Duran Duran

DURAN DURAN

Formed: 1978, Birmingham, England

Members: Simon Le Bon, lead vocals (born Herfordshire, England, 27 October 1958); Nick Rhodes, keyboards (born Birmingham, England, 8 June 1962). Former members: Simon Colley, bass/clarinet; Warren Cuccurullo (born Brooklyn, New York, 8 December 1956); John Curtis, guitar; Stephen Duffy, lead vocals (born Birmingham, Worcestershire, England, 30 May 1960); Andy Taylor, guitar (born Wolverhampton, England, 16 February 1961); John Taylor, guitar (born Birmingham, England, 20 June 1960); Roger Taylor, drummer (born Birmingham, England, 26 April 1960); Jeff Thomas, lead vocals; Andy Wickett, lead vocals.

Genre: Rock, Pop

Best-selling album since 1990: Duran Duran: The Wedding Album (1993)

Hit songs since 1990: "Ordinary World," "Come Undone"

Emerging from the tidal wave of British "new romantic" pop groups, Duran Duran established a reputation in the early 1980s with well-crafted songs coupled with an image-conscious presentation. Borrowing their name from a character in the 1968 science fiction film Barbarella, the group charted with a string of hits from their first three albums and became pop icons through their memorable music videos. By the late 1980s their popularity had subsided, and constant personnel changes hindered the quality and consistency of their subsequent albums. Loyal fans (known as "Duranies") assert that Duran Duran is developing into a new type of pop group, one that embraces funk, hip-hop, and, most especially, dance-club sounds and textures.

Nick Rhodes assembled the initial forerunner of Duran Duran in 1978, consisting of Rhodes, Taylor, Simon Colley, and Stephen Duffy. After Colley and Duffy left the group, Roger Taylor was recruited as the drummer, and Andy Wickett took over as the lead vocalist. This lineup recorded several demo tapes, producing the first version of the subsequent hit, "Girls on Film." Further changes ensued: John Taylor moved to bass guitar and John Curtis (guitar) and Jeff Thomas (vocals) joined the group. The lineup eventually stabilized with the introduction of guitarist Andy Taylor and vocalist Simon Le Bon, who soon became the group's primary lyricist.

Duran Duran gained early exposure as the opening act for Hazel O'Connor and was signed by EMI Records in late 1980. Their first single, "Planet Earth," did moderately well in the U.K. charts, but it was their second release, "Girls on Film," accompanied by a racy video directed by Godley & Creme, which brought them widespread acclaim. This emphasis on the visual medium led to a highly successful collaboration with the director Russell Mulchay, who almost single-handedly created the image of Duran Duran. The group traveled to distant locales (Antigua and Sri Lanka) and constructed video narratives that highlighted their sartorial style set against exotic backdrops. This formula was introduced in the colorful videos for "Rio" and "Save a Prayer" and developed further in the animal courtship of "Hungry Like the Wolf." MTV greatly contributed to their success by placing their videos in constant rotation.

Unlike other British pop groups such as the Human League and Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran did not eschew the role of the electric guitar in their songs. Rather they retained the rhythmic and harmonic possibilities of the distorted electric guitar along with the fashionable sounds of the synthesizer. "Is There Something I Should Know?," from Duran Duran (1983), displays this balance with a dominant guitar riff in the verse and ascendant synthesizer textures in the chorus. John Taylor's funk-inspired bass lines provided visceral propulsion, evident especially in such songs as the title track from Rio (1982) and the bridge section in the extended version of "Hungry Like the Wolf." This unique combination was further integrated in their 1983 album, Seven and the Ragged Tiger, which produced three top-ten hits: "The Reflex," "Union of the Snake," and "New Moon on Monday." Le Bon extended his melodic ideas, from syllabic repetition in "The Reflex" to baritone crooning in the beginning of "New Moon on Monday." The melodies were intermittently augmented with backup singers, allowing Rhodes to further weave his melodic and harmonic riffs into the overall texture.

By the end of their 1984 tour and the release of their live album Arena, the members of Duran Duran decided to take a break and pursue solo projects. In 1986 the members of Duran Duran came together to record the theme song for the latest James Bond film, A View to a Kill.

When Le Bon, Rhodes, and John Taylor attempted to reconvene the group in 1986, they met with resistance from the other two members. Andy Taylor, who was pursuing a solo career, contributed to their next album, Notorious (1986), but was replaced for the subsequent tour by Warren Cuccurullo. While Duran Duran attempted new musical ground, most notably in the title-track and the funk-inspired "Skin Trade," the album as a whole was uneven and lacked focus. Most regrettably, the melodic economy and brilliance which had marked their earlier efforts now seemed repetitive and disjunct.

Although Duran Duran continued recording, they garnered little interest until their 1993 eponymous album, known as The Wedding Album. With Cuccurollo now a permanent member, the group received wide acclaim for two ballads, "Ordinary World" and "Come Undone." The album seemed at once mindful of their legacy and propelled by fresh energy. Playing on the band's visually driven image of the 1980s, Le Bon now proclaimed in the opening song, "Destroyed by MTV I hate to bite the hand that feeds me so much information."

In 1995 the group released Thank You, an album of covers that included a wide variety of songs, from "Crystal Ship" (the Doors) and "Thank You" (Led Zeppelin) to "White Lines" (Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five) and "911 Is a Joke" (Public Enemy). Although Duran Duran collaborated with Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five on the album and performed with them on late-night television shows, their appropriation of rap hits invited severe criticism. After this album the longtime member John Taylor left, and the group continued once again as a trio (Le Bon, Rhodes, and Cuccurullo). Medazzaland (1997) presented a shockingly new sound with dance-club grooves in "Big Bang Generation" and "Electric Barbarella," and a wry self-assessment in "Undergoing Treatment," which darkly proclaimed, "We are undergoing treatment watching others in the news studying our worst reviews." Pop Trash (2000) was equally ambitious, conjuring sonic textures reminiscent of the Beatles, with a renewed emphasis on melodic writing and pop craftsmanship.

Duran Duran has weathered more than two decades in the popular music world, surviving countless personnel changes, shifting public tastes, and a brief, self-imposed name change to Duranduran. While most of their peers from the early 1980s have disbanded and disappeared, Duran Duran continues to explore new musical directions.

SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY:

Duran Duran (EMI, 1981); Rio (EMI, 1982); Seven and the Ragged Tiger (EMI, 1983); Arena (Parlophone, 1984); Notorious (EMI, 1986); Big Thing (EMI, 1988); Decade (EMI, 1989); Liberty (Parlophone, 1990); Duran Duran: The Wedding Album (Parlophone, 1993); Thank You (Capitol, 1995); Medazzaland (Capitol, 1997); Greatest (EMI, 1998); Night Versions (EMI, 1999); Strange Behaviour (EMI, 1999); Pop Trash (Capitol, 2000).

wynn yamami