Jo-Anne Green Tracks Down All five members of Duran Duran Duran's Classic Lineup for a fresh

Look At A Pop Music Dynasty

"I was talking to some bloke in a Birmingham bar," former Duran Duran bassist John Taylor recalls, "and it comes up that I play in a band. He asks me the name, and I tell him Duran Duran. Then he says, "Duran Duran, are you guys still going?" Taylor bursts into laughter. Why? Because that happened around 1979, before the group had even released their first single. "We'd been around Birmingham a lot by then," he explains, "playing with different line-ups. It was almost a bit of a joke, 'okay who's the singer this week?' It was all good sport, and stopped me from thinking about getting a real job." So, back then Duran Duran. were jast another local band, playing around the Birmingham scene. "Well, "I don't know if I'd go that far," Taylor pauses for maximum effect, "I don't know that we were JUST another band." In a mere two years, they'd proved they were anything but. 1998 is Duran Duran's twentieth anniversary, and across two decades and 13 albums, the group has literally reshaped the pop world in their image. There was no grand plan, although there was definitely a vision; but nobody involved, least of all the band, expected it to be as successful as it was. As the '9O's dawned, by rights, Duran Duran should have been swept away by the whirlwind created by Nirvana. And although they did stumble momentarily, not only did the group recover, they've become stronger over time. And throughout it all, Duran Duran never lost their charm, style or grace, nor more importantly their sense of self. Quite an achievement for a group of art school, experimental, post punk rockers. "We wanted to do something artsy," John begins, "we came out of the punk movement, but we were looking to be a little more art school experimental than that." "It was very avant garde art school sounding," keyboardist Nick Rhodes agrees.

"Our first gig was in Birmingham Art School, and we used projections of slides and things. We had quite an abstract kind of sound because we used a clarinet sometimes, there were two bassists, but no drummer, instead we had this little K rhythm unit. I had a synthesizer and reel to reel tapes that I used to fade in on a mixer. The tapes were of different things conversations that had happened that day, things from television, that kind of a thing." And in keeping with their futuristic approach to music, the band took their name from the evil scientist Jane Fonda battles in the sci-fi cult flick Barbarella. And coincidentally, or not, Barbarella was also the name of a local Birmingham club. The line-up in those early days included Rhodes (a.k.a. Nick Bates, his choice of last name has been variously attributed to the Fender Rhodes piano, the Greek island, and even former Clash manager Bernie Rhodes!.); John (a.k.a Nigel John Taylor) who'd prevously played in Dada, another artschool band, which was no relation to Robert Palmer's pre-Vinegar Joe outfit of the same name; clarinetist and bassist Simon Colly, and singer/guitarist Stephen Duffy. This version of Duran Duran was short lived, playing only a few gigs, most, at Barbarella. Even so, one of. those early shows still remains engraved in Rhodes' memory;. "I remember being on stage at the Birmingham Barbarella, supporting Fashion. We came on at midnight in front of this punk crowd, who were wielding cans and spitting at everyhody they possibly could. And here we were, this little artschool group. Stephen Duffy went up to the microphone and announced in his most effete voice, 'This little song we're going to sing now is a tribute to F Scott FitzgerAld, for those of you who've heard of him, this is a song called "So Cold In El Dorado." I thought we were going to die! "Actually we went down really well, it was the first encore we ever got! But I did think that they weren't quite going to get it. That's when my little K rhythm unit started up on a really slow foxtrot beat." Gales of laughter from Rhodes follows. Colley and Duffy left soon after, and formed Subterranean Hawks with two former members of TV Eye. The band didn't last long, and Colley has not been heard since. Rhodes thinks he may have become a chef, which was his goal at the time. "But, a lot of people know what happened to Stephen Duffy," he chuckles. Indeed they do, for after the Hawks folded, Duffy went solo, added Tin Tin to his name, and chalked up two international smashes with "Kiss Me" and "Hold Me." Then, in the late '80s; he shifted musical gears and formed the folk-pop group Lilac Time. "Stephen Duffy's proved his talent," Rhodes continues, "I always think that one day we'll end up working with him again on something. I like some of the Lilac Time stuff."

In Duffy's place came vocalist Andy Wickett, a fair trade, as he'd been with TV Eye. And it was around this same time that Duran Duran decided they wanted a llv~e drummer, thus entered Roger Taylor, a veteran of the punk scene. It was now 1979, and Duran Duran were ready to make their first demo. Four songs were recorded, including "Girls On Film," "Dreaming Of Your Cars," "Reincarnation," and a song Rhodes thinks was called "Workmg The Steel." The demo was produced by former Steve. Gibbons' Dand drummer Bob Lamb, at the eight track studio he'd built in his h vii room. "Bob Lamb was crucial to this pertod of Birmingham's development, I think," John insists, "and certainly to the development of Duran Duran, as he was to UB 40 (he produced their first album)." Not long after the demo was finished, former Cowboys International guitarist Alan Curtis joined, however, Wickett departed soon after his arrival. "Andy had a great voice," Rhodes enthused, "he kind of had a little bit of Iggy Pop to him. I know he's tried to do a few things since, and I don't know, I guess he never hit on the right thing, I still do think he's very talented." He left the world of Duran Duran for a series of punk bands, none sadly of any note. In his stead came Geoff Thomas, a friend of Roger's from one his former bands, the Sex Organs. If John's recollections are correct, this line-up never performed live. However, they did cut another demo. The group returned to Bob Lamb's studio, and recorded another four song tape. Amongst the tracks cut were "Enigmatic Swimmers" and "See Me Repeat Me," the latter of which Rhodes believes eventually metamorphosed into parts of "Rio."

