| LinkExchange Member |
| LinkExchange Member |
IN THE BEGINNING...
1978.The Beginning of an era. That was the year Nick Rhodes and John Taylor formed what has come to be known world-wide as DURAN DURAN. Where did the name come from? Let's have Nick explain it:
"John and I were having a lunchtime drink in the Hole in the Wall (a pub in Birmingham, England), trying to decide on a name. We'd been through everything. We'd been through books, film titles, we'd looked on walls and in the dictionary. We'd made up words and everything a band usually does. There is one name I remember - RAF. It didn't stand for anything, we just liked it. Then the film 'Barbarella' came up in conversation and I think it was John that said, 'Duran Duran, that doesn't sound bad! What about that for a name?' And there it was."
In the beginning, it was Nick, John and various musicians who came and went. There were only about four serious incarnations of Duran Duran. The original members consisted of John, Nick, Simon Colley & Steve Duffy (later of the group Tin Tin).
After Simon left, Andy Wickett came along. Later,
drummer Roger Taylor was recruited ("He was the only one in Birmingham who
could keep up with Nick's Wasp (keyboard) going 'deet-deet-deet-deet-deet-deet-deet tzunda tzdunda tzunda dada dada'...' " says John), and the band was on their way. Andy Wickett left later on & Alan Curtis joined the group after responding to an ad for a "Modern guitarist for Roxy/Bowie influenced band." Jeff Thomas rounded out this third lineup of the band.
Meanwhile, Michael & Paul Berrow were busy preparing to open the club they'd purchased on Broad Street, close to the city centre in Birmingham - The Rum Runner. Legend has it that Duran Duran walked into the Rum Runner one day with a tape and walked out with a pot of gold and a glamourous future signed on the dotted line. What actually happened was that the band needed a venue for gigs, and Nick & John brought in a tape containing four tracks (two of those tracks being "Girls On Film" and what was later to be known as "Late Bar"). The Rum Runner had a very tight music policy, consisting of Roxy/Bowie nights & jazz funk nights...strongly influenced by New York's Chic powerdisco. There was a mutual appeal between the Berrows and the band, and the Berrows offered a place to rehearse and play gigs. After many months, and alot of hard work, Michael & Paul Berrow signed on as Duran Duran's unofficial managers.
Not too long after, Alan Curtis and Jeff Thompson departed from the band. John, Roger & Nick knew what they wanted, and auditioned dozens of guitarists and singers, trying a few here and there as band members. They even tried contacting guitarist Steve New (formerly of the Rich Kids), but their telegrams and messages remained unanswered, so they decided he probably wasn't right for them anyway.
Then the trio placed the fabled ad in Melody Maker for a guitarist. Andy Taylor answered and set up an audition. When he arrived in Birmingham at the Rum Runner after taking the train from Newcastle, he found Nick, Roger and John jamming away in the upstairs bar, waiting...
Nick on his first meeting with Andy:
The band still was short of a singer...
Fiona Kemp was a barmaid at the Rum Runner at the time, and she knew of an
ex-boyfriend of hers who was a singer...Simon leBon.
Simon began his aspiring career around the age of five, when his mother signed him up for acting classes twice a week, which he did for 12 years. He began singing during his latter years at primary school, when the choirmaster at his church put a hymnbook in his hands, and began coaching him. The first record Simon ever cut was with the church choir, singing old church songs.
The summer of 1979 brought Simon to the Rum Runner. Fiona had told him Duran Duran was looking for a singer. "So I thought, why not? Why not for the summer?" So he phoned up, spoke with Michael Berrow and arranged to meet Nick and Roger the next day.
Says Roger, "We knew instantly that he was the one."
Nick's impression of Simon was a bit deeper:
Simon ended up staying on permanently, and the lineup for Duran Duran was finally in place. The Berrow brothers then officially became the band's managers.
late 1980, Duran Duran signed with EMI Records, about six months after their agreement with the Berrow brothers. There was a song that made it onto the band's first album titled "To The Shore", but it was later dropped after some copies were released with it on there. The album (titled "Duran Duran") had three singles released: "Planet Earth", "Careless Memories" & "Girls On Film". Videos were filmed for these singles as well. The video for "Planet Earth" was filmed at St. Johns Woods, "Careless Memories" in Soho and "Girls On Film" at Shepperton Studios. The video for "Girls On Film" was a bit too hot for Mtv (nude/semi-nude women mud wrestling & the like)...it was banned! A much-edited down version was finally played by the new music video channel.
