In my recent Duran Duran re-appreciation, I found this article detailing the popularity of such groups and their subsequent decline (boo hoo). I've always preferred the British stuff to the American hitmakers of the day.
I went to see duran duran after the release of planet earth album. Indie and new romantic crowd. Weirdly about a year later after the release of the Rio album i saw them again at Hammersmith odeon. Huge change to the audience. Several thousand screaming teenage girls who drowned out the music.. Including - i found out later - my future wife, who was there same night as me 3 rows in front, aged 15, 2 years before i met her.
I've always preferred the British stuff to the American hitmakers of the day.
I think this may have had to do with the rut that US rock music was in at the time. In America at that point, rock music tended with some exceptions of course to involve 'heavy' fairly aggressive, legs apart, gorilla work-out, shouting, long haired stuff. It hadn't developed since the 1970s.
Then along come all these New Romantics and people with Regency clothes, smart suits, and almost semi-operatic deliveries, plus more dissonant, perhaps 'impressionistic' styles, and people like Sting who could produce complex and varied music without banging skulls or looking like rejects from the Marvel Comics think-bin. It was a reaction against both punk and '70s blandness.
I recall Neil Young thought highly of 'Human League', much to the horror of the purists still caught in 'defaecate in your jeans and throw beer cans' mode who imagined something called 'integrity' which was largely, in that context, bogus posturing. Or as Dylan would have said, 'You're lying'.
I went to see duran duran after the release of planet earth album. Indie and new romantic crowd. Weirdly about a year later after the release of the Rio album i saw them again at Hammersmith odeon. Huge change to the audience. Several thousand screaming teenage girls who drowned out the music.. Including - i found out later - my future wife, who was there same night as me 3 rows in front, aged 15, 2 years before i met her.
Cool story, Bill!
Yes, there is a marked difference in that Planet Earth album and Rio. For whatever reason, I have always associated RIO with the Bond film For Your Eyes Only and this was before DD did A View to a Kill, but there are elements of what I refer to as the "Sleazy Riviera Mood" in both their album and that Bond film, if only because of the vaguest associations all in my head but probably because both capture the zeitgeist of that era so damn well.
I've always preferred the British stuff to the American hitmakers of the day.
I think this may have had to do with the rut that US rock music was in at the time. In America at that point, rock music tended with some exceptions of course to involve 'heavy' fairly aggressive, legs apart, gorilla work-out, shouting, long haired stuff. It hadn't developed since the 1970s.
Yes, Heavy Metal, Southern Rock, and all that never held any appeal to me and that is what I remember most every '70s and early '80s teenager listening to, at least in my neck of the woods. Well that and Led Zep and Pink Floyd, whose names were always scratched into some burn out's school notebook or on a desk in class. And Ozzie Osborne. Punk music wasn't my cuppa, either (though The Clash blended everything so nicely for me and I like them to this day) but that never took root here in the US outside of NYC and L.A. (those begging to differ, please chime in).
Then along come all these New Romantics and people with Regency clothes, smart suits, and almost semi-operatic deliveries, plus more dissonant, perhaps 'impressionistic' styles, and people like Sting who could produce complex and varied music without banging skulls or looking like rejects from the Marvel Comics think-bin. It was a reaction against both punk and '70s blandness.
I always hear the "Reggae" in those early Police songs. "Message in a Bottle" has a vocal that is straight out of that style. Toss in some Glam Rock of '74, that ever-present David Bowie influence--whom I respect but whose work I've never delved into despite the huge effect he's had on so many English acts I like; maybe someday. But yes, with the significant toning down of Punk and the addition of dance music and what a stew that bubbles forth...
I recall Neil Young thought highly of 'Human League', much to the horror of the purists still caught in 'defaecate in your jeans and throw beer cans' mode who imagined something called 'integrity' which was largely, in that context, bogus posturing. Or as Dylan would have said, 'You're lying'.
And to think that there are people out there who think Jerry Goldsmith had an awkward time with synths!
Human League are another group that changed drastically, like Duran Duran; even more so. Their first two albums are largely experimental robot pop stuff. Gary Numan, too. It's been decades since I've listened to a lot of that music and I'm not sure I want to dive into my entire musical past to re-explore it. 1983 is the one "snapshot" I'm searching the proverbial photo album for but I don't want to flip through the memories of everything else before I finally find it, so to speak.
Well I guess it's back over to the Offensive Thread Titles thread.
Part of me believes that the momentum of Brit pop was diluted in 1985 (and not because of the crap Varese box set) when Duran Duran split off into two side projects: Arcadia and Power Station. As the article above states, DD were second only to Michael Jackson in terms of dominance and once they peaked with A View to a Kill, they stepped away to take a break and do those side projects (and the Arcadia one is quite good). Now it also may be a case of their fans "outgrowing" the band and embracing the likes of Bon Jovi and the other hard rock/sugar metal acts so popular in the second half of the '80s, but DD imo only continued to improve, but once again, the momentum was lost...
Well I guess it's back over to the Offensive Thread Titles thread.
