time, except for track #5, the self-titled "Kajagoogoo", an instrumental , which was produced...
and its Number One single "Too Shy
Too Shy
Too Shy is a song written and recorded by English New Wave/pop music band Kajagoogoo, released in 1983. The first single from their debut album White Feathers, the song was an immediate hit and reached no.1 on the UK Singles Chart...
", and to The Dandy Warhols
The Dandy Warhols
The Dandy Warhols are an American alternative rock band formed in Portland, Oregon in 1994. The band was founded by singer-guitarist Courtney Taylor-Taylor and guitarist Peter Holmström, with keyboardist Zia McCabe and drummer Eric Hedford later joining. Hedford left in 1998 and was replaced by...
album Welcome to the Monkey House
Welcome to the Monkey House (album)
Welcome to the Monkey House is the fourth studio album by American alternative rock band The Dandy Warhols. "We Used to Be Friends" was a popular single from the album, which later went on to be the theme song for the cult TV show Veronica Mars....
. The band's music has been used by several hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
artists, most notably Notorious B.I.G., who sampled Duran Duran's 1986 single "Notorious". Numerous bands have covered their music on record and in concert.
Hideki Kamiya
Hideki Kamiya
is a video game designer formerly employed by Capcom and Clover Studio. He is currently working with former Clover Studio members at Platinum Games.- Career :...
, director of the hit video game, Devil May Cry
Devil May Cry
is an action game developed and published by Capcom, released in 2001 for the PlayStation 2. Although it is the first game in the series of the same name, the events in Devil May Cry are second in the series storyline's chronological order, taking place after Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening and...
in 2005 revealed that he chose John Taylor as the model for the game's main character, Dante
DANTE
Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe is a not-for-profit organisation that plans, builds and operates the international networks that interconnect the various national research and education networks in Europe and surrounding regions...
. Hideki carefully chose a rock star prototype possessing sex appeal, style and charisma to provide the necessary impetus into building this mighty character. Elements of power and mystery would balance out this character. During the interview, Hideki Kamiya commented that one of his teen band idols growing up was the famous 80s English band, Duran Duran. One of its members, bassist John Taylor, fit the bill as the model for Dante. Dante's character also mirrored John Taylor’s looks with his long, rocker hairstyle and mannerisms. The design of Dante’s face was inspired by John Taylor’s. And one can see that the faces are identically the same. Interestingly, John Taylor’s rocker fashion sense contributed to Dante’s signature long length, blood-red coat flanked by dark undertones and dark accessories.
Videos
The MTV cable channel and the band were launched at about the same time, and each had a hand in propelling the other to greater heights. MTV needed showcase videos with charismatic performers. Les Garland, senior executive vice president at MTV, said "I remember our director of talent and artist relations came running in and said, “You have got to see this video that’s come in.” Duran Duran were getting zero radio airplay at the time, and MTV wanted to try to break new music. “Hungry Like the Wolf” was the greatest video I’d ever seen". The band's video work was influential in several ways. First, Duran Duran filmed in exotic locales like Sri Lanka and AntiguaAntigua
Antigua , also known as Waladli, is an island in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region, the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish and was named by Christopher Columbus after an icon in Seville Cathedral, Santa Maria de la...
, creating memorable images that were radically different from the then-common low budget "band-playing-on-a-stage" videos. Second, rather than simply playing their instruments, the band participated in mini-storylines (often taking inspiration from contemporary movies: "Hungry Like The Wolf" riffs on Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders of the Lost Ark is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by George Lucas, and starring Harrison Ford. It is the first film in the Indiana Jones franchise...
, "The Wild Boys" on The Road Warrior, etc.). Videos were obviously headed in this direction already, but Duran Duran led the trend with a style, featuring quick editing, arresting graphic design, and surreal-to-nonsensical image inserts, that drew attention from commentators and spawned a wealth of imitators.