Along with the album and singles, Duran Duran toured the UK and Eurpoe (their first tour as "headliners" was in February of 1981). Their popularity in Europe was starting to rise (and quite quickly), but they still had to break America...
In late 1981, the first single from their forthcoming album, "My Own Way" was released (along with a video, filmed once again in St. Johns Woods).
The band's second album, "Rio" was released in early 1982. Besides "My Own Way" three more singles were released (with videos to go along): "Hungry Like The Wolf", Save A Prayer" & the title track "Rio".
The video for "Hungry Like The Wolf" was filmed in the exotic location of Sri Lanka. Through marketplaces and the jungle John, Roger, Nick & Andy searched for Simon, who was "hunting down" a mystery woman. The video was directed by Russell Mulcahy (who later directed the first two "Highlander" movies among other feature films). This was one of the first videos to have been filmed in an exotic location. Mtv ate it up and played the video on heavy rotation. The fans loved it too. Duran Duran had finally "made it" in America.
Duran Duran toured again in 1982, including a tour of America, where they opened up for the group Blondie. The videos for "Save A Prayer" (another Sri Lanka location clip) and "Rio" (filmed in Antigua) - both directed by Russell Mulcahy - were released, and they enjoyed the same success as "Hungry". Duran Duran was *the* "video band"...
In 1983, a home video consisting of the band's early videos was released. Included were three never-before-seen videos for "Lonely In Your Nightmare" (filmed in Sri Lanka), "Night Boat" (filmed in Antigua) and "The Chauffeur" (filmed in London). One additional video was for the song "Is There Something I Should Know?", which was also released as a single on its own. The bands first album was re-released in 1983 as well, with "Is There Something I Should Know?" on it (taking the place of the absent "To The Shore"). The re-release of the first album had a new cover designed, with a more recent photo of the band as well.
Late 1983 marked the release of Duran Duran's third
album, "Seven And The Ragged Tiger". The first single released was 'Union of the
Snake" (the video was filmed in the desert of Australia). Other singles released from the album were "New Moon On Monday" (video filmed in France) and "The Reflex" (live clip filmed in Canada during the 1984 tour).
In 1984, Duran Duran toured American and Canada
again (their first *major* tour as headliners in these 2 countries). They Started on January 30 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and finished on April 17 in San Diego, California. Over those 79 days, they traveled approximately 18,000 miles and played 51 gigs in 43 cities to approximately 554,000 fans. The tour was sponsored by the Coca Cola company. The entire tour was filmed for a documentary which was released on home video, titled "Sing Blue Silver" (after a lyric from the song "The Chauffeur"). The second to last show on the tour - Oakland, California - was filmed in its entirety for a future project.
In late 1984, the band released a live album, titled "Arena". The album consisted of songs recorded live during the 1984 tour, plus a new studio recorded song "The Wild Boys".
The Oakland, CA show that was filmed during that tour was used, along with come
additional footage shot for the home video "Arena" (subtitled: "An Absurb Notion").
The plot for "Arena" was that the *real* Duran Duran (the character from the film "Barbarella") heard people on Earth chanting his name, so he though it was a sign to return to his home planet. When he arrived, he realised it was the *band* Duran Duran these people have been "calling out for", and Dr. Duran decides to take revenge, as no one takes his name in vain. With the help of a few bumbling assistants, Dr. Duran tries to thwart the band's concert from his "world" under the arena in Oakland. The video for "The Wild Boys" (based on William Burrough's novel of the same name) was included on this video.
Simon on the "Arena" video:
The same concert footage used for "Arena" was used for another project...a special broadcast on Mtv and Cinemax, titled "As The Lights Go Down" (many fans prefe r this special over "Arena" as it stays fo cused on the music, rather that veering off into a sub-plot).
In 1985, Duran Duran was selected to do the theme to the newest James Bond film - "A View To A Kill". The band made a video to go along with the single. The video, filmed in Paris at the Eiffel Tower, had the boys playing "Bond-type" roles themselves, as clips from the movie were tied i n to m ake it look like it all went together. The song "A View To A Kill" went to number one on all the charts...and has been the last 007 theme to do so.
Also in 1985, Duran Duran played at Live Aid - Bob Geldof's "super-concert" to raise money for the starving people in Africa (and elsewhere). The band played four songs...this was the last time the original lineup of Duran Duran played together.
