Duran Duran personified new wave for much of the mainstream audience. And for good reason, too. Duran Duran's reputation was built through music videos, which accentuated their fashion model looks and glamorous sense of style. Without music videos, it's likely that the band's pop-funk -- described by the group as
the Sex Pistols meets
Chic -- would never have made them international pop stars. While Duran Duran did have sharper pop sensibilities than their new romantic contemporaries like
Spandau Ballet and
Ultravox, none of their peers exploited MTV and music video like the Birmingham-based quintet. Each video the group made was distinctive, incorporating a number of cinematic styles to showcase the band as either part of the jet-setting elite ("Rio") or as worldly adventurers ("Hungry Like the Wolf"). While early videos like "Girls on Film" and "The Chauffeur" sparked controversy in England over their sexual content, their best-known clips were often based on hit contemporary movies. "Hungry Like the Wolf" uncannily recalled
Raiders of the Lost Ark, while "Union of the Snake" and "The Wild Boys" brought to mind
The Road Warrior. The clever videos helped make Duran Duran's rise to popularity remarkably swift. Between 1982 and 1984, they rocketed from underground British post-punk sensations to teen idols. But their fall from grace was equally fast. By the late '80s, the group's lineup had fragmented, and the remaining members had trouble landing hit singles. Nevertheless, the group pulled off a surprising, if short-lived, comeback in the early '90s as a sophisticated soft rock trio.
Inspired by
David Bowie and
Roxy Music, as well as post-punk and disco, schoolmates
Nick Rhodes (keyboards) and
John Taylor (guitar) formed Duran Duran in 1978 with their friends
Simon Colley (bass, clarinet) and
Stephen Duffy (vocals). Taking their name from a character in
Roger Vadim's psychedelic sci-fi film
Barbarella, the group began playing gigs in the Birmingham club Barbarella, supported by a drum machine. Within a year,
Duffy and
Colley both left the group --
Duffy would later form
the Lilac Time -- and were replaced by former
TV Eye vocalist
Andy Wickett and drummer
Roger Taylor. After recording a demo,
John Taylor switched to bass and guitarist
John Curtis joined the band, only to leave within a matter of months. The group placed an ad in Melody Maker, which drew the attention of
Andy Taylor, who became their guitarist. However, Duran Duran were still having trouble finding a vocalist. Following
Wickett's departure in 1979, a pair of singers passed through the group before
Simon LeBon, a former member of the punk band Dog Days and a drama student at Birmingham University, joined in early 1980.
By the end of 1980, Duran Duran had become popular within the burgeoning new romantic circuit in England and had secured a record contract with EMI. "Planet Earth," the band's first single, quickly rose to number 12 upon its spring 1981 release. Immediately, Duran Duran became the leaders of the new romantic movement, becoming media sensations in the British music and mainstream press. The group's popularity increased through their cutting-edge music videos, especially the bizarre, racy clip for "Girls on Film." Although the BBC banned the
Godley & Creme-directed video, the single became the group's first Top Ten hit, setting the stage for the fall release of their eponymous debut album.
Duran Duran reached number three upon its release and stayed in the charts for 118 weeks. The band quickly followed the album with
Rio in the spring of 1982.
Rio entered the charts at number two, and its singles -- "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Save a Prayer" -- became Top Ten hits. By the November release of the U.S.-only remix EP
Carnival, the band were superstars in Europe, but only just beginning to make headway in America. Their exposure in the U.S. was helped greatly by the emergence of MTV, which put the group's stylish videos into heavy rotation. MTV's constant playing of the videos paid off, and "Hungry Like the Wolf" became a Top Ten hit early in 1983.
Rio followed that single into the Top Ten, eventually selling over two million copies.
Duran Duran mania was in full swing across America, with "Is There Something I Should Know" reaching the Top Ten -- it became the group's first English number one that summer -- and the group's first album climbing its way to number ten. Duran Duran capitalized on their popularity by releasing
Seven and the Ragged Tiger in time for 1983's holiday season. The record hit number one in the U.K. and number eight in the U.S., spawning the hit singles "Union of the Snake" and "The Reflex," their first number one U.S. hit and their second British chart-topper. The band took an extended break after completing their year-and-a-half-long international tour in the spring of 1984. In November, they released the non-LP single "Wild Boys," which reached number two in the U.K. and the U.S., where it was added to the live album
Arena.
By 1985, Duran Duran fever was beginning to cool off, and after the band completed the title track for the James Bond film
A View to a Kill, the group went on hiatus.
Andy and
John Taylor formed the supergroup
the Power Station with vocalist
Robert Palmer and former
Chic drummer
Tony Thompson in January, releasing their eponymous debut album in the spring; it spawned the Top Ten singles "Some Like It Hot" and "Get It On (Bang a Gong)." The remaining members of Duran Duran --
Nick Rhodes,
Simon LeBon, and
Roger Taylor -- responded with their own side project,
Arcadia, which released an album called
So Red the Rose in the fall of 1985; the album launched the Top Ten hit "Election Day." Early in 1986,
Roger Taylor announced he was taking a year-long sabbatical from the group; he never returned. Several months later,
Andy Taylor also left, reducing Duran Duran to a trio. Late in 1986, the band released
Notorious, their first album in nearly three years. While it was relatively successful, going platinum in the U.S. and generating a Top Ten hit with the title track, it was noticeably less popular than their earlier records. For the remainder of the decade, Duran Duran's popularity continually declined, with 1988's
Big Thing producing "I Don't Want Your Love," their last Top Ten single for five years.
The greatest-hits album
Decade was released late in 1989, followed several months later by
Liberty, the first Duran Duran album to fail to go gold. By that point, former
Missing Persons guitarist
Warren Cuccurullo had become a permanent member of the group. In 1993, the band returned from a prolonged hiatus with
Duran Duran [The Wedding Album], a mature, layered record of lite funk and soulful adult contemporary pop that became a surprise hit. "Ordinary World" and "Come Undone" became Top Ten hits in America, with the former reaching the Top Ten in the U.K. as well; the album itself climbed into the Top Ten on both continents and went platinum in America. Not only did the record restore their commercial status, but it earned them some of their best reviews of their career. The group followed the album with one of their poorest-received efforts, 1995's all-covers
Thank You, which managed to go gold in America despite its negative reviews. While Duran Duran was recording the follow-up to
Thank You in 1996,
John Taylor left the band to pursue a solo career, leaving the group a trio of
LeBon,
Rhodes, and
Cuccurullo. That follow-up,
Medazzaland, was released in 1997 but failed to produce any major hits. 2000's
Pop Trash suffered a similar fate.
In March 2001, the three Taylors --
Andy,
John, and
Roger -- met up in Wales and worked with each other for three weeks. Around this time, rumors of a five-member reunion began to circulate. Two months after
Rhodes and
LeBon denied the rumors, the reunion was confirmed. Duran Duran recorded on and off for a new album over the next three years and also toured sporadically. After signing with Epic, they released
Astronaut in October 2004.
Red Carpet Massacre followed in 2007.
1982 - Rio
Consciously retro in an electro-pop kind of way, The World of Tomorrow succeeds because the group doesn't try to sidestep their obvious debt to Kraftwerk. The analog synthesizers, vocoderized singing, and lockstep beats all point to the godfathers of techno, and Komputer does a good job of it. They even manage to push the envelope a bit farther, with commentary -- albeit superficial -- on tracks like "Bill Gates" and "More Automation." As a tribute LP, The World of Tomorrow is delicious fun; as a standalone work, however, it fails to add much to the Kraftwerk legacy.