With that demo in hand, early in 1980, Duran Duran approached Paul and Michael Berrow, owners of the recently opened Rum Runner club. The group were looking for management, they walked away with that, along with a residency at the new club, and Rhodes also landed a gig as the club DJ. It seemed like a perfect partnership, the only problem was the Berrows didn't think much of Thomas' vocal abilities and guitarist Curtis didn't think much of the Berrows. "They just didn't get Geoff, they didn't like him, and thought we could do better," John recalls. "And Alan Curtis just left because he found them quite threatening. So literally, when we fell in with these two guys, we gained managers, but lost a singer and a guitar player. Then we began the search for the holy grail. "We used to audition for singers and guitar players, and when we were auditing guitar players, we'd tell them the singer was sick, and when we auditioned singers, we'd tell them the guitar player was sick. "But what it did do, was give Nick and myself, along with the managers, Paul in particular, time to really solidify a sense of where we were going. And, as odd as it might sound, even without a singer and a guitar player, we had a very strong sense of what we could achieve." Thus during this early period Duran Duran were moving towards a sound, and just needed the right people to parlay it. John's long pause, before he replies with a drawn out, "Yeeaah," suggests that maybe that's not quite the way it was. "Yeah, you don't think of moving in a direction when you're 18, do you? We would do a couple of gigs with the line-up, then somebody would leave, and then you'd look to replace them. But there was always a vision." And that vision centered around their sound, which was not only innovative, but daringly different in its mixture of influences.

"Obviously one was excited by the music coming out of punk, like the Clash and the Sex Pistols," John states, "they were the basis for everything. The Human League were kind of interesting, and we had an interest in electronic music, this sort of eclecticism, we were always kind of eclectic." Rhodes also gives the Human League the thumbs up. "Their first album, I must say, because that, for an English electronic album, was really, really interesting, and that little EP Being Boiled, they put out, was a good record." Which is why Andy Taylor was initially such a surprising choice for guitarist. He'd come from a very different musical background all together. "None of us were musicians," John begins, "and he'd played the boards, so to speak. He'd been in bands that had traveled around Germany playing air force bases night after night after night. He'd done a lot of legwork, so, he brought a whole different kind of experience to the band. But when he came down [to the audition], he really got it, he was a musician." However, Rhodes had his doubts. "We put an advert into Melody Maker, this list came through, 20 or 30 people, and there was one that had the name Taylor. I said, 'No way, we're having that one.' There was already two of them, and I'd be out numbered. So what happened is, of course, we went through them all, and he was the perfect one." Indeed Andy was. He perfectly complimented the rest of the group, providing the strengths they lacked; Andy was an experienced player, with a record deal already in his past, and even some production work behind him. Andy began playing guitar at age six, taught by his neighbor David Black, who replaced Mick Ronson when the Spiders from Mars spun off from David Bowie. Black also snagged an audition for his young prodigy with a covers' band, who played the northern England circuit of mens' club. It was a fabulous break for a boy from a tiny Tyneside fishing village. "So I started at 14, making 30, 40 quid [pounds] a week, and not going to school much, because 25 years ago making that kind of money, my Dad used to make me pay rent, my little contribution to the household. Actually, my dad didn't make me do it, he was a great source of support." By the time Andy was 16, he'd moved on to a pop punk group, initially dubbed The Gigolos, but soon renamed Motorway.

The band were good enough to snag a single's deal with A&M, and in 1977 they put out their first and final record, Teenage Girls." Sadly, the single didn't bring fame and fortune, and as Andy desctibes it, "We had a major set of roadworks, and the traffic stopped, I kind of lost interest in it, and it didn't work out." The production gig came next. The local Newcastle paper held a contest for punk bands featuring members under 16, and around 50 bands entered. The winner was Ward 34, and the promoter of the contest was meant to record them in his own studio. However, he had another commitment that day, and asked Andy if he'd like to take on the job. The guitarist jumped at the chance. "So I'm teaching these younger lads, they were about 13, how to do it. But I've always been into gadgets, put a mixing desk in front of me, and I'll just fiddle with it for hours, and everyone gets pissed off, but that's just the way I am. I remember thinking it's great making up the records from the other side, but you learn a lot about what you're doing, if you're on the other side as well." 50 under-aged punk bands or not, Northeastern England's music scene didn't have much hope of capturing record label's attention. Thus Andy joined yet another cover band, as lead singer and guitarist, and began performing on the American airbase and strip club circuits in Germany. The money was good, but the work was grueling. "We played six 45 minute sets a night but it was brilliant because you learned how to do the work as musicians. I'd be singing 'Midnight At The Oasis' to four star generals, then I'd have coffee with them, and they'd tell me about the nukes they had up the road. I learned all this rough road work as a kid." A few years later, Andy was back home waiting for whatever would get him out of town next. And then he saw the Melody Maker ad. "We led him to believe we had a singer."

Rhodes recalls, "but he wasn't actually there. Andy came down from Newcastle to Birmingham, and said, 'Well, where's the singer?' So we said, we're working on it, we're going to have one soon. Duran Duran's next singer, for all of a fortnight, was Oliver Guy Watts, who only Andy remembered. Their next one, however, was a bit more memorable. Andy's first impression of him was of "this weird looking dude with leather skin pants, who had a- book of his poetry with him." And so entered Simon Le Bon. It was a barmaid at Rum Runner that suggested the band check out her old boyfriend Le Bon. He also had some musical experience, having fronted three very different types of groups. There was Bolleaux which the singer describes as a "pub style R&B band, like Eddie and the Hot Rods, but more rock." Dog Days, in contrast, "was an out an out punk band." Finally there was Robostrov; a post-punk electro band, heading in a Kraftwerkian direction. Le Bon was also studying drama, and currently attended Birmingham University. Having been contacted by his friend Le Bon set up to come in for an audition Before that, however, "I went out one night and I was in a winebar talking to some girl and she seemed to know all the local bands. So I said, 'Oh, have you heard of a band called Duran Duran?' And she went, 'Oh, yes, they've got a very stylish singer.' I said, 'That's funny, because that's the job I'm going for.' And that's all she had to say about them." So, Le Bon wasn't sure what to expect. "We went into a room and actually played, and I thought, 'This is quite cool.' They had this thing about being between Chic and the Sex Pistols, but I thought they were more like in between Roxy Music and the Sex Pistols. The Sex Pistols, because the guitar was really big and brash. "Actually it was more like the Damned than the Sex Pistols. 'Neat, Neat, Neat that was the kind of punk I was hearing in it The Pistols were much more straight on rock music, it came from Alice Cooper and Iggy Pop, but there was much more of a European flavor in The Damned. If you listen to say something like 'Fan Club,' it had a very off the wall sound, the tonality of their songs was much darker, more from '60s English bands." And it was that darker sound that the singer was hearing in the group.