After Live Aid, the band "split up". John and Andy formed the band The Power Station with singer Robert Palmer and drummer Tony Thompson (formerly of the group Chic).
They released an album (self-titled) and three singles: "Some Like It Hot" (still popular on the radio today during the summer), "Get It On (Bang A Gong)" (re make of t he old T- Rex classic) & "Communication". Videos and a short documentary on the making of the album were released onto home video in 1986. The Power Station went on tour, but Robert Palmer decided to work on his solo career, so he quit the band. Singer/actor Michael DesBarres was brought in as a replacement singer for the tour.
While John and Andy were doing their thing, Simon, Nick and Roger formed their own side group, Arcadia. They recorded an album (titled "So Red The Rose"), but soon after, Roger - not wanting to deal with the pressures of fame anymore - quit. So it was down to Simon and Nick, who went on to film videos for the singles "Election Day", "Goodbye Is Forever", "The Promise" & "The Flame" (the video was a parody of old murder/mystery films - with a cameo by John as well). A single was released for the song "El Diablo", but no video was filmed. Arcadia didn't do a major tour like the Power Station did, instead opting to do TV appearances on mostly European shows (much to the dismay of American fans). Arcadia also appeared on the soundtrack to the film "Playing For Keeps", doing the theme song "Say The Word". A video was made for this song (consisting of clips from Arcadia's other videos mixed in with clips from the movie), but was only played around a maximum of three times on Mtv.
In 1986, the band reformed to record their next album, "Notorious". Since Roger quit while Arcadia was going on, the band knew he wasn't coming back. Andy also ended up quitting after working on part of the album. Steve Ferrone filled in on drums, while Nile Rodgers & Warren Cuccurullo (formerly of
Missing Persons) did the guitar work after Andy's departure. The album was released in late 1986. Videos were made for the singles, "Notorious", "Skin Trade" & "Meet El Presidente". The band toured in late 1986 and throughout 1987 in support of the
"Notorious" album - some of those dates they were the opening act for David Bowie (a big Duran influence) on his "Glass Spider" tour.
1988 marked the release of Duran Duran's 6th album, "Big Thing". Singles/Videos spawned from this album included "All She Wants Is", "I Don't Want Your Love" and "Do Your Believe In Shame?" (which the band dedicated to the late pop artist Andy Warhol). The band toured once again in support of the album.
After a brief "hiatus", Duran Duran returned in 1990 with "Liberty". Fans have mixed feelings about this album...some like it and say it's one of the band's best, some don't like it at all (save for 1 or 2 songs), feeling it was a bit too "bubblegum-ish".
Sales-wise, the album more or less was a bomb. Only 2 singles were released from "Liberty": "Violence of Summer (Love's Taking Over)" and "Serious".Warren Cuccurullo was added as a permanent member of the band at this time. Sterling Campbell was also added as a permanent drummer, but he was dropped from the band's lineup not too long after. Sterling is now (or was) drumming for Soul Asylum.
After another "absence", Duran Duran
BURST back onto the music scene with their 8th album, simply titled "Duran
Duran" (like their debut record). Fans have come to call this album "The Wedding
Album", due to the fact that the cover art consists of photos of the band member's parent's weddings. Singles released from this album include "Too Much Information", "Ordinary World" (a big hit for the band) and "Come Undone" (another big hit). "Drowning Man" was released as a single in the USA only, and "None of the Above" was released as a single only in Japan. The band did several TV appearances to promote this album, including Mtv's Unplugged show and Jay Leno's & Arsenio Hall's shows. The band also did some extensive touring all around the world. Some shows ended up being canceled because Simon hurt his vocal chords and had to rest for awhile, but the rest of the tour went very well.
The next Duran Duran album to hit the shelves of music stores was "Thank You" (1995). This album was all covers of other artists songs. The singles released from this album included "White Lines" (with Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel & the Furious 5), "Perfect Day" (by Lou Reed) & "Lay Lady Lay" (by Bob Dylan). Other covers included "Success" (Iggy Pop), "Crystal Ship" (The Doors), "911 Is a Joke" (Public Enemy - John Taylor said he chose this song because he wanted to see how many people he could get mad about it), "Watching the Detectives" (Elvis Costello) and a few others...including a re-make of their own song "The Chauffeur", which they titled "Drive By". Former Duran drummer Roger Taylor rejoined the band to play on 2 tracks for Thank You (Watching the Detectives & Perfect Day). Duran Duran did some promotion for the album, but it was pretty much a flop on the charts and some fans just didn't like it.
