Duran Duran
Duran Duran (/djʊˌræn djʊˈræn/) are an English pop rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor. With the addition of bassist Simon Colley and drummer Roger Taylor the following year, the band went through numerous personnel changes before May 1980, when they settled on their most famous line-up by adding guitarist Andy Taylor and lead vocalist Simon Le Bon.[nb 1]
This article is about the band. For other uses, see Duran Duran (disambiguation).
Duran Duran
Birmingham, England
1978–present
- Stephen Duffy
- Simon Colley
- Andy Wickett
- Alan Curtis
- Jeff Thomas
- Andy Taylor
- Warren Cuccurullo
- Sterling Campbell
Emerging as members of the New Romantic scene,[8][10] Duran Duran were innovators of the music video and a leading band in the MTV-driven Second British Invasion of the US in the 1980s.[11][12] By 1984, the band had achieved levels of fame similar to Beatlemania.[13] The band's first major hit was "Girls on Film" (1981), from their self-titled debut album, the popularity of which was enhanced by a controversial music video. The band's breakthrough second album was Rio (1982), a worldwide hit. The songs "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Rio" featured cinematic music videos directed by Australian film maker Russell Mulcahy and became two of their biggest hits. Their third album, Seven and the Ragged Tiger, became their only UK number one album and featured the US and UK number one single "The Reflex". In 1985, the band topped the US charts with the single "A View to a Kill" from the soundtrack of the James Bond film of the same title.
Andy Taylor and Roger Taylor left the band before the recording of their fourth album, Notorious (1986), which yielded the top ten title track; Warren Cuccurullo replaced Andy as guitarist. The band spent the rest of the 1980s and early 1990s continuing to release albums and singles to only moderate success. Their comeback album, 1993's Duran Duran (commonly called The Wedding Album), featured two top-ten worldwide hits "Ordinary World" and "Come Undone". After John Taylor left in 1997, the band released a number of albums and singles which underperformed on the sales charts. A full reunion of the line-up of Le Bon, Rhodes and all three Taylors in 2001 led to a number of highly successful concert tours and the 2004 album Astronaut, which reached number three in the UK and top 40 in numerous other countries. The album's lead single "(Reach Up for The) Sunrise" was an international dance hit, and reached number five in the UK. Andy Taylor left again in 2006, and the band have released five additional albums, with the most recent being Danse Macabre in 2023.
According to Billboard, Duran Duran have sold over 100 million records.[14] They achieved 30 top 40 singles in the UK Singles Chart (14 of them top 10) and 21 top 40 singles in the US Billboard Hot 100. The band have won numerous awards throughout their career: two Brit Awards including the 2004 award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, two Grammy Awards, an MTV Video Music Award for Lifetime Achievement and a Video Visionary Award from the MTV Europe Music Awards. They were also awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The band were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022.[15][16]
Influences[edit]
Although they began their career as "a group of art school, experimental, post punk rockers,"[23] the band's quick rise to stardom, polished good looks and embrace of the teen press almost guaranteed disfavour from music critics. During the 1980s, Duran Duran were considered the quintessential manufactured, throw-away pop group. However, according to the Sunday Herald, "To describe them, as some have, as the first boy band, misrepresents their appeal. Their weapons were never just their looks, but self-penned songs."[67] Moby said of the band in his website diary in 2003: "... they were cursed by what we can call the 'Bee Gees' curse, which is: 'write amazing songs, sell tons of records, and consequently incur the wrath or disinterest of the rock obsessed critical establishment.'"[110]
Influences on Duran Duran included David Bowie, Roxy Music, the Beatles and the Doors;[111] the electronic music of Kraftwerk, Ultravox,[112] the Yellow Magic Orchestra[113] and Giorgio Moroder; glam rock and American rock such as T. Rex, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed and Sparks; British punk and post-punk bands such as the Clash, Sex Pistols and Siouxsie and the Banshees;[114] and the disco/funk band Chic.[115] Duran Duran were also influenced by contemporary synth-pop acts, with records by John Foxx, Japan, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and the Human League becoming fixtures in Rhodes's 1980 DJ sets at the Rum Runner club.[116] Andy Taylor was a fan of the rock band AC/DC, "...all these different influences were coming into the studio. Somehow, it had its own life. It became very unique in itself. It was influenced by a lot of different people", Roger Taylor said in a 2012 interview.[112]
Several of the band's contemporaries including the Bangles, Elton John, Kylie Minogue, Paul Young and even the Monkees, have named themselves fans of the band's music. Le Bon described the group as "the band to dance to when the bomb drops".[117] Successors like Barenaked Ladies, Beck, Jonathan Davis of Korn, the Bravery, Gwen Stefani and Pink have all cited Duran Duran as a key band in their formative years. Justin Timberlake is a fan of the band and presented them with the Outstanding Contribution award at the 2004 Brit Awards.[118] The most recent crop of performers to name Duran Duran as an influence include Dido, Franz Ferdinand, Panic! at the Disco, Goldfrapp and Brandon Flowers of the Killers, who said, "Nick Rhodes is an absolute hero of mine—their records still sound fresh, which is no mean feat as far as synths are concerned."[119]
Rhodes has directly lent his production techniques to Kajagoogoo's debut album White Feathers (1983) and its number one single "Too Shy", and to the Dandy Warhols' fourth album Welcome to the Monkey House (2003). The band's music has been used by several hip hop artists, most notably the Notorious B.I.G., who sampled Duran Duran's 1986 single "Notorious". Numerous bands have covered their music on record and in concert.[120]