Duran Duran were as impressed with Le Bon, as he was with them. Not only did they enlist him on the spot, but "Sound Of Thunder" was actually completed at the audition. The song's framework was already down on tape, and it was the instrumental backing track that the auditioning guitarists and vocalists were presented with. "Simon showed me this poem," Andy recalls, "and it fit on top of it virtually perfectly". "He also had lyrics in his book at the time that we subsequently used, like 'The Chauffeur,"' Rhodes recalls. "There was another one that I always wanted to do, I don't know if I'd like it now, because I haven't seen it for years, but it was called 'Underneath The Clock Tower."' Shortly after Le Bon joined Duran Duran, the Berrows decided to send the band back into the studio. This time, however, it wouldn't be at Bob Lamb's home, but at the 24 track AIR Studios in London. There, the group recorded two tracks, "Girls On Film" and "Tel Aviv." "Unlike the instrumental version on the album," John explains, 'Tel Aviv' was completely different, it was more of a real rock epic, it actually had three tempos. That's a nice little item, and I've got the only copy. When Nick and I talk about putting out an album of rarities, that's usually the first thing that comes to mind." Rhodes adds that "Girls On Film" was also very different from that subsequently released. In fact, he believes there were at least three early recordings of that song, each with a different set of lyrics! The AIR Studios' tracks were "much heavier" than the later version. Obviously, the Berrows were investing heavily in Duran Duran, as 24 track studios at that time did not come cheap, but the brothers had high hopes for the band. There faith was borne out on July 5, when the group played at the Edinburgh Festival to a rabidly approving crowd. It was Le Bon's live debut with the group.

It was around this time, that the weekly music paper Sounds ran an article about Spandau Ballet and the embryonic New Romantic Movement. John read the piece during rehearsal one day, it was the first he'd heard of the scene. "I said to the guys, 'Hey look, check this I out. It sounds like these guys are doing the same kind of thing that we are". Just in terms of them taking these Euro beats, this kind white European dance style with guitars. Actually, we were nothing like that music but when you looked at it on paper it seemed that way. And thus, the band dropped the term New Romantic directly into the lyrics of "Planet Earth." "It wasjust pure opportunism really John admits, "to take that label and stick it into 'Planet Earth.' We called up the girl who wrote the piece, Betty Page, and said Hey we're part of this New Romantic Movement you're talking about, but we're in Birmingham, why don't you come up and see us? So, she did, and that was the first article that got written about the band. It was that We want to be the band to dance to when the bomb dropped' article, courtesy of her And that was the first interest that we got." However, Rhodes, who was interviewed separately from John, remembers things a little differently. "That New Romantic label, it's a funny one that, it kind of cuts both ways I suppose. I think the thing what's important about it in hindsight is that we were a little concerned at the time. We didn't want to get categorized within a fashion really, because the same thing always happens with things that are fashionable, they go out of fashion. Well, you obviously weren't THAT concerned, or you wouldn't have called Sounds and told them you were New Romantics. At least that's John's recollection. "Umm, I wouldn't want to say he was wrong, because he could well be right but my recollection was that we knew there was something going on there, but we felt that we were something a bit different, perhaps if there was something happening it could be of use.

Precisely because at that point, the New Romantic was virtually unknown outside it's london base. As John noted, on paper Duran Duran did seem to fall into this new musical geure, and whether they did or not, if it could help generate interest in the band, then use it. In the wakeof punk's disintegration, there was almot a musical lull, at least in the press' eyes. Everyone was searching for the next big thing, and to prod things along, the press were quick to jump on anything new. The kids in the clubs were looking around for something to latch onto as well. "Looking back at it now," Rhodes muses, "I think really what New Romantic was about, was a style movement that came out of punk rock and glam rock. Running alongside glam rock was techno-rock, triple alburns, concept alburns, flying pigs." So, we're talking Pink Floyd. "Exactly, and Yes and all those groups; the punk movement was against all that. They were fans of T Rex, Bowie, the stylized glam rock, but nobody was that keen on ELP, it was a reaction against people who could play like virtuosos. It was more we can play three chords, stand up onstage, and everything's great. What we did was take that ethic together with the electronic music of Kraftwerk, Giorgio Moroder, and all that disco stuff as well, and mixed it in with glamrock. "All that together is what resulted in the New Romantic ethics I suppose. And I think our music was greatly away from nearly everybody else, other than the punk side of it, which was there with the likes of Depeche Mode, but perhaps not so much so with some of the others."

