![]() The two friends were eventually joined by drummer Roger Taylor, Wearside-born guitarist Andy Taylor and, after a number of short-lived vocalists including Stephen Duffy, the gregarious and cocksure Simon Le Bon. Indeed, in 1979, on hearing Sex Pistols and Chic back-to-back on a pub jukebox, John Taylor's immediate thought was "I love both these songs, why can't we fuse the two?"įormed in Birmingham in 1978 by Nick Rhodes and John Taylor, Duran's classic line-up took a few months to align. Duran Duran wrote their own songs, played their own instruments and decided – rather thrillingly – to see what might happen if someone mixed the sounds of Blondie, Gary Numan, disco and punk. They were not a manufactured boy-band or the by-product of a marketeer's spunk-filled brainstorming meeting. In 1982, Rio ruled the world.ĭuran Duran were, perhaps, the UK's last proper pop group. In 2012, records like Rio are herded away into the hinterland of arty indie backwaters (the likes of Clock Opera, Simian Ghost or Theme Park would sell their grandmothers to write a song like 'Save A Prayer'). A cursory listen might actually cause the holier-than-thou Olympic gig snobs to reconsider. Thirty years on, Rio encompasses all anyone needs to know about Duran Duran. While their early singles 'Planet Earth' and 'Girls On Film' had spiked my attention amid my developing relationship with Japan, The Human League and, cough, Visage, it was Duran's Rio album that had truly won my pre-teen heart. Back then I was heavily into Duran Duran. ![]() My old man was always onto a loser with that particular debate. My dad just sighed and muttered something about how he'd remind me of this discussion "when you are 18 and trying to be a too-cool-for-school." I delivered my counter-argument with rapier speed. The Beatles never made an Indiana Jones-style promo video like Duran's 'Hungry Like The Wolf', or pissed about on yachts in the Caribbean à la 'Rio'. However, my 12-year-old self has spotted a weak point in his line of reasoning. My dad, having lived through the 60s as a young man, is maintaining that the Fab Four are the greatest group ever, due to an unrivalled cannon of classic songs and their cultural impact across the globe. We are discussing which is the better band - The Beatles or Duran Duran. Why settle for anything less? Have you ever had pizza in Pittsburgh? It’s a fucking nightmare.It's the winter of 1982 and I'm having an argument with my father about music. Rio is the special slice and I’m hungry like the wolf. Just a few innocuous ingredients put together to make something so simple and excellent that its crafted nuance is taken for granted. It is pop culture defined by way of food. It’s simple, digestible, and makes you feel good. Across continents and cultures it’s become synonymous with a good time. And even though I refrain from eating it outside of a 100 mile radius of NYC (or basically not north of New Haven, not south of Philly, and as close to the Atlantic as possible), it’s still the best. Do you even like pizza? Pizza’s the best. ![]() Especially food since that’s solely about taste. My guess is that you have shitty taste in just about everything. This is ABBA level perfection here and you have shitty taste in music. If you don’t like Duran Duran, we can’t be friends. DURAN DURAN: RIO | If you don’t like this album, you’re wrong.
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