Duran Duran: Classic or Dud?

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It is time to revive this time-honored topic once again. I would just liike to point out that the lead singer's name is something as cool as Simon Le Bon, I mean come on now, how can you not love that? Their songs don't make any sense, which is brilliant. Taking Sides: Trance version of Ordinary World or Duran Duran version?

― Ally, Tuesday, 20 November 2001 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

For me total dud
For once I have to agree with Dr.C. I can't believe it. Everyone else thinks they are classic. Maybe ILM should be renamed ILP like in I Love Pop. And this is not even good pop. Utter rubbish.

― alex in mainhattan, Wednesday, 21 November 2001 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

duran duran = music so no namechange needed

duran duran = roXoR also

― mark s, Wednesday, 21 November 2001 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

alex in mainhattan = long-lost German cousin of Alex in NYC

― Robin Carmody, Wednesday, 21 November 2001 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Death to rockists.

― Ally, Wednesday, 21 November 2001 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Death to music! Now we'll see who cares.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 21 November 2001 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Search: The grammar school dance troupe Sparkle Motion and their spellbinding routine to "Notorious" in Donnie Darko.

― Arthur, Wednesday, 21 November 2001 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

8 months pass...

I would say DUD but last night I heard 'Save a Prayer' for the first time in years and it felt strangely affecting, sad, beautiful, very lonely ....a one-night-stand as fleeting glimpse of paradise/intimacy never to be fully attained. I almost blubbed, maybes its the weather...

― stevo, Friday, 2 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

i love barbarella. i also love duran duran - the band. at the moment i'm really into "seven and the ragged tiger" - its got those gems "reflex" and "new moon on monday".

― di, Saturday, 3 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

"New Moon on Monday" = most underrated hit from the early days. I remember being mad as heck it wasn't on the original Decade compilation [thankfully Greatest corrects this omission].

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 3 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

The first eponymous album (1981) is now available on CD with "Is There Something I Should Know?" (1983) slap bang in the middle, not even dumped at the back as an extra track. Eh? The cover photo is amusing, Andy Taylor clearly wishes he was in Whitesnake.

I dug out the 12" of The Reflex a few days ago and the extended version is called the "Dance Mix". Now it would have to be something like the "Chics For Free mix".

― Mike Ratford, Saturday, 3 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

10 months pass...

I'm going to start a Duran cover band called 'Night Version'!

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 20 June 2003 04:47 (9 years ago) Permalink

spencer i want to be in your band!!

― geeta (geeta), Friday, 20 June 2003 05:51 (9 years ago) Permalink

You guys all know what my answer's going to be in regards to the question posed, right?

If not, you are obviously very thick and need to check out some prime swampland real estate I'm about ready to sell to you. Either that or you've just started reading this forum.

― Innocent Dreamer (Dee the Lurker), Friday, 20 June 2003 06:07 (9 years ago) Permalink

Duran Duran album tracks - search and destroy, anyone?

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Friday, 20 June 2003 06:11 (9 years ago) Permalink

Anyone who cannot see the brilliance of "Do You Believe in Shame?", "Palomino", "Michael You've Got a Lot to Answer For", "Sin of the City", "Love Voodoo", "Big Bang Generation", "Winter Marches On", "Hold Me", "Playing with Uranium", "Fragment"/"Last Day on Earth", or any one of the other beyond brilliant post-1985 Duran songs just does not understand Duran Duran. Period. So THERE. ;)

Search & destroy? For me, I'd have to search just about every single Duran song out there, with the possible exceptions of "Shotgun" and "UMF" (off The Wedding Album) and "911 is a Joke" and "I Wanna Take You Higher" (off Thank You). Those four could be destroyed, thank you very much.

― Innocent Dreamer (Dee the Lurker), Friday, 20 June 2003 06:17 (9 years ago) Permalink

C'mon Dee, Arcadia vs. Power Station: what's the verdict?!

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Friday, 20 June 2003 06:26 (9 years ago) Permalink

that alex in mainhattan 'ilp' post above is so classic

― James Blount (James Blount), Friday, 20 June 2003 07:16 (9 years ago) Permalink

oh and duran duran - classic obv.