It's important to remember that contrary to the movement's later appearance, New Romantic did spring directly out of punk. People like Steve Strange, who opened London's first New Romantic club, had begun in the punk scene, as had Boy George. The scene had close ties to some of the gay community, which further fueled the sense of style and flash. It was only later that the media's perception would twist New Romantic into an "anti-punk" backlash. And it was that later vision of New Romantic that Rhodes felt rightly that Duran Duran needed to stay well away from. When the packaging started becoming more important than the content, the New Romantic Movement quickly sailed out of the serious musical current, and began drifting towards the shoals of fad-dom. "Exactly," Rhodes agrees. "We thought that the New Romantic Movement was becoming a lot more to do with style than content. And whilst part of us has always been very style based, we felt that we had stronger songs than the majority of the other acts that were coming out at that time. So we were skeptical allout what would happen, and I suppose a little nervous of labeling. We tried to steer away from it, but inevitably, what happened with the media was we sort of became part of it." "It was a double edged sword, now looking back on it, I think it was incredibly helpful to launching ourselves, because it had created a scene, and people were interested in the scene. But what I think the reality of it was, really the style of it brought everybody together, as opposed to the music, apart from a little bit of the dance and electronic, thing I suppose, there was a lot of variance within it." Absolutely right, but that was only to become clear with time. At the moment, Duran Duran had their own unique sound and a style that was yet to be defined by the media. If Sounds wanted to include them in the embryonic New Romantic movement, fine. And if tossing the term into "Planet Earth" helped, more power to it. As far as Duran Duran were concerned, they were not punk, art school, experimental electro, nor disco, but a combination of all these things. And the members had all spent time in the punk scene, if not in punk bands, as least as fans. "It was literally just coming out of the '70s, coming out of the DIY ethic," John elaborates. "Although I say that, but the Clash were with CBS and the Sex Pistols were EMI, but there was something about the DIY ethic at that point. It was interesting how we became very much the symbols of the new corporatism." Indeed it is! But originally, Duran Duran were intending on following the punk DIY trail to its next stop; a self-released single. An initial run of a thousand were to be pressed up on their own Tritec label.

Mike Berrows sold his apartment, raising the cash not only for the single, but for Duran Duran to buy their way onto the next Hazel O'Connor tour. The singing actress was launched by the success of the Derek Jarman film Breaking Glass (which Costarred Phil Daniels, renowned for Quadrophenia and more recently for his narration on Blur's "Parklife" smash hit). O'Connor's November tour was in support of her latest hit single, "Eighth Day". Over the spring and summer of 1980, Duran Duran had played a number of clubs gigs, a buzz was starting, and now they stepped up to auditorium size venues. So, even though the tour came with a price tag of a few thousand pounds, it would serveas a showcase for the band. And that led to the demise of Tritec, because as soon as Duran Duran embarked on the tour, it became very evident that their buzz was turning into a roar. Today, Rhodes has the only copy of this never released record. "I don't even think there's a tape of it, it's on acetate, so I haven't even dared listen to it." The reason for the single's cancellation was simple, every record company in the country was now showing interest in the band. "I think our managers just realized that we could reach more people more efficiently on a major," explains John. "Record companies were coming every night all over the country to see us," Rhodes adds, "and the bidding war started. It was great for us, because it wasn't just one company that was interested, it was most of them. And it ended up coming down to EMI and Polygram battling it out." EMI won. "We ended up getting ripped off left, right and center, just like every other new band does," Rhodes continues. "But the one saving grace of our early contract was that we got complete artistic control over everything we ever did, from music to videos, album covers, photos. I guess we got director's cut as they say, and so we've always been able to keep the integrity of our music."

The band went directly into Red Bus Studios in London, and began recording. "We'd hooked up with Cohn Thurston" John begins, "who we considered to have great credentials, he engineered Lust For Life and produced the first Human League album, that was enough [he also engineered Bowie's Heroes]. "I don't want to say I was in a daze, but things were moving very, very quickly. I remember John Lennon was shot while we were doing that album, and I remember London being cold, wet and lonely. We had a Citroen estate car, and we were going up and down the motorway And I remember the claptrap, this cool electronic device that enabled you to get this handclap sound. "Other than that, I was astonished at how long it took to make records. I was astonished at how long it took to get a drum sound, two days possibly; and I had zero patience. Ana also how little time my own participation in the rec6rding took, compared to how long the singer would sing for, how long the keyboard player would layer his keyboards. That was a bit of an eye opener for me." Duran Duran's debut single, "Planet Earth," was an eye opener for everyone else. Released at the end of March, 1981, and accompanied by a 12" remix, the song danced its way up to #12 in the U.K. chart. The following month, the band embarked on a tour which would keep them on the road until Christmas. In May, 1982, the driving, doomy "Careless Memories" entered the shops, but amazingly only reached #37. Perhaps that's because their own headlining tour of Britain wouldn't begin until June. In any event, yet another version of "Girls On Film," released as a single in August, sailed to Number Five. The band's self-titled debut album would rise two places higher, and remained in the chart for a breathtaking 118 weeks. Duran Duran had arrived.

Today, it's virtually impossible to try to place these and the ensuing events in proper context. Everything was happening at lightspee4, a rush of hits, fame, fortune, and world-wide adulation. It was a bit like a juggernaut, and the group were about to be run over by it. 1981 was the year of the New Romantic. With its frilly shirts, deft make-up, and yards of scarves, New Romantics were so flamboyant, had so much flair, and were so incredibly photogenic, that swiftly the movement caught the attention of even the daily papers. And it was at this point that Rhodes' worries were coming home to roost. Early practioners within the scene - Spandau Ballet, Visage, Depeche Mode, Human League, as well as Duran Duran - all had their roots in the punk scene. Musically, they'd progressed far beyond punk's simple structures, each band separately moving into new; uncharted waters. Their fans, most in their late teens and early '20s, had grown up either in, or were influenced by the punk scene as well. Even the clothes were based on punk's DIY ethic, and were handmade or thriftshop purchases. But just as Zandra Rhodes had waylaid punk gear for Paris and Milan catwalks, so too would the fashion industry co-opt the New Romantics. By '82, even Bloomingdales in N.Y.C was sporting pirate outfits, in hornage of Adam Ant. The bandwagon jumpers, as always, garbed themselves in the look and sound, but missed the point entirely. Somewhere along the line, a clueless journalist decided that the New Romantics were the backlash to punk, put that clever concept into a head- line, and made it so. All too quickly, New Romanticism become synonymous with superficial, fashion crazed yuppies, with the spare cash to institute a new fashion fad every fortnight. And thus, Duran Duran who compared their sound to the Pistols and Damned, eventually found themselves nailed to the mast of the new corporatism. Even stranger, they'd also find themselves nailed to the bedroom walls of an entire generation of young teens. And if artschool punks sailing the yuppie musical flagship was bizarre, that was just surreal. And shocking, one would assume.