Duran Duran were among the first bands to have their videos shot with a professional movie camera
Movie camera
The movie camera is a type of photographic camera which takes a rapid sequence of photographs on strips of film which was very popular for private use in the last century until its successor, the video camera, replaced it...
on 35 mm film
35 mm film
35 mm film is the film gauge most commonly used for chemical still photography and motion pictures. The name of the gauge refers to the width of the photographic film, which consists of strips 35 millimeters in width...
, rather than on videotape
Videotape
A videotape is a recording of images and sounds on to magnetic tape as opposed to film stock or random access digital media. Videotapes are also used for storing scientific or medical data, such as the data produced by an electrocardiogram...
with cheaper video cameras, making them look superior to many of the quickly and inexpensively shot videos which had been MTV staples until then. MTV provided Duran Duran with access to American radio markets that were unfriendly to British music, New Wave music, or "anything with synthesisers". Because MTV was not available everywhere in the United States at first, it was easy to see a pattern: where MTV went, listener demand for Duran Duran, Tears for Fears
Tears for Fears
Tears for Fears are an English new wave band formed in the early 1980s by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith.Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, they were initially associated with the New Wave synthesiser bands of the early 1980s but later branched out into...
, Def Leppard
Def Leppard
Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1977 in Sheffield as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. Since 1992, the band have consisted of Joe Elliott , Rick Savage , Rick Allen , Phil Collen , and Vivian Campbell...
and other European bands with interesting videos went through the roof.
The band's sun-drenched videos for "Rio", "Hungry Like The Wolf" and "Save A Prayer", and the surreal "Is There Something I Should Know?" were filmed by future movie director Russell Mulcahy
Russell Mulcahy
Russell Mulcahy is an Australian film director. His work is easily recognized by his use of fast cuts, tracking shots and use of glowing lights.- Music videos :...
, who made eleven videos for the band. Duran Duran have always sought out innovative directors and techniques, even in their later years when MTV gave them little airplay. In addition to Mulcahy, they have had videos filmed by influential photographers Dean Chamberlain
Dean Chamberlain
Dean Chamberlain is a photographer who specializes in unique lighting effects and extended exposure times. Famous models for his pictures sit for up to five hours as he leaves the camera shutter open and "paints" the space around them with carried and projected lights of various colors and shapes,...
and Ellen von Unwerth
Ellen von Unwerth
Ellen von Unwerth is a photographer and director, specializing in erotic femininity. She worked as a fashion model for ten years herself before moving behind the camera, and now makes fashion, editorial, and advertising photographs.Ellen von Unwerth found fame when she first photographed Claudia...
, Chinese director Chen Kaige
Chen Kaige
Chen Kaige is a Chinese film director and a leading figure of the fifth generation of Chinese cinema. His films are known for their visual flair and epic storytelling.-Early life:...
, documentary filmmaker Julien Temple
Julien Temple
Julien Temple is an English film, documentary and music video director. He began his career with short films featuring the Sex Pistols, and has continued with various off-beat projects, including The Great Rock And Roll Swindle, Absolute Beginners and a documentary film about Glastonbury.-Temple...
, and the Polish Brothers
Twin Falls Idaho (film)
Twin Falls Idaho is a 1999 independent film directed by Michael Polish, who co-wrote and co-stars in the film with his identical twin brother, Mark Polish.-Plot:...
, among others. According to Nick Rhodes, "Video is to us like stereo was to Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
".
In 1984, the band introduced video technology into their live stadium shows by being among the first acts to provide video screens above the stage. They have recorded concerts using IMAX
IMAX
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
and 360 degree panoramic "immersive video" cameras, with 10.2
10.2
10.2 is the surround sound format developed by THX creator Tomlinson Holman of TMH Labs and University of Southern California . Developed along with Chris Kyriakakis of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, 10.2 refers to the format's slogan: "Twice as good as 5.1"...
channel audio. In 2000, they experimented with augmented reality
Augmented reality
Augmented reality is a live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data. It is related to a more general concept called mediated reality, in which a view of reality is...
technology, which allowed three-dimensional computer-generated images
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
to appear on stage with the band. They appeared on several century-end video countdowns: The MTV "100 Greatest Videos Ever Made" featured "Hungry Like The Wolf" at #11 and "Girls On Film" at #68, and the "VH1: 100 Greatest Videos" listed "Hungry" at #31 and "Rio" at #60. MTV named "Hungry" the fifteenth of their most-played videos of all time.