― James Blount (James Blount), Friday, 20 June 2003 07:16 (9 years ago) Permalink

Does anyone really need to know my opinion on this matter? I think you can guess. Classiclassiclassiclassic!

Hungry Like The Wolf is about ORAL SEX?!?!?!? Oh my god, I never knew that. Hey, I mean, I was 12 when it came out, it never dawned on my horny prepubescent brain! That makes it somehow ever better!

I think I've told the story about my Durannie friend and her super-indie boyfriend who sneered at Duran. She said "What would you say to a band who wanted to be a cross between the Sex Pistols, Chic and Brian Eno?" And he went "That would be my NEW FAVOURITE BAND EVAH!!!" and she shoved Rio at him and said "meet your new favourite band evah, suckah."

― kate (kate), Friday, 20 June 2003 07:24 (9 years ago) Permalink

Amazing. I thought no one agreed with me on my choices of Duran Duran's best and worst songs, but I could have written down exactly what Innocent Dreamer did above!

And don't forget to search for Arcadia, another fantastic album.

― Tijn, Friday, 20 June 2003 08:26 (9 years ago) Permalink

no one's mentioned the single "please please tell me now" yet. i think that's my favourite. also "new moon on monday", 'cos it has that classic cold war pop vibe, at least the video kinda did.

― cameron, Friday, 20 June 2003 09:28 (9 years ago) Permalink

no one's mentioned the single "please please tell me now" yet.

Because it was possibly the worst single they ever released! Come on, even at the age of 13 or whatever, I knew that.

New Moon On Monday was actually kinda ace. Yeah. I have the tendency to completely write off Seven and the Ragged Tiger, but it definitely had its moments.

― kate (kate), Friday, 20 June 2003 09:30 (9 years ago) Permalink

"New Moon on Monday" is good, but can't get with the revival. Hated them then, and still do. Maybe the third time around I'll get it? They just sound like a crap Japan to me.

(Also, considering how much everybody loved "Ordinary World" at the time, notice how it sounds even more shit now than their 80s stuff does?)

― dave q, Friday, 20 June 2003 09:33 (9 years ago) Permalink

kate , maybe puberty made the difference; i was only about eleven. i haven't heard it in years either.

― cameron, Friday, 20 June 2003 09:51 (9 years ago) Permalink

Cameron, I think perhaps I hated it so much because it was stuck right in the middle of the re-release of the first album. So I associate it with the butchery of the singles/running order of that order. Heard in its own context, it might not be so bad, but on Duran Duran, it just sounds out of place and jarring and wrong.

― kate (kate), Friday, 20 June 2003 09:54 (9 years ago) Permalink

and plus it does have the line "you're about as easy as a nuclear war" (more cold war paranoia blah blah)

― cameron, Friday, 20 June 2003 09:55 (9 years ago) Permalink

Oh dear lord... ::ROTFL:: ... you should have seen the fun that the DD fan fict community had with that line!

Oh, and DD are ace, simply for having such an incredible body of work dedicated to their fan fiction. Maybe it's just cause I've only read good DD FF, (thanks, UMF/Lovely Blue Planet Of There) but it's of such a blatantly higher calibre that you think they must be doing something right.

(The one time that a band's fans can be held in their favour)

― kate (kate), Friday, 20 June 2003 10:02 (9 years ago) Permalink

Has anyone mentioned 'Careless Memories' yet, their follow up to 'Planet Earth'? Coooool track. The first and last example of, ahem, New Romantic Minimalism.

― colin s barrow (colin s barrow), Friday, 20 June 2003 10:11 (9 years ago) Permalink

The first time I heard that song, I thought the lyrics were "with a girl named St.Marie."

― kate (kate), Friday, 20 June 2003 10:14 (9 years ago) Permalink

for The Chauffeur, Careless Memories, Do You Believe in Shame, Come Undone, Ordinary World, Girls on Film, Planet Earth, Save a Prayer and the videos for Wild Boys, The Chauffeur, Girls on Film and Union of the Snake, undisputed CLASSIC.