"But of course, of course," John immediately agrees. "You've got to remember though, that when I was 16, 1 was still reading the teen press, I was still trading teen posters of Marc Bolan with the girls at my high school. When a lot of teen press began making itself available three years later, now I'm dealing directly with these magazines, but they're photographing me! I'm in the center pages! I was like, 'Sure I'll do it, you want me to do it with a model, sure.' I jumped, and I became the face for the teen press, but I didn't really think about it. "Brighton [at the Dome] was the first date of the U.K. tour [in June, 1981], that we did with the release of the first album. The curtains opened, and there was this sea of screaming girls, it completely threw me off my balance. I had no idea.. .I mean, I felt....I don't know, it was like somebody pulling the rug out from under you. Because one was used to putting all the enelgy out, and having this huge surge of energy coming at you, it was extraordinary "Now I know that what would have been great for the band then, would have been this two or three hour group therapy right after the show 'How did you feel about that, what did it make you feel? Simon, how did it make you feel when they were shouting 'John, John'? John how did it make you feel when that bra landed on the stage.' Because we never got a chance to process it, it was just insanity, and that set the base for the next three years." And it made absolutely no sense at all. Duran Duran was the antithesis of a proper pop album filled with ditties and puppy love songs for 12 year olds. The music and lyrical themes were obviously adult orientated, the music while pop tinged and dance fueled, had a dark quality. As Le Bon earlier stated, there was a hint of early Damned to their sound, a shadowed, European twist that filled the album with almost gloomy atmospheres. Songs like "Careless Memories," and indeed the entire second side of the album weren't far removed in mood from postpunk bands like The Cure, the Psychedelic Furs, Echo and the Bunnymen, and many other of the precursors of Goth. What spared Duran Duran from living entombment was their dance inducing rhythms, and Rhodes' very experimental electronics.

Duran Duran was a phenomenal achievement, and sounds as stunning today as it did in 1981; even after all these years, it's not the least bit dated. And the idea of it appealing to teen screamers remains beyond belief. Certainly the band weren't wooing this audience. Godley and Creme directed the video for "Girls On Film," and filled it with scantily clad Penthouse models. In fact, Penthouse centerfolds was the easiest way for kids to actually glimpse any of these girls, as both the BBC and MTV banned the video. So, it was obvious that Duran Duran were not attempting to appeal to the pyepubescent crowd. And they didn't understand their screaming arrival any better than anyone else. "I can only imagine that kids are always the first to pick up on things, Rhodes muses. "Kids are the ones that always go and buy records on Friday after school, they're the ones that buy the magazines. We did do some teen magazines as well, and when word spreads it's like fire. I mean no-one was more shocked than us. "The first [arena] show we were just looking at each other, it got to the point where we actually stopped because we just didn't know what was going on. "It was funny, because I've seen lots of footage of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Doors, all these things that happened in the '60s where kids were just going crazy And I thought it was because rock music was so new then, it was a much more naive generation. I thought that would never happen again, it hadn't for many years in England, so when it happened with us, we were shocked, incredibly surprised. It was the last thing we ever thought would happen,.particularly because we thought the content of our songs, and certainly I love great pop songs, but the content of our songs was hardly something that was going to appeal to a teen audience. "We'd been used to playing nightclubs and seeing old girls with feathers in their hair. So, it was very unexpected, and we didn't quite know what to do about it to start with. But having said that, it was also very exciting to have an audience and to get through to that many people. It was again, despite the fact that it became obvious that we had a huge female following, it was quite mixed. Boys aren't stupid, they know where girls go.

"It was definitely an experience to go - through, and it lasted for quite a long time, it was one of those things. We hadn't even had a chance to understand it, never mind stop it." "I actually know the answer to this," Andy boldly states. "I understand why it happened. What happened was, when the Japanese got a hold of our photos, they really picked up on John, because he looked fucking great when he was a kid. They saw the potential for the Japanese market, and the little Japanese girls went for it straight away. So the cynical marketing side of it in the U.K. said, let's go straight downstairs to the Smash Hits market. "Before you know where you are, you've encouraged it without knowing it. They (the marketing department] know what they're doing, and it was all based on the reaction in Japan. Then that reaction started coming back, which they knew they'd get; market a great looking boy with a pop hit and you're gonna get a teen reaction. We didn't know that! We were flying here and there doing TV shows, playing the odd gig, we didn't realize the capability and the cynicism of the machine around us." And so it began; a worldwide tidal wave, crashing first over the shores of Japan, then soon submerging the rest of the world. "We were quite lucky in that it happened to us the way it did though," Rhodes declares. "The firstalbum was huge in Asia, the Far East, Australia, England, and some of Europe. So we had time to deal with that, by the time we broke in America, we'd consolidated, with the Rio album, the rest of the world." That was still a year away. In the mean time, 1981 was seen out with "My Own Way" a taster for Duran Duran's next album. The funk song shimmied up into the Top 15, giving the band their fourth hit single of the year. 1982 was to be bigger and more crazed. "But it was a very smooth machine, and it had to be," John explains. "There was a famous quote by Rob Warr, head of promotions at EMI at the time. He said, 'Duran Duran are great, they're like plasticene. We can do anything with them.' It got me SO annoyed. "But, you know what? In a sense, for a band to happen like we happened, there has to be a letting go, and there can be no agendas other than the management's.

