Duran Duran
Duran Duran

THE REVIEW

And the provocations continue...

Premise:
Duran Duran? Some respond to me: "Just a band for teenage girls", or "The equivalent of Take That, Backstreet Boys in the '80s".
And it is from here that my coarse sense lashes out against these absurdities, but justified. Yes, justified because the gentlemen had such a strong image that the teen magazines of the time filled their covers with them, and teenagers even went so far as to write books like "Sposerò Simon Le Bon", which later became a movie (hilarious), to enjoy on summer afternoons on Italia1. Not to mention the paninari, the timberlands...

Duran Duran, besides being "handsome", are excellent musicians, with a sense of melody and composition superior to many other lauded artists. But unfortunately, they have been simultaneously disadvantaged and advantaged by their image. It’s the same thing that happens to Leonardo Di Caprio, an excellent actor (just watch "What's Eating Gilbert Grape"), but sometimes limited by public opinion due to his looks. It happens to me too (haha maybe).

Anyway, enough chit-chat, here's the review. We find ourselves in Birmingham (England), at the end of the '70s. Simon Le Bon (vocals), the Taylor family: Andy (guitars), John (bass), Roger (drums), and Nick Rhodes (keyboards & synth), that is the Duran Duran (wild boys! wild boys!), their name inspired by a character from the '60s film "Barbarella". In 1981, they gave rise to their self-titled debut. A very fresh album, dark in some parts, and the forerunner of the entire new-romantic movement. Where do Duran draw inspiration from? Well from the '70s disco, Roxy Music, the Bowie of the Berlin trilogy, funky, but as I mentioned earlier, with an exceptional taste for melody.

It starts with two big singles, "Girls on Film", funky guitar, catchy bass line, and background keyboards, from which a scandalous video clip was made for the time, with models not properly dressed, and "Planet Earth”, disco/new wave that leaves no room for immobility, of which the video in question was cited in the recent "The You Were the Last High" by The Dandy Warhols. It continues breathlessly with "Anyone Out There", slapping bass in a rhythm duet with a guitar playing just three notes repeated in a loop. Synth upfront and rhythmic aggression are the foundations of "Careless Memories". Another bigger single more melodic like "Is There Something I Should Know?", precedes the darkwave reminiscence of the album, the atmospheric "Night Boat" (redone by Deftones), which gradually develops from a Pink Floyd-style synth and keyboard intro (in synthetic form), and the entrance of dark bass. The album concludes with "Sound of Thunder", "Friends of Mine" and the instrumental and Bowie-esque "Tel Aviv".

Not a masterpiece (the following year "Rio" would come), but an excellent start that would lay the groundwork for their interplanetary success. From here, the challenge with Spandau Ballet would begin, the frenzy of fans, Red Ronnie's interviews, and a whirlwind that would strike the entire international scene. Surely a band with more class and originality, in my opinion, compared to the flashy "hair metal", with Europe and the like, which would ominously crash into the ears of many years later. Recommended to the prejudiced and the skeptical.