They spoilt it with mortifying spin off bands (Arcadia were ok - Power Station.... oh dear), their pro-Thatcher stance throughout the 80s and their ludicrous make up and dress sense.

And their mystifying arrogance (I've never encountered an arrogant Brummie in my life, have you?).

But a welcome return....

― russ t, Friday, 20 June 2003 10:21 (9 years ago) Permalink

their ludicrous make up and dress sense.

Oh, if that isn't part of what made them so classic I don't know what is. Nick Rhodes dyed for our sins!

― Nicole (Nicole), Friday, 20 June 2003 14:02 (9 years ago) Permalink

It wasn't ludicrous to me, it was What Should Be. Yup.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 20 June 2003 14:15 (9 years ago) Permalink

...but they were always the cheap store version of Sylvian and Bowie... I mean,Nick Rhodes looked like he dressed himself head to toe, including hair dye and eyeliner, for about £12.50 throughout the whole of the 80s. A bit cut price couture, really, I always thought. Too 'Poundstretchers' to look anything other than hilarious.

― russ t, Friday, 20 June 2003 15:02 (9 years ago) Permalink

That's what made Nick Rhodes so much BETTER than David Sylvian. Nick Rhodes looked slightly rough enough that he seemed actually accessible. You don't want to touch David Sylvian, you want to put him in a box and look at him. Nick Rhodes had this sort of vulnerable pretention about him that you wanted to take him home and give him a cuddle and show him the correct way to bleach his hair and do his makeup.

uuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhh...

― kate (kate), Friday, 20 June 2003 15:05 (9 years ago) Permalink

I love google images. I wish this were bigger, so it could be my new wallpaper:

― kate (kate), Friday, 20 June 2003 15:06 (9 years ago) Permalink

Oh my goodness!

― kate (kate), Friday, 20 June 2003 15:08 (9 years ago) Permalink

???

(Why is it so hard to find a decent picture of Peter on the web?)

― kate (kate), Friday, 20 June 2003 15:15 (9 years ago) Permalink

Since we're going into purely aesthetics here (hee)....

This is my favorite picture of Nick Rhodes:

He looks simply gorgeous there.

This is my favorite picture of John Taylor:

This is my favorite pic of the two of them together:

*licks computer screen*

― Innocent Dreamer (Dee the Lurker), Friday, 20 June 2003 15:20 (9 years ago) Permalink

"911 is a Joke"

PLEASE TELL ME THIS IS A COVER

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 20 June 2003 15:21 (9 years ago) Permalink

Speaking of licking the computer screen, have you ever seen that photo of John strung out, wearing some black lace shirt he must of picked off the floor of whatever meeja whore's pad he crashed at the night before, uuuuuuuhhhhhhh... I wish I could find it. It gave me wet dreams for weeks.

I've got to stop or I'll be hitting UMF in a mo...

― kate (kate), Friday, 20 June 2003 15:23 (9 years ago) Permalink

John Taylor is nearly totally ungooglable. I got through three pages of images before I actually found one that was him. :-(

― kate (kate), Friday, 20 June 2003 15:27 (9 years ago) Permalink

I'm going to start a Duran cover band called 'Night Version'!

Spencer, I love you. If I wasn't an Anime robot, I'd have your children.

Anyway, there's really nothing wrong with "Is There Something I Should Know" (apparently aka "Please Please Tell Me Now"). It's just there's nothing great about it either. Except for the video, which features this bizarre angle shot of Simon singing his brains out with this extrodinarily angry face on, which I mean seems like it'd work with the title of the song but really it makes no sense about the lyrics when it comes down to it.

I changed my mind on "Notorious" but it's still not really that good. It's all about the lyrics to "The Reflex" people, trust me.

Oh, and Sean, that "fuck off" story is still the most amazing thing I've ever heard.

― Ally (mlescaut), Friday, 20 June 2003 15:28 (9 years ago) Permalink

Dan, it is a cover. Of the Public Enemy song. It's all Simon's fault. He's the rap fan of the group.

Kate, you mean this?