Everyone in the band wanted to be a star, so that was all you had to do, shut up and play your guitar, right? And management wanted to be stars too, and make money, the record company wanted to make money, so, shut up and do your job. And everybody just did it. It was a remarkable thing." So, you just did what you were told? "That was only in certain aspects, in terms of promotion. When we first did a video, I was like, 'What the fuck is this about!?!' 'Well, John, this is going to save us going to Australia.' We've got a hit record in Australia, and we need television presence over there, but we don't want to have to go there. That was how we got to do 'Planet Earth.' "None of us understood, Simon perhaps got it, probably because it had to be explainied to him a little more fully. But that whole concept of a video, I really didn't get it, it was certainly was at odds with the whole punk ethic." And even if the band didn't get it, Le Bon at least, knew precisely what to do. Lights, camera, action...the singer had been here before...more times than he could count. Long before joining Duran Duran or going off to study drama at university, Le Bon had worked as a child actor. He was by no means a star, but he'd done a myriad of commercials, and was well remembered in the U.K. as the boy in the Persil (a laundry detergent) ad. Simon came to us as an actor, who'd done a bit of singing," John elaborates. "And who would've known just how useful that acting experience was going to be in the band's breakthrough. He could do that shit, and nobody else could do it! Adam Ant couldn't do it; Bowie couldn't do it, Bryan Ferry; none of these guys could convincingly pull off that shit." But Le Bon could, brilliantly, and it would make all the difference in the world. But that was only one facet of the band's growing success.

"There was a lot of creative management going on at that time," John elaborates. It's hard to imagine the energy that was going into making it all work. I'm startled myself if I think about it. Because we were always on red alert, we were like a team of commandos... I don't know how to explain. When you've got five people, and everyone has incredible energy, you can cover many bases. There's not many bands that can do that, you can cover a lot of ground. We had all the bases covered, we had innovative technology, we had rock'n'roll chops, we had charm and charisma." And you had great songs. "Those were a byproduct of those other things. It was all kind of natural, we were coming from a great heritage. It wasn't like you were inventing the wheel, we were just trying to take our place in the scheme of things. The Beatles... Queen... Roxy Music to an extent were all influences, but we were so much more pop than any of them. But it was just the way the cards fell. We never consciously set out to be a pop band, but it was a mixture of limitations and know how that created these like perfect pop records." And that was never truer than with Rio, which was released at the end of May, rocketed to Number Two, and stayed in the British chart for the remainder of the year. The album was once again produced by Cohn Thurston, but this time recorded at A Studios in London. Compared to Duran Duran the new record was brasher, the band, while never lacking confidence, was now brimming with self-assurance. The songs were brighter as well, although some, notably "The Chauffeur," "Save A Prayer Til The Morning After" and "Lonely In Your Nightmare" still carried an air of bittersweet melancholy. However, what made Rio truly memorable is how easily and unaffectedly Duran Duran showcased different aspects of their sound. They slip effortlessly across the pure pop of "Rio," the dance fired "Hold Back The Rain," the funky New Religion" to the very experimental The Chauffeur". It was surely that mixture of styles, coupled with the band's growing musical talent, and Le Bon's strong vocals, that were the true appeal of the band.

Duran Duran had launched themselves onto the stage a month earlier, in April, and toured on through the rest of '82. It was becoming a blur, at least for John. "The tour started in Australia, went to Japan, we went backwards and forwards...where the fuck DID we play? We played the Peppermint Lounge [in N.Y.C], and the MTV New Years' Eve ball from the Savoy in N.Y." Duran Duran had already played the States the previous year, doing a club tour in support of the first album. Initially, Duran Duran garnered a New Wave crowd. As in Britain, many of the fans had arrived via the punk scene, and were in their early 20s. Although none of the group's singles charted, the album had done well enough for a Briush band of its day, and the tour certainly was helping them build a cult following. A second round of U.S. club dates commenced after the release of Rio, and having already wound their way back and forth throughout the States, Duran Duran then joined Blondie's tour as support. This was virtually a repeat of the Hazel O'Connor experience, opening for a much bigger act, in much larger venues. But an equally important event was to take place in a much smaller space. "Around that time," Rhodes recalls, "we went to the MTV offices in N.Y., which I remember was just a few rooms. I knew all the members of staff, the people that owned it, everybody else almost on first name terms, there was only like 16 of them. At the time MTV was available in three states, it wasn't even available in Manhattan if my memory serves me correctly - New Jersey, somewhere in Texas, and some place in Florida I think - and that was it. "It was a very new idea, and we thought this was great, because in England, you could only get your video played once if you were lucky, that was it, there was no place else for them to play. So, we started building this relationship with MTV, and obviously it worked for them, because they liked the things we were doing. "So, what happened in those markets in particular was the radio stations were getting calls from kids who'd seen the videos, and who wanted to hear the records on the radio. At the same time, parallel to this, we were actually starting to get radio play across the country, where they didn't have any MTV It was the radio play actually, without any question that broke the band." And it would take some time. Back home in Britain, "Hungry Like The Wolf' shot to Number Five upon its June release. In September, the haunting "Save A Prayer" did even better, climbing to Number Two. But America wasn't ready to succumb yet. When Duran Duran released a remix EP Carnival, for the U.S. market, it only rose to Number 98; however, this was the band's first entry into the chart. Back home the following month, "Rio" danced into the U.K. Top 10. But, in the States, the group's hard work was finally begin to pay off. Slowly both Rio and "Hungry Like The Wolf" climbed the chart, eventualy hitting Number Six (in June) and Three respectively Once there, the album refused to leave, staying in the chart for over two years! Duran Duran had now reached true world wide fame. "It was quite a sjirprise," Rhodes recalls, "we'd come home from the [U.S. tour, and thought to ourselves, well we've done some tours, we've had a good reaction, perhaps we'll break America on the third album. That's where we left it, we thought Rio was over there, and suddenly, it was going up the charts, and that led us to make the next album and do the big arena tour in '84." It was equally gratifying when their next U.K. single, "Is There Something I Should Know," went directly into the chart at Number One. Today, that's almost the norm, records no longer climb, they chart at whatever rung, and then immediately start falling down the following week. However, previous to this decade, a record would work its way up to Number One over at least a few weeks. To enter at Number One was an astomshing feat; Duran Duran had much to celebrate. And barely any time to do it. Tours, interviews, photoshoots, videoshoots, when you're a world-wide phenomenon you've little time for yourself. There again, when the invitation is coming from the Prince and the late Princess of Wales, you make the time. Thus, on July 20, Duran headlined a charity concert for MENCAP (an organization that works with the mentally handicapped), sponsored by the royal couple.

