Gold: The Spandau Ballet Singles Poll

Yeah, check them out. For editing!

on the old comp the soft soul numbers were all on side one, the New Romantic stuff on the second. It was A LOT easier to bear.

in fairness I think the sound of a dude grinding his teeth in his sleep is better music than Duran Duran

anyway I am not at all repentant about my kneejerk "True" vote after listening to all of that

also how the hell can anyone enjoy this overall more than Duran Duran on any level besides "omg listen to how terrible music used to be in the 80s, lol lol lol oops I crapped myself"

you haven't gotten to aerosmith's favorite track yet

the first Duran Duran single that even approaches the average level of terrible displayed by these singles is "All She Wants Is"

xp: wait which one is aero's favorite? I thought I listened to all of them

DJP you're a singer, in what universe is Hadley not an infinitely better singer than Simon LeBon

"Through the Barricades"

I dunno – "Union of the Snake" is pretty awful.

and I'm the guy who wants "Last Chance on the Stairway" blasted at my wake.

"The Reflex" is also worse than the worst Spandau jam

The 'personality' universe.

"The Reflex" is funny!

more like vomiting reflex amirite

DJP you're a singer, in what universe is Hadley not an infinitely better singer than Simon LeBon

this argument only works in a universe where "True" is the only Spandau Ballet song

"Gold" has a completely atrocious melodic choice in the verses that is exacerbated by the wholly unmusical way Hadley sings it and "She Loves Like Diamond" should be retitled "He Moans Like Bitchmode"

"The Reflex" is a dumb song but is brighter, catchier and more interesting than any of the Spandau songs I just listened to and "Union of the Snake" is one of the best singles of the 80s.

Hadley doesn't dance. Le Bon does.

Hadley 1
Le Bon 0

u.r.rite.

LeBon does that thing where it sounds like he's smiling while he sings, like every note is being shaped by how he wants to look while he sings - fantastic "personality"

let me make my position clear on Duran Duran, they suck balls, not in the good sense of sucking balls. thank you based Kemp

My impatience with Union of the Snake stems from the sound of those galumphing synths

Hadley sounds like he is "officially singing"

LeBon does that thing where it sounds like he's smiling while he sings, like every note is being shaped by how he wants to look while he sings - fantastic "personality"

... that is like "basic singing technique 101"?

We all should read

http://images.harpercollins.co.uk/hcwebimages/HCCOVERS/049100/049195-FC222.jpg

Union of the Snake" is one of the best singles of the 80s...for me to poop on

guys, guys, they're all shit

"Through The Barricades" is very nice sounding though, I will grant you that

ps: Hadley is also doing the "sing through a smile thing" here

"She Loves Like Diamond" should be retitled "He Moans Like Bitchmode"

Release this under your neo industrial/EBM pseudonym.

Is that his name?

Gary "I know this much" Kemp?

xpost xpost xpost blimey, this thread is BUSY!

duran is better cos they begat the power station who in turn begat some like it hot and that one song pisses great jets of hot foaming piss over all these terrible spandau things

some like it smelling like a can of hot shit amirite

I should note re: Kemp book that there are selections online to read:

http://www.amazon.com/Know-This-Much-Soho-Spandau/dp/000732331X#reader_B002TU1QK2

well Robert Palmer is a much much better singer than either LeBon or Hadley, we'd better be able to agree on that

ps: the gallumphing synths in UotS are part of what make it awesome

The opening two paragraphs are about nothing but his terrible fashion choices!

Hadley is also doing the "sing through a smile thing" here

lol otm. I don't care if it's good technique, it's terrible, it makes them sound like they're going out of their way to drain their lines of feeling. which in LeBon's case makes sense tho because if you have any feelings about those lyrics then lol @ u, whereas w/Hadley-Kemp there is an appropriate feeling in response to the total violation of the signifier i.e. terror

Robert Palmer is a better singer than Andy Taylor is a guitarist

today marks the first time I have ever heard someone speak fondly of "some like it hot"

aero, when Christgau dismissed Duran for writing "lyrics that rearrange received language from several levels of discourse into a noncommital private doggerel," he really means Gary Kemp.

I don't care if it's good technique, it's terrible

I'm going to preserve this in amber

xpost And Duran*2 too.

also no one ever listened to Duran Duran because of lyrical quality; it was bright-sounding New Wave stream-of-consciousness pop music where the sounds were much more important than the actual words, which is why the song "Union of the Snake" actually has the words "union of the snake" in it

I think we just need to go for it here and link up all the videos, so in batches of three:

"Gold"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntG50eXbBtc

"True"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR8D2yqgQ1U

"Only When You Leave"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlLCC_gF8QY

actually I think the closest DD came to a lyrically coherent song was "I Don't Want Your Love"

"Lifeline"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJjMqsGk07Q

"Communication"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-QqRewb7V8

"Instinction"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PebH4X097Lg

like I can see how it might be ok if you can't understand what people are singing, but when your line is "the union of the snake is on the climb" and you sound like you're actually singing "IBM stock split two for one yesterday, I'm rich" then your technique is balls whether it's the recommended one or no

NED GOD DAMMIT I WAS ENJOYING THE DISCUSSION AND NOW IT'S A BUNCH OF YOUTUBES

"Narrative Coherence in Duran Duran" is a course taught by vocalist and noted musicologist D@n Perry, offered once a year at Boston University.

My apologies, aero. But the evidence must be presented to the assembled. (I do love your IBM stock line there.)

"Chant No. 1"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRN96eSMbFU

"To Cut a Long Story Short"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE2sCISQmpE

"The Freeze"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29ZCX21VsQc

like I can see how it might be ok if you can't understand what people are singing, but when your line is "the union of the snake is on the climb" and you sound like you're actually singing "IBM stock split two for one yesterday, I'm rich" then your technique is balls whether it's the recommended one or no

yeah but "voices in your body comin' through on the radio-ho-ho" is awesome and you know it

well first off, a stock split would not increase your net worth at all because the stock price is halved in order to keep the valuation constant

secondly, it absolutely sounds like he's saying "The Union of the Snake is on the climb", it's the next line that's unintelligible but that's okay because everyone is just sitting there going "wtf is the union of the snake" and not paying attention

not "INSTANTLY" increase, that should say