― Innocent Dreamer (Dee the Lurker), Friday, 20 June 2003 15:28 (9 years ago) Permalink

Oh yes, and the real title of the song is indeed "Is There Something I Should Know?", or if you don't feel like typing all of that out, "ITSISK?".

― Innocent Dreamer (Dee the Lurker), Friday, 20 June 2003 15:30 (9 years ago) Permalink

Dee, I kiss you! That is the one!

(OK, I am kissing the screen right now, but that's besides the point...)

― kate (kate), Friday, 20 June 2003 15:31 (9 years ago) Permalink

You know what is the best thing about Duran Duran besides all the other things? If you put on Barbarella it's really funny the way they keep pronouncing Duran Duran, and then you walk around pronouncing it like that all the time. I remember, my ex-fiance was all into Duran Duran and then he saw Barbarella and was like, so, what, are these guys just soft porn freaks? That's so weak.

― Ally (mlescaut), Friday, 20 June 2003 15:32 (9 years ago) Permalink

*giggles* Interesting thing is that the photo was taken a long while after he had his cocaine period. (Remember the video for "Do You Believe in Shame?" Remember how painfully skinny he was there?) This was ca. "Trust the Process", when he was starting to open up about his prior addictions. Ergo, I tend to view his gaze as a CFM one.

But that's still a damn good picture. Yum. And as for Barbarella, the only reason I watched that damn movie was because I wanted to know who this Duran Duran character was supposed to be, and every time I heard his name being spoken I just had to giggle like the little fangirl I am. The ex-fiance did have a point, though. Barbarella does seem to be a touch bit soft core porn-ish, what with all the overt sexuality and all.

*goes back to licking computer screen*

― Innocent Dreamer (Dee the Lurker), Friday, 20 June 2003 15:37 (9 years ago) Permalink

DoooRAN DoooRAN. Hahaha still priceless.

― Ally (mlescaut), Friday, 20 June 2003 15:42 (9 years ago) Permalink

Rio= pop perfected²

― Francis Watlington (Francis Watlington), Friday, 20 June 2003 15:49 (9 years ago) Permalink

Skipping 197 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

the last album was good?

― Gus Van Sotosyn (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 17 December 2010 04:09 (2 years ago) Permalink

Hm:

# Safe (In The Heat Of The Moment) (featuring Ana Matronic) (3:59)
# Girl Panic!  (4:31)
# The Man Who Stole A Leopard  (featuring Kelis) (6:13)

― Gus Van Sotosyn (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 17 December 2010 04:09 (2 years ago) Permalink

Not Rio good but worth at least a few dozen plays.

xp Kelis? Sod it I take everything back.

― Defecate on Myspace (Schlafsack), Friday, 17 December 2010 04:10 (2 years ago) Permalink

and with Mark Ronson producing there's a good chance

I weep for you.

― schlomo replay (acoleuthic), Friday, 17 December 2010 04:21 (2 years ago) Permalink

I knew this would be embarrassing. All right. Hey, you know what? Let's pretend this never happened.

― Defecate on Myspace (Schlafsack), Friday, 17 December 2010 04:29 (2 years ago) Permalink

Like I said on the REM thread when somebody brought up Duran Duran, I've never been a great fan of theirs, but it's obvious when listening to this new album that they're actively trying to be good again. And I don't doubt that Mark Ronson had a lot to do with it.

― Lightning Is For Babies (Johnny Fever), Friday, 17 December 2010 04:58 (2 years ago) Permalink

Yeah, there's a fair amount of mutual mast with these two in press releases and such, but I get the impression Ronson really was/is a huge Rio fan and that they all genuinely like working together.

― Defecate on Myspace (Schlafsack), Friday, 17 December 2010 05:00 (2 years ago) Permalink

I really like this album. The single is the worst track on it. The collaborations are subtle and well used. Overall it sounds like Duran circa 82. Best album since Notorious (though I really like Big Thing).

― brotherlovesdub, Friday, 17 December 2010 05:47 (2 years ago) Permalink

The single is the worst track on it.

WOW. Officially gagging for this.

― Defecate on Myspace (Schlafsack), Friday, 17 December 2010 05:52 (2 years ago) Permalink

Rio is one of my favourite albums. I can be swayed.