By June, Duran Duran had conquered America as well. In April, "Rio" went into the Top 15, followed by "Is There Something I Should Know," which landed at Number Four. The latter single was bundled onto a reissue of Duran Duran, which subsequently went into the Top 10, and added another gold record to the band's burgeoning pile. In November, 1983, the group began a lightning world tour, which encompassed the U.K., Japan, Australia, Canada, finishing, at the end of December, at Madison Square Garden in N.Y.C. By this time, MTV was now beginning to have an impact. When the channel first went on air in 1981, its demise was immediately predicted. Anyone lucky enough to live within its catchment area, and old enough to remember, was initially sucked in, just on the novelty value alone. But in truth, it was crap. How many times could one watch that Judas Priest video or those burlesque girls dancing out of time with Zeppelin's "Trampled Underfoot?" However, Duran Duran's management had grasped MTV's potential immediately. So did quite a few other bands, but what those groups hadn't quite understood was the creative opportunity the channel offered. While the Rolling Stones played along to "Start Me Up" in an empty studio, Duran Duran had flown off to Sri Lanka to shoot the mini-epic "Hungry Like The Wolf." And it was this generational divide that launched the second British invasion. In the U.K., punk had seen off the dinosaurs of rock, in the U.S. they survived, and thus - young bands either followed in their foot- steps, or by and large languished in cult obscurity "MTV had to be progressive," John explains, "because nobody wanted to watch Black Sabbath videos all night, there was no video for 'Stairway To Heaven.' If MTV had had its way at the start, they would have simply reflected the most popular radio format, which was rock radio at that time, but they couldn't do that, because the videos didn't exist." Now. they did, and they were arriving from Britain in large numbers. The results were immediate, MTV now reflected the - radio charts and influenced them as well. No longer would Duran Duran drag their way up the chart, now their singles would liter- ally rocket into the Top Ten. Thus the success of "Is There Something I Should Know" and its follow-up, "Union of The Snake." The latter hit Number. Three on both sides on the Atlantic, this time, a mere month apart. The latter single arrived in the midst of the band's world tour. Their sensational rise in the U.S., left the band, management, and promoters in chaos. "We were literally on the third date of the tour, and we were booking the 15th date of - the tour," John recalls with some amazement. "Again, we were on the run, and it was growing as we were doing it." Duran Duran's new album, Seven And The Ragged Tiger, saw success almost as quickly.

The title is actually explained by John's earlier comparison of the band to a group of commandos. And if they were, this would be the perfect name for their unit, as the ragged tiger was the symbol of luck and success. But why seven? Because the unit wasn't the hand alone, but the Berrow brothers as well. Refusing to rest on their laurels, Duran Duran continued pressing forward into new musical territories. "The Reflex" was obviously the most successful of their maneuvers, wedding a funky rhythm to the latest electro-beats, then spinning together an unforgettable chorus and verse that by rights should never have been joined, yet still melded together seamlessly "New Moon On Monday" was an excursion into glossy pop, while "I Take The Dice" and "Shadows On Your Side" actually found the band foraging through the '60s, and dragging their spoils into '80s dancepop. "Of Crime And Passion" was equally unexpected, looting elements of both the Cult and Echo and the Bunnymen. "Tiger Tiger" was a showcase for both John's pulsing bass and Rhodes' exquisite keyboards. In Britain, Seven And The Ragged Tiger deservedly sailed to the top slot in December, in America it took a little longer, until February, when it finally hit its high of Number Eight. The record would spend a bit over a year in the charts, although not as long as Duran Duran, which remained in for a phenomenal 87 weeks.

Duran Duran's next single, "New Moon On Monday," sailed into the U.K. Top 10 in February. Back across the pond, the band collected two Grammy.video awards later that month, something that at best left John cold, at worst was somewhat irritating. "The videos were equal parts fun and absolute nightmare. I don't think you ever really know when you're doing something, and we never really had time to sit back and say, 'Hey didn't we do a great job there?' Because we were always onto the next thing. I think we always had a bit of a discursive attitude towards the videos anyway "I got two Grammy's for videos, but I don't really count them as Grammy's. So when people ask if I've had any Grammy's, I'll say, 'We'll, they're for videos.' We sort of felt, not really appreciating what the videos were doing for us, giving us an audience basically, we were like, 'I don't want to talk about fucking videos all the time, what about the music man?" Andy feels even stronger. "People say to me, 'You know you stay out of the way in the videos.' Fucking right! I used to hate doing them. I don't know why it intimidated me so much, but the camera being bunged up your nose, it used to really frighten me. Tie me to the windmill please!" The windmill, of course, being the contraption that Le Bon was tied to in "The Wild Boys" video. In a freak accident, the windmill's mechanism stopped while the singer was underwater, and he came close to drowning. Andy, himself, ended up in hospital after their Sri Lankan video shoot. "I'm riding on elephants and swimming in the water they pissed in. I got really sick, I caught a virus, and had to go to hopsital for four days once we got back to the UK. That's my memory of making the videos."