The band has released several video compilations, starting with the self-titled "video album" Duran Duran
Duran Duran (1983 video)
Officially titled simply Duran Duran , this video compilation is sometimes unofficially referred to in print as the Duran Duran video album or Duran Duran: The First 11 Videos...
, for which they won a Grammy award, up to the 2004 two-disc DVD release Greatest, which included alternative versions of several popular videos as Easter eggs. In addition to Greatest, the documentary Sing Blue Silver
Sing Blue Silver
Sing Blue Silver is a documentary about Duran Duran's 1983-1984 World Tour directed by Michael Collins. A sixty-minute edited version of the documentary was aired on MTV under the title Blue Silver....
, and the concert film Arena
Arena (An Absurd Notion)
Arena is a concept concert video filmed during the course of Duran Duran's 1984 Sing Blue Silver North American Tour in support of the album Seven and the Ragged Tiger.-Background:...
(both from 1984) were released on DVD in 2004. Live From London
Live from London (Duran Duran)
Live from London is a concert film by the British group, Duran Duran. It was filmed during the course of the last two of five sold-out nights at Wembley Arena in April 2004, during the band's first global tour after the reunion of the band's original five members.The concert features hits from...
, a concert video from one of their sold-out 2004 reunion shows at Wembley Arena, was released in the fall of 2005.
Other video collections, concert films, and documentaries remain available only on videotape, and Duran Duran have not yet released a collection which includes all their videos. The band has said that a huge amount of unreleased concert and documentary footage has been filmed over the years, which they hope can be edited and released in some form in the near future. The video for "Falling Down" was released in October 2007.
The Nick Egan directed video for the lead single and title track from 'All You Need Is Now' was premiered via Yahoo Music on 20 December 2010.
The second video from All You Need Is Now
All You Need Is Now
All You Need Is Now is the thirteenth studio album by the British pop/rock band Duran Duran. Produced by Grammy Award-winner Mark Ronson, a truncated version of the album was released as a download on 21 December 2010. It is the band's first album not released by a major record label; it appeared...
was released on November 8th, 2011. It features the world's biggest supermodels, like Yasmin Le Bon
Yasmin Le Bon
Yasmin Le Bon is a British Iranian fashion model. She was born to an Iranian father and an English mother...
, Cindy Crawford
Cindy Crawford
Cynthia Ann "Cindy" Crawford is an American model. Known for her trademark mole just above her lip, Crawford has adorned hundreds of magazine covers throughout her career. She was named #3 on VH1's 40 Hottest Hotties of the 90s...
, Naomi Campbell
Naomi Campbell
Naomi Campbell is a British model. Scouted at the age of 15, she established herself among the top three most recognisable and in-demand models of the late 1980s and early 1990s, and she was one of six models of her generation declared "supermodels" by the fashion world...
, Eva Herzigova
Eva Herzigová
Eva Herzigová is a Czech model and actress.-Early life and career:Herzigová was born in Litvínov, Czechoslovakia . She began her modeling career after winning a modeling beauty contest in Prague in 1989, at the age of sixteen. After arriving in Paris, her popularity increased...
and Helena Christensen
Helena Christensen
Helena Christensen is a Danish fashion model, Victoria's Secret Angel, beauty queen, and photographer. She has also served as creative director for Nylon magazine, designed clothing, and supported funding for breast cancer organizations and other charities.-Early life:Christensen was born in...
playing the band.
The video was directed by Jonas Akerlund
Jonas Åkerlund
Jonas Åkerlund is a Swedish film and music video director, and drummer. He is best known for directing music videos, which are often mock forms of movie trailers and short films...