If you were to do a thread about mid-80's German pop music, I would contribute to that
I think a lot of the DD momentum was lost around the time of that 'Notorious' album. As I recall, it wasn't a huge hit in the UK at the time, and the singles from it didn't do particularly well either. Their subsequent albums didn't fare greatly either. And I'm not going to mention that album of 'cover versions' they released. Dreadful. Oh...
Well I guess it's back over to the Offensive Thread Titles thread.
If you were to do a thread about mid-80's German pop music, I would contribute to that
I think a lot of the DD momentum was lost around the time of that 'Notorious' album. As I recall, it wasn't a huge hit in the UK at the time, and the singles from it didn't do particularly well either. Their subsequent albums didn't fare greatly either. And I'm not going to mention that album of 'cover versions' they released. Dreadful. Oh...
Well, I really like their 1988 Big Thing album, co-produced by Jonathan Elias. Indeed underrated.
Bonus points to you FB for selecting the "deep album" cuts; I would have enjoyed that album just for the three top-notch singles ("I Don't Want Your Love", "All She Wants is", the title track) but the entire album is superb, continuing the improvement as heard on 'Notorious'.
I thought they peaked with the Rio album. Hardly a duff track on that Lp. And then after that, i found two three tracks per album were any good. In the end, their style changed and the songs seemed weaker and less bold.
bands either evolve for the better and have the talent for various idioms, or their last few decent singles are just their death throes. So often with singers and bands - its the talent and versatility of the song writers that makes or breaks them. One trick ponies get found out and go out of fashion, the imaginative ones can keep a singer or band at the top for decades.
I thought they peaked with the Rio album. Hardly a duff track on that Lp. And then after that, i found two three tracks per album were any good. In the end, their style changed and the songs seemed weaker and less bold.
bands either evolve for the better and have the talent for various idioms, or their last few decent singles are just their death throes. So often with singers and bands - its the talent and versatility of the song writers that makes or breaks them. One trick ponies get found out and go out of fashion, the imaginative ones can keep a singer or band at the top for decades.
RIO was indeed the peak, Bill. There's a decent "making of..." RIO that I watched recently from the "Classic Albums" series that goes into some nice detail about the album's--and its accompanying music videos--production. I like the musical "reveals" with one of the band at the production board showing how they did such-and-such a musical effect or whatever. You'll love it--it's even subtitled in Italian.
I have to respectfully disagree about the "decline" of DD, since I feel that Notorious and Big Thing are superior albums to the made-at-the-height-of-fame "Seven and the Ragged Tiger" album, though it's easy to see that the effects of constant touring, making videos, endless interviews and promotion, and of course shagging dolly birds can be grueling--I hear.
Jeez, seven and ragged tiger - that was the one where i liked two tracks and rest seemed like 2nd division fillers. In fairness i lost interest and paid little attention to the later stuff jim. What of it i heard seemed like a pale shadow of the chauffeur and girls on film and rio etc. it was the height of the video of course and theirs were groundbreaking.
Jeez, seven and ragged tiger - that was the one where i liked two tracks and rest seemed like 2nd division fillers. In fairness i lost interest and paid little attention to the later stuff jim. What of it i heard seemed like a pale shadow of the chauffeur and girls on film and rio etc. it was the height of the video of course and theirs were groundbreaking.
I have nothing but fond memories of the group at their height and I don't pretend there's anything more to their music than enjoyable entertainment. Love that RIO video.
I have nothing but fond memories of the group at their height and I don't pretend there's anything more to their music than enjoyable entertainment. Love that RIO video.
I have nothing but fond memories of the group at their height and I don't pretend there's anything more to their music than enjoyable entertainment. Love that RIO video.
#ThatchersBritain
The gov't situation is mentioned in the 9-10 minute portion of the "Classic Albums" video embedded previously. I think Nick Rhodes sums up DD's view quite well--and it is NOT a political one, so please refrain from pissing on this thread with any political talk, Thomas; you've already said this topic doesn't interest you.
No offence from me thomas, weve been mates too long. But to be honest there is a lot of allegedly-meaningful emphasis put on rock bands and singers and songs and styles - invariably at a much later date by people who see politics in everything. Whereas at the time it was only about the clothes and the style and the fashion or whatever. Sometimes sure, music movements are borne out of youthful rebellion and antiwar stuff, anti establishment, but sometimes its just a few mates who can play instruments who wanna pull girls , drink beer and drive a sports car!!
My favourite of this was the deep and meaningful claptrap that people often tried to put to Bowies lyrics. He shrugs at this - "i was out of my mind on drugs then. Often i threw the lyrics in the air and constructed the song how they fell".
I was more "offended" by Thomas' use of the youthful "hashtag" thing (and I didn't want the topic sidetracked by that forbidden political talk).
Here's the quote I referred to before (it's around 10:00-10:13 into the video):
"Our instinct as teenagers who wanted to be great, who wanted our life to be good, and also wanted to put some brightness into other people's lives, was to try and make something between us that really excited us, that made us happy."
