![]() It helped, of course, that they were perfectly coiffed and dressed to the nines. And while they were happy to chat and pose for pics and press the flesh with approachable ease, they nonetheless radiated the confidence and poise of men long used to the limelight. Even though their entrance wasn't announced, it was as if a magnetic force pulled everyone's gaze to the front of the club when the five sauntered in. The night before their interview binge, Sony Canada hosted a meet-and-greet to preview the album at Toronto's trendy C-Lounge. be the dreamer."Ĭertainly the five have lost none of their star power. "Someone might say, 'Don't you think that's a little naive?' No. "We believe that we're going to play two nights in an arena here next year," says Taylor, confidently. Whether the listening public is hungry like the wolf for such a sound remains to be seen, but the band has no doubts. Between the infectious retro-disco of (Reach Out for the) Sunrise and the mildly anthemic rock of What Happens Tomorrow, the album effectively updates the appeal of the oldies without coming off like a throwback.Įven better, it retains the classic Duran sound even when moving into new rhythmic territory, as on the swampy Chains. Recorded with the lineup responsible for all those early hits - along with LeBon and Taylor, there's keyboardist Nick Rhodes, bassist John Taylor (no relation) and drummer Roger Taylor (also no relation) - it's easily the best thing the band has done since its heyday. These days, needless to say, Duran Duran is more likely to get a reaction from the mothers of 13-year-olds, but that hasn't stopped the quintet from beating the drums loudly for their big comeback album, Astronaut, which landed in stores yesterday. Their pictures wallpapered girls' bedrooms around the globe, and their concert performances regularly whipped 13-year-old fans into a shrieking, hormone-driven frenzy. They ruled the charts, dominating the mid-eighties airwaves with such singles as Hungry Like the Wolf, Rio, The Reflex and A View to a Kill. With their moussed hair, fab clothes and deft use of mascara, they personified the glamour and novelty that marked the dawn of the music-video era, while their sound - a catchy amalgam of disco, new wave and arch Roxy Music posturing - offered a near-perfect balance between hip and accessible. "We've heard that expression before."ĭuran Duran were, in many ways, the quintessential eighties band. Well, it was really big in the eighties, he's told. "I like your manga badge," he says, and the journo identifies it as a character from Rumiko Takahashi's Maison Ikkoku. TORONTO - Duran Duran singer Simon LeBon and guitarist Andy Taylor are settling into a comfy corner of their Soho Hotel suite on a sunny August morning in Toronto, readying themselves for another in a string of interviews, when LeBon notices an enameled pin on a journalist's lapel. 'Someone might say, "Don't you think that's a little naive?" ' We owned that kind of thing - video music.Duran Duran is on the comeback trail. Then we were off to somewhere else in the world. It was just the speed we were able to fill - and bands like us - to fill that space in MTV. It's just that we were raring to go. And the minute the suggestion was made to go and make some video clips we went "Yes!" - we were there. ![]() When Simon LeBon (lead singer) talks about MTV in its early days (see below), it reminds me a bit of Clayton Christensen's classic business book, "The Innovator's Dilemma" - but in this case - instead of firms, we're talking about bands. Their music videos "Hungry like the Wolf" and "Rio" were way ahead of their time and played non stop on MTV. ![]() They recognized a new channel, a new technology - MTV - and they moved fast to capitalize. How did they rise to the top? Of course, part of it was their unique music - they helped usher in new wave with their upbeat post punk synth pop.īut ultimately it was their ability to innovate. Duran Duran was massive in the early 1980s.
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