1996 was pretty much a quiet year for Duran Duran. They were for the most part busy working on their next album, which was going to be called "Medazzaland". The name came from Simon - he went to the dentist for surgery and the anesthesia they gave him was called Medazolim. He came back to the studio still "floating" from the stuff, Warren asked what he was on, Simon told him & Warren said "You're still in Medazzaland"...and the name of the album was born.
Also in 1996, John started working on some side projects. He formed his own independent label with Hein Hoven, called B5 Records & released a solo album titled "Feeling Are Good And Other Lies". John also regrouped with Andy Taylor to do another Power Station album, but he ended up leaving that project and the late Bernard Edwards (famed Chic bassist) took over John's role for the album (the album is titled "Living In Fear"). Another project of John's was working with another band he was in called Neurotic Outsiders (consisting of John, Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols and Duff McKagen & Matt Sorum of Guns & Roses). Neurotic Outsiders recorded an album (self-titled) and did a little bit of a club tour.
Also during 1996, Nick and Warren started their own production company, TV Mania. They wrote a rock opera called "Bored With Prozac and the Internet", which they're hoping to put into production as soon as they can. They also did some producing work for the reformed Blondie.
1997 brought a major change for Duran Duran. At the annual DuranCon (a fan convention held by the Duran Duran Yearbook - a fanzine), John Taylor performed an acoustic set. Near the end, he announced that he was leaving Duran Duran. He said he wanted to do his own thing. Alot of fans felt this would mean the end of Duran Duran...they were mistaken.
Medazzaland was finally released in the US on October 14, 1997. The 1st single, "Electric Barbarella" was released a couple weeks beforehand. The video for the song (directed by Ellen VonUnwerth) was included on the CD single, so fans with computers could watch it on their machines. The video's storyline consisted of the 3 Durans buying a robot doll, who does various tasks for them (clean the house, serve drinks at a party...). At the end of the video, the robot wrecks havoc because her battery runs low & has to be replaced. Mtv and the Canadian music channel MuchMusic both pulled the video, saying
it was in bad taste & sexually explicit. The band "edited" the video by placing "Warning" boxes and fake computer cursors here and there to poke fun at cybersex websites on the Internet. Many fans felt there was nothing wrong with the video at all (relatively tame compared to Girls On Film)...seeing it as a very tongue-in-cheek joke. Other fans didn't like the video at all.
From mid-November to mid-December, Duran Duran did a promotional tour in the USA & Canada for "Medazzaland", which started in Boston and ended in Montreal.
Early 1998 brought another major change to Duran Duran: They parted ways with their record label in the US, Capitol.
In early April 1998, EMI released "Essential Duran Duran: Night Versions" as pasrt of their "Essentials" limited edition CD series. The disc contains many 12" remixes which have never been before released on CD. As a bonus, people who have computers could use the bonus CD that came with it. As the 12" mix of "New Moon On Monday" play, a "video" is show...actually images of the covers of Duran Duran's old singles "floated by" on the screen. Many fans thought this was very cheesy and expected more.
Early November 1998 saw the release of another "greatest hits" album, titled "Greatest". This one went a step further than "Decade" as it included nearly every single from 1981 (Planet Earth) to 1997 (Electric Barbarella). Alot of fans felt it was almost a waste, feeling it was nothing but a "rehashed Decade" with a few extra tracks.
In December 1998, Duran Duran did a tour of the UK to promte Greatest. The tour was aptly called the "Latest and Greatest Tour". Also, VH-1 recently aired a "Behind the Music" special featuring the band.
Late summer 1999, Duran finally signed with a new label: Hollywood Records. The band also toured the US over the summer (1999), which was called the Let It Flow tour. The gave crowrd a treat by performing four new songs that should be included on their forthcoming album, tenatively titled Pop Trash: Hallucinating Elvis, Lava Lamp, Someone Else Not Me & Pop Trash Movie (Nick & Warren originally wrote this track for Blondie, but it wasn't used). The band also did a one-off show at London's Earl's Court in early December 1999 as well as a few radio Christmas shows in the States. Pop Trash is scheduled for an early 2000 release.
KEEP WATCHING...THE REST OF THE TALE IS YET TO COME...AS IT
HAPPENS...
**All quotes and facts taken from Duran Duran: Their Story by Kasper
deGraaf & Malcom Garrett and the videos Sing Blue Silver and The Making
of Arena, and various miscellaneous sources.**
Last updated: 28 December 1999
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