Duran Duran: Classic or Dud?

Watched its Classic Albums" chapter Sunday afternoon!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hr3HCNIgv40

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

Japan, on the other hand...

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...)

Fantastic article for sure.

Damn! Impressive.

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.

love it.

Thanks to Geir (and unregistered) I'm listening to Rio again.

This album is a fucking miracle, right?

completely and utterly

check the 'Classic Albums' Rio doc if you haven't seen it. one of the better episodes for sure IMO.

Ordinary world is classic

Come Undone is better though

I love this band. I won't dismiss any of their albums - Liberty might arguably be their weakest & the production doesn't do it any favours, but it still has some really great songs on it.

To me, they released their best work to date with their 13th album All You Need Is Now.
I'm very fond of Big Thing too.

I'm pretty sure I've posted about this before but:

Circa 1981, my best friend's older sister (let's call her Stephanie) had a Journey poster on her bedroom door. In it, Steve Perry is singing a note that appears to emanate from his lower intestine. His eyes are tightly closed; sweat is pouring down his face. His hair looks a bit like Joan Baez's; his jeans scrupulously follow the contours of his testicles.

By 1983, Steve was gone from Stephanie's door. It now held the icy-cool stares of Duran Duran, in Members Only-style jackets against a backdrop of lavender and aqua. Their lipstick perfectly matches the color of their immaculately pleated pants.

All I need to know about the difference between the 70s and 80s I learned from Stephanie's door.

I immediately started saving up to buy a Roland Juno 6.

Side 2 of Big Thing is fantastic, and the b-sides were pretty good too.

https://www.alcoholprofessor.com/blog/2018/06/20/taylor-made-cocktails/

Well...

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/duran-durans-simon-le-bon-denies-sexual-misconduct-allegation-698560/

It's obviously a sensitive subject, and one person's word against another, but just from that article it doesn't seem to ring true.

glad we got that sorted

Can someone please explain?.

link doesn't work but you can always post a question here it's ilm after all

Sorry. The reason for this strange behavior.

Great write-ups Alfred.

I wish the rest of their albums were as good as Rio - the leap from the debut to that is incredible, but fucking hell did they hit a wall fast creatively.

Great write-ups Alfred.

― Gavin, Leeds

Thanks!

My list would be very similar. I'd put Notorious behind Seven Ragged & The Tiger. I guess I'd probably throw in All You Need Is Now in seventh place as the best of their later albums (not there is much competition).

I listened to Big Thing recently and it was slightly better than I remembered. It still has some issues though.

Notorious is a great album, I still remember listening to it in my room on Christmas Day 1986 and my dad stopping in the doorway, listening for a sec, and approvingly saying "This is Duran Duran? I thought they were terrible". It was Winter Marches On playing. So from then on I was like "ah, this is their album that adults like" and now, as an adult, I do still quite like it! The first three albums I love in the uncritical way you love stuff from your childhood, but they're also somewhat inaccessible now for that reason. But I can listen to Notorious whenever and dig it.

still don't get why "Hold Me" wasn't the follow-up to "Notorious."

Can someone please explain?

Please please tell you now

yeah, Hold Me makes way more sense as a single than Skin Trade! I would have released Meet El Presidente -> Hold Me -> American Science as singles.

I remember reading an interview with Nick a while back where he was talking about Skin Trade. The band and the label thought it was the huge hit on the album. When the title track slightly under-performed, they weren't worried because they knew they had Skin Trade as the secret weapon. They were shocked when it did so badly. Not sure why they thought Meet El Presidente would turn things around when it came to picking a third single.

They even named the tour after a "Skin Trade" lyric: Strange Behavior.

Wait, what? Underperformed in the UK, maybe. In the United States, it was a massive #2 hit.

xpost

Nah, "Skin Trade" only reached #39 US.

I bought the 45 back in '87, so I did my part!

But it's funny you say Y-100 in Miami broke "Ordinary World." I lived in South Florida at the time and remember it was Power 96 that played that song to death.

Josefa, I meant "Notorious" in case it wasn't clear.

I remember "Ordinary World" on Y-100, which was inching toward all-A/C in late '92 and early '93, but you might be right.

Wow, after all these years, I didn't know your history! A shout-out!

Oh sorry, re Notorious.

Yeah, ancient history at this point, but I cherish the memories and still try to make it down there once in a while

[South Florida content here:] Power 96 of course was the freestyle station back in those days, but occasionally they would latch on to some power ballad they considered meaningful and play it in high rotation. "Winds of Change" by the Scorpions was another one.

Ah no way, Alfred. "So Red The Rose" is excellent even if bloated.

yeah it's second behind Rio based on what I've heard

tt keeps telling me that SATRT is quite good but I'm really scared to hear it. really I'm scared to hear anything that isn't Rio - it's hard to hear a band capable of all-time brilliance cranking out shit

side two of SATRG is perfect, the non-single tracks on side one are kinda weak

"Strange CO-inci-DENCE each time you. look. my way."

Never been entirely sure what's so bad about 7&TRT, tbh, but the "uncritical way you love stuff from your childhood" complicates things for me too. (Everything up to Notorious really.) I'm totally digging "Of Crime & Passion" this instant. Can't face "The Reflex" though, admittedly.

Related: is there an obvious reason why "A Matter of Feeling" is seemingly Spotify's favourite Notorious track by a wide margin?

Because it's a goddamned amazing song, "Nag! Nag! Nag!". (Medazzaland's still my favorite album of all time, just to be predictable.) (Hello again!)

of all time

I was watching a press conference of Duran Duran circa '84 where American journalists were comparing the band to The Beatles because of the hysteria of the crowds, and the band essentially saying "The Beatles were 20 years ago, it was a moment in history that won't happen again, we're here to make our own history and we have next to nothing in common with them" ... Fantastic. A lot of respect for the band for saying that. Just goes to show that even back then, when music was as exciting as ever, the likes of Jann Wenner were trying to yank rock back into what they liked as teenagers instead of letting it blossom. I only wish every band had the balls to call out The Beatles for being old news.

Having said that, Andy Taylor suddenly wanting to be some sort of RAWK GAWD circa '85 was pretty depressing. Check out the footage of Power Station vs. footage of Duran Duran at Live Aid, and it's clear which band he's more into being in.

Watched that documentary from last year on BBC4 last week, it was clearly one the band had editorial control over and was consequentially like some kind of terrible EPK

Watched that documentary from last year on BBC4 last week, it was clearly one the band had editorial control over and was consequentially like some kind of terrible EPK

Whatever, the fan base (for whom the documentary was made) adored it unanimously, and it's fairly difficult to achieve unanimity amongst us Duranies. Though I would really highly recommend the other BBC special that debuted at the same time, "A Night In"; "Something You Should Know" was great, but I already knew everything they discussed in the documentary and found myself constantly fact-checking and seeking out anything at all I might not have heard about before. Sometimes it can be difficult being a walking information bank for one specific musical artist, LOL. "A Night In" did teach me a few things and was a lot more casual and conversational and I truly enjoyed watching that, so watch that one if you can!

Anyway, Turrican completely and utterly OTM on EVERYTHING. And Arcadia was the far better side project.