DURAN DURAN
(UK, twenty Top 40 hits, seven Top 40 albums)

The biggest British band of the lot in the 80s, or certainly from '81 to '85 there were few around to touch them in terms of sales, status, notoriety and sex appeal. Famed for being five exceptionally good-looking men who also happened to be able to write, play, entertain and make memorable videos, it all started rather humbly in late 70s Birmingham, when post-punk pals Nick Rhodes, John Taylor and Stephen Duffy decided to form a band who followed the punk image laws but defied the music. None of them could play, but Taylor soon got a smattering of guitar and Rhodes bought a synth and taught himself, while Duffy supplied the voice. Taylor switched to bass after watching Chic, Andy Taylor and Roger Taylor joined as guitarist and drummer respectively, and the line-up was complete, or so they thought. Duffy then decided it wasn't for him, former child star Simon Le Bon answered the ad and brought twenty songs to the audition, so they had to take him. Managed by two sibling nightclub owners who had given them their first gigs and rehearsal area, Duran Duran (named after a character in Barbarella) dyed their hair, bought frilly shirts and leather trousers and wrapped ties around their heads to befit the New Romantic image they were heading for, and the party began.

CENSORED

They are often mistaken as trendsetters for that era (the Human League and Spandau Ballet were way ahead of them chronologically) but they certainly had the best tunes and the best lookers, quickly gaining chart success and major scream factor when "Planet Earth" ("only came outside to watch the night fall with the rain"), an anthem awash with mountainous drums from Roger Taylor and careful synth programming from Rhodes, made it No.12. Their raw, masculine personas were quickly capitalised upon, with the video to their first Top 10 hit "Girls On Film" banned or censored or edited by everyone because it featured naked mud-wrestling women, even though it was as erotic as being whipped on the ankles by a cheese slice. After the first album, Duran Duran fell on their feet in two ways which was to change their lives forever. Firstly, they dumped the futuristic clothes, claiming they looked like a bunch of tarts, and secondly, they got a video played on the newly-formed MTV. Chaos ensued as they stormed America and used their new smart image to travel to sun-kissed holiday spots to make disgustingly expensive videos for the singles "Save A Prayer" ("don't say a prayer for me now, save it til the morning after") a beautiful acoustic ballad backed by a beach-at-moonlight video, and "Rio" ("and when she shines she really shows you all she can"), their most-played tune on today's radio and helped by a complicated video shot on a high-speed yacht, which scared the crap out of the whole band.  

 RARE  

Le Bon's lyrics sometimes left a bit to be desired, but his charisma and searing voice, not to mention his unashamed habit of humping every bit of class totty that breathed near him, made him a national hero to all - the ladies craved him, the lads admired his manly instincts, even if a lot felt like they weren't allowed to enjoy the music. In '83, they got the No.1 the nation had been expecting (it still is amazing to think that they only ever had two UK No.1s) when "Is There Something I Should Know" ("don't say you're easy on me, you're about as easy as a nuclear war") went straight in at the top, a rare feat back then. At the end of '83, more hits, more women, more sell-out concerts followed thanks to the strong "Union Of The Snake" ("there's a fine line holding my sense together and I think it's about to break") which went to No.3, followed by the slightly tepid "New Moon On Monday" ("and every minute I keep finding clues that you leave behind") which hit a mere No.9, and the outstanding "The Reflex" ("so why-yi-yi-yi-yi don't you use it") which gave them their second, and ultimately final, chart topper in early '84.

 SPLIT  

Something went wrong after that - the band had absolutely nothing to prove, and a spot of boredom perhaps set in after the one-off blockbusting "Wild Boys" ("you got sirens for a welcome, there's bloodstain for your pain") got them to No.2 in the winter of '84, helped by an amazing video featuring Le Bon on a ducking wheel which even Morrissey, a famed Duran loather, admitted to liking. Whatever it was that went pear-shaped, it resulted in a less than brilliant Bond theme "A View To A Kill" ("dance into the fire, that fatal kiss is all we need"), the dreaded temporary split into two rotten separate projects Power Station and Arcadia, and Le Bon making a total prat of himself when his voice went falsetto and tuneless during Live Aid. Duran Duran as we knew them were no more, with Roger Taylor quitting due to stress (he's never spoken about the band since) and Andy Taylor also departing to play music more welcoming to his crazed guitar solos. The remaining three soldiered on, with the Duranie hardcore forever keeping the faith, and they managed several more hits but, crucially, only two of them got to the Top 10.

PRECIOUS  

American slaphead guitarist Warren Cuccurello (we think) joined up and they took a long, long sabbatical at the end of the decade, by which time their role in the hearts of a pop-loving nation had seriously declined. A brilliant comeback in '93 with the stunning "Ordinary World" gave them a successfully brief kiss of life of very rare proportions, but it wasn't the same, with age and family connections removing the very laddish charm that made Duran Duran so pivotal. They battle on to this day as a trio (John Taylor split in '95) doing arena tours and the like, a shadow of their former selves. But memories are precious, and Duran Duran will long be regarded and remembered, quite rightly, for being the perfect band for image, intelligence, talent, looks and scandal, and we all loved them for it.

Biggest Hit: "Is There Something I Should Know", "The Reflex", both No.1, 1983 and 1984.
Defining Moment: 1981 to 1985.

Matt