, and during the filming, an editorial was made for Harper's Bazaar
Harper's Bazaar
Harper’s Bazaar is an American fashion magazine, first published in 1867. Harper’s Bazaar is published by Hearst and, as a magazine, considers itself to be the style resource for “women who are the first to buy the best, from casual to couture.”...
magazine.
Record Label timeline
1980–1999: EMIEMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
Capitol/Parlophone
1998–2001: Hollywood Records
Hollywood Records
Hollywood Records is an American record label owned by Disney Music Group, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company.-History:Hollywood Records was founded in 1989 by then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner with the idea of expanding the music operations of the company and to develop and promote...
2001–2004: Unsigned
2004–2009: Epic Records
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
2009: Sony BMG (Red Carpet Massacre
Red Carpet Massacre
Red Carpet Massacre is the 12th studio album by English pop rock band Duran Duran. It was released on 19 November 2007 in Europe, and on the 13th in the United States....
)
2010–present: Tapemodern/Allido/S-Curve Records
S-Curve Records
S-Curve Records was founded in 2000 by former Mercury Records executive Steve Greenberg. It is based in New York City. In 2001 the label established a distribution and licensing agreement with EMI Records. In 2007 Greenberg relaunched the label after a two year hiatus, during which he served as...
Discography
- Duran Duran (1981)
- RioRio (album)Rio is the second studio album by the British rock band Duran Duran, originally released worldwide on 10 May 1982. It reached #2 in the UK and #1 in Australia....
(1982) - Seven and the Ragged TigerSeven and the Ragged TigerSeven and the Ragged Tiger is the third studio album by English pop rock band Duran Duran, released globally in November 1983. It would prove to be the last studio album for the band's original lineup until 2004's Astronaut....
(1983) - Arena (1984)
- Notorious (1986)
- Big ThingBig ThingBig Thing is the fifth album by Duran Duran, released worldwide in 1988. It reached #15 in the UK and #24 in the US.A CD reissue was released in 1994. The album is was reissued as a three disc boxset on .- Background :...
(1988) - LibertyLiberty (album)Liberty is the sixth studio album by Duran Duran, released on . It entered the top 10 in the UK albums chart, and garnered a #6 hit for the single "Serious" in Japan.-Recording:...
(1990) - Duran Duran (The Wedding Album)Duran Duran (1993 album)Duran Duran is the seventh studio album and the second self-titled album by Duran Duran, released on 23 February 1993. The cover art by Nick Egan features wedding photos from the parents of the four band members.Recording of the album was completed in early 1992 with an impending release by...
(1993) - Thank YouThank You (Duran Duran album)Thank You is a covers album by Duran Duran released in April 1995, their follow-up to 1993's Duran Duran . It did well on the charts , but was received very negatively by critics...
(1995) - MedazzalandMedazzalandMedazzaland is the ninth album by British pop rock group Duran Duran. It was released by Capitol Records on in the U.S., where it reached #58 on the Billboard album chart. It was never officially released in Europe....
(1997) - Pop TrashPop Trash"Last Day on Earth" directs here. For the 2009 song by Kate Miller-Heidke, see The Last Day on EarthReleased in 2000, Pop Trash is Duran Duran's tenth album. The album marked their first release not under Capitol Records/EMI, with whom they'd been signed since 1981. It was also the last to...
(2000) - Astronaut (2004)
- Red Carpet MassacreRed Carpet MassacreRed Carpet Massacre is the 12th studio album by English pop rock band Duran Duran. It was released on 19 November 2007 in Europe, and on the 13th in the United States....
(2007) - All You Need Is NowAll You Need Is NowAll You Need Is Now is the thirteenth studio album by the British pop/rock band Duran Duran. Produced by Grammy Award-winner Mark Ronson, a truncated version of the album was released as a download on 21 December 2010. It is the band's first album not released by a major record label; it appeared...
(2010)
See also
- List of best-selling music artists
- List of best-charting US music artists
- List of artists who reached number one in the United States
- List of artists who reached number one on the US dance chart
- List of artists who reached number one on the UK Singles Chart
- List of stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame