Duran Duran

Duran Duran was a 1980s music group formed in England by Nick Rhodes (keyboards), John Taylor (bass guitar), Roger Taylor (drums), Andy Taylor (guitar), and Simon Le Bon (vocals). It is worth noting that none of the Taylors were related. The band took their name from a character in Roger Vadim's film Barbarella (starring Jane Fonda).

In 1981, Duran Duran's first single, "Planet Earth", reached the United Kingdom's top 20 at number 3, selling 2.5 million copies. Duran Duran also made their first music video that year, for the song "Girls On Film". The memorable video was rather raunchy to say the least, featuring topless women mud wrestling and other not-very-stylised depictions of sexual fetishes, and was consequently banned by the BBC -- an edited version was aired on MTV. Later in 1981, they went on a United States tour where they performed in venues such as The Roxy nightclub in Los Angeles and The Peppermint Lounge in New York.

Duran Duran began to achieve worldwide recognition in 1982, when they opened for Blondie during that band's American tour. They also released their second album, Rio, which spanned three UK top twenties with "Hungry Like the Wolf", "Save A Prayer", and the title song. The iconic sun-drenched videos for this album were directed by Russell Mulcahy, who went on to direct Highlander and other feature films.

Princess Diana declared Duran Duran her favorite band that year, and MTV placed the video of "Hungry Like the Wolf" into heavy rotation, prompting that song and "Rio" to debut in the US charts' top ten. The band was dubbed "The Fab Five" by the British press, and in the US the band spearheaded what became the second British Invasion of rock acts.

In 1983, the band re-released their self-titled first album, with the addition of the new single "Is There Something I Should Know". This song went to number 1 on the UK charts and Number 4 on the American charts. Nick Rhodes produced the #1 hit "Too Shy" for the English band Kajagoogoo that year, and later on, Rhodes and Le Bon become MTV VJs for a show, during which stint artist Andy Warhol dropped by to greet them. An autograph signing session in Times Square got so far out of control that mounted police had to be called in to control the mob.

The band released a third album, Seven And The Ragged Tiger, which included the hits "Union Of The Snake", "New Moon On Monday" and "The Reflex". The band embarked on a massive round-the-world tour which was documented by cameramen who followed them everywhere. The resulting documentary film (Arena) shows a variety of behind-the-scenes and "off-duty" moments with the band -- including bassist John Taylor declaring, at a meeting with executives from their top tour sponsors Coca Cola, that he much preferred Pepsi!

The live album Arena recorded during the tour included the new studio single "Wild Boys", which went to Number 1. In 1984 they also appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone and were featured on the Band Aid benefit single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" along with George Michael, Boy George and Bono, among others. They won two Grammy awards that year in the then-brand-new video categories.

In 1985, Duran Duran contributed the title track to the soundtrack of the James Bond movie A View To A Kill. Le Bon, Rhodes, and Roger Taylor formed the new band Arcadia that year, with their first album under that name, So Red The Rose, going platinum. Meanwhile, John and Andy Taylor joined forces with Robert Palmer and Bernard Edwards to form the band Power Station, which had two hit singles of their own.

Duran Duran performed for the last time with all its original members at the RFK Stadium Live Aid concert in Philadelphia. Roger and Andy Taylor left the band after that concert. Warren Cuccurullo was hired as a guitarist in 1986, and with Le Bon, Rhodes, and John Taylor produced the album Notorious; the single "Notorious" went to number 2 in the USA.

Subsequently, Duran Duran's fame began to wane. In 1988, Cuccurullo was made a permanent member of the band, and their album Big Thing yielded the hit "I Don't Want Your Love". In 1989, a greatest hits album, Decade, was released, becoming another major seller for the band. The 1990 release Liberty failed to capitalize on any regained momentum, however -- a pattern the band repeated regularly.

During the 1990s, Duran Duran struggled to make as significant an impact as they had during the '80s. The commercial success gained by such hits as "Come Undone" and "Ordinary World" in 1993 was swiftly tarnished by the very poorly received covers album Thank You (1995). The 1997 departure of bassist John Taylor reduced the band to two original members plus Warren Cuccurullo, and they failed to significantly add to their fan base with the albums Medazzaland (1997) and Pop Trash (2000).

In May 2002, it was announced that Cuccurullo was leaving the band to reform his 80's band Missing Persons, and that the three Taylors had returned to reform the original five-member band.

As of 2003, Duran Duran continues to record and seek major-label support for a new album and tour.

Album Discography

• Duran Duran (1981)
• Rio (1982)
• Seven and the Ragged Tiger (1983)
• Arena (1984, live)
• Notorious (1986)
• Big Thing (1988)
• Decade (1989, singles compilation)
• Liberty (1990)
• Duran Duran AKA The Wedding Album (1993)
• Thank You (1995, covers)
• Medazzaland (1997)
• Greatest (1998, singles compilation)
• Pop Trash (2000)