― schlomo replay (acoleuthic), Friday, 17 December 2010 11:01 (2 years ago) Permalink

― brotherlovesdub, Friday, December 17, 2010 5:47 AM (9 hours ago)

I agree with all of this, apart from liking Big Thing (one of their worst albums for me) I can't believe the title track is the first single, the chorus is good but the verse is so bad. I think Runway Runaway is my favourite track.

I'm shocked they've pulled this off, every album since Medazzaland I've wanted to be their return to form it feels like they've got pretty close this time. I thought Astronaut was quite a poor album apart from Nice and Taste the Summer, it seems like they've done a whole album with that kind of sound.

― Kitchen Person, Friday, 17 December 2010 15:42 (2 years ago) Permalink

this is great.

― akm, Thursday, 23 December 2010 16:01 (2 years ago) Permalink

Don't mind the new single. Who's the new guitarist these days?

― Alex in NYC, Thursday, 23 December 2010 19:47 (2 years ago) Permalink

Dom Brown, I think.

― brotherlovesdub, Thursday, 23 December 2010 21:00 (2 years ago) Permalink

It really is good. It sounds like a follow-up to Rio without sounding like it's trying to be a follow-up to Rio, and the actual songs are good as well. There's not a duff moment on the whole thing.

The only problem I have with it (if it's even a problem) is that it sounds a bit too '80s. Also, all the television appearances are on housewife shows like Loose Women and The One Show, which shits me a bit. Duran Duran's never been a backward-looking band so I hope it isn't starting now.

― Bentley Rhythm Trayce (Autumn Almanac), Sunday, 2 January 2011 12:20 (2 years ago) Permalink

What a crap sentence.

― Bentley Rhythm Trayce (Autumn Almanac), Sunday, 2 January 2011 12:20 (2 years ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

New interview at the Quietus with Simon Price:

http://thequietus.com/articles/05889-duran-duran-interview-all-you-need-is-now

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 17 March 2011 15:49 (2 years ago) Permalink

Duran Duran's never been a backward-looking band so I hope it isn't starting now.

I hope so. I mean, after the disastrous "Red Carpet Massacre", which was even worse than "Big Thing" (another disappointing album that would have benefited from being a bit more backward-looking)

― You're Twistin' My Melody Man! (Geir Hongro), Thursday, 17 March 2011 22:21 (2 years ago) Permalink

I thought Astronaut was quite a poor album apart from Nice and Taste the Summer, it seems like they've done a whole album with that kind of sound.

"Nice" and "Taste The Summer" sound more like "Notorious" tracks than "Rio" tracks though.

― You're Twistin' My Melody Man! (Geir Hongro), Thursday, 17 March 2011 22:23 (2 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

Happy 30th to Rio.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 8 May 2012 21:13 (1 year ago) Permalink

Watched its Classic Albums" chapter Sunday afternoon!

― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 8 May 2012 21:14 (1 year ago) Permalink

― Vini Reilly Invasion (Elvis Telecom), Wednesday, 9 May 2012 02:11 (1 year ago) Permalink

I suppose one or two of their songs I *do* have a mild soft spot for... but mostly dud.

Japan, on the other hand...

― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Thursday, 10 May 2012 00:47 (1 year ago) Permalink

10 months pass...

Apologies for the spam but I really think Duran Duran fans (and fans of Japan, post punk, new pop and glam) will find this feature interesting.

Duran Duran Versus Japan - The Substance Of Style

(It's not about who's better by the way...)

― Doran, Sunday, 31 March 2013 15:28 (1 month ago) Permalink

Fantastic article for sure.

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 31 March 2013 15:31 (1 month ago) Permalink

Damn! Impressive.

― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 31 March 2013 15:33 (1 month ago) Permalink

I've been listening to a lot of Duran Duran (81-82) and David Sylvian (83-85) lately so I thought this would be perfect reading right now but I didn't like it very much.

― brotherlovesdub, Sunday, 31 March 2013 15:58 (1 month ago) Permalink

love it.

― mr.raffles, Sunday, 31 March 2013 23:22 (1 month ago) Permalink

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