It was no wonder that he and John would get drunk and hide during filming! In contrast, Rhodes is less dismissive, and has a better appreciation of the impact the band's videos had both musically and artistically. "When we came out, videos were new; it was a blank canvas, and we could paint whatever we wanted on it. Now it's definitely much harder trying to come up with ideas for a new; exciting video that's really going to he innovative, where people are going to 'go, 'that's really special.' Most ideas within the forrnat have been tackled in one way or the other, somebody's always going to have another way of looking at something, but go and do something on location, it's been done. Some of our videos I can look at now and they make me smile, others make me cringe, others I think that was really great, that was really unique. I think they document the '80s in a very direct way. Today, the videos have come to define Duran Duran, but at the time, they were merely a taster for reality or so believed the three quarters of a million people that bought tickets for their liv'e 'shows during their 1984 world tour. And that's' because the band were as innovative onstage as they were on video, as a viewing of Arena amply proves. And the hits kept coming. "The Reflex", reinixed by liile Rodgers, topped the charts all over the world, America and Britain included. "The Wild Boys" only made it to Number Two, on both sides of the Atlantic, a chart position that belies the song's true impact. As Duran Duran had moved further into the teen market, they'd left behind a segment of their older, more serious music fans. That group now returned in droves, impressed by the industrial edge and experimental creativit,,, the single brimmed with. "Wild Boys" was added to Arena, a strange decision considering it was a live album. But fans didn't seem to mind, they snapped it up in massive quantities, adding more gold records to the pile, and thrusting it up to Number Six and Four in the U.K. and U.S. respectively. On a simple level, the album's success was guaranteed by the showgoers alone, now they'd have a chance to actually hear what they'd been screaming through. In reality, Arena was evenly split between its strengths and weaknesses. It showed Le Bon up in a particularly bad light, as too often his vocals came across as weedy A phenomenal visual performer, the record did not do him justice.

The production was also lacking to some extent. Although the sonics were excellent, Duran Duran have a very full sound, yet too often on the record they sounded sparse. However, on the plus side, the mix was extremely strong, and all the instruments were deftly separated, thus allowing listeners to appreciate the band's considerable musical talents. But Duran Duran barely had time to read the reviews, because they were busy recording Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" It was exhausting, they'd done three world tours in as many years. There was no rest from the press, the pressures, the demands, and the fans. And still, everyone wanted more. To make things worse, the offers were so good it was difficult to refuse. I mean, how do you turn down the opportunity to write and perform the theme song for a Bond movie. You can't, and Duran Duran didn't. The single, "A View To A Kill," was yet another hit upon it's May release. So, after making 'A View For A Kill' of course the pressure was on to do another album, and we said no," Rhodes relates. "So, instead we went off and pushed ourselves in different directions." But the members still had to give the label something, and thus was born the Power Station and Arcadia. The latter was formed by Rhodes, Le Bon, and Roger Taylor with a legion of guest musicians and vocalists. The former band was put together by the other two Taylors, and featured Robert Palmer and former Chic drummer Tony Thompson.

"I needed a break from Duran," John elaborates. "I wasn't used to being part of a...the very things that appealed to me about being in a band, became so constrictive; the idea that everywhere I went people thought I was one of three brothers. I needed to sort of state my own independence really." Which makes perfect sense, except that Andy came along as well. Yeah...but it wasn't a;ways going to be that way, actually, but Andy really took hold of it. You know, it's the way these things happen. I had the initial dream, but without Andy's practicality, he really brought it to bear; things have an uncanny way of coming together. I'd hung out with Robert [Palmer] a few times, and we'd get drunk together, we just liked each other basically. I liked his work, and I thought it would be a great idea to have Robert sing on the album. "That, by the way, was going to have a number of different singers on it initially, that was the plan, we didn't have any sense of forming a band. I was dating Bebe Buel, and the idea was initially to cut a version of her singing [T Rex's] 'Bang A Gong.' That was the original idea for the band, to get it together with Tony Thompson, and do this really funky version of 'Bang A Gong.' "Then I fell out with Bebe, but we wanted to keep it going. By this point, Andy and I had demoed 'Some Like It Hot' and 'Murderers' maybe, and Robert came in to sing 'Some Communication,' that's literally the only song he was going to do. Tony and Bernard Edwards have never heard of him, they don't know his music, or who he is, and the rest is history. We mention to him that we'd recorded 'Bang A Gong' and he says, 'Oh, I'd like to have a crack at that,' so he has a crack at it, Bernard says, 'Look, this is great, why don't we do the whole album with him?" Filling in a few of the gaps in the story; the Taylors became acquainted with Thompson whilst the drummer was working with Bowie during the Serious Moonlight tour. And it was through him, that the Taylors were introduced to fellow Chic-ite bassist Bernard Edwards, who produced the Power Station album. Also briefly involved was Psychedelic Furs' saxophonist Mars Williams, who Duran Duran had initially approached to join their live band. As the Furs were currently off the road, Williams was keen, but by the time the details were worked out, Duran Duran decided to take a break as well. But John now had an equally good offer for the saxophonist, to come and play on the Power Station album. Williams had recently worked with Billy Idol, and thus was acquainted with his guitarist and drummer, Steve Stevens and Tommy Price. Duran Duran and Billy Idol and co. were also friends, and partied frequently together. This led to Williams renting studio time fbr everyone to jam. "Wait, check this out!" Williams enthusiastically insists. This band would never fly, because there was too many egos involved: Mick Ronson, Andy Taylor, Steve Stevens, Tommy Price, John Taylor and me." Sadly, none of this material has ever seen the light of day. However, Williams did play occasional shows in N.Y.C under a variety of monikers, which featured an ever changing line-up of friends, including the aforementioned studio jammers, as well as Tim and Richard Butler and Paul Garristo from the Furs. He remembers one show at the Limelight at which John, Andy and Ronson all played. Ian Hunter took the mike at another gig, Billy Idol at another, Richard Butler at yet another, Williams' shows were a revolving supergroup.

Meanwhile, back in February; 1985, the Power Station made their live debut on Saturday Night Live, then John and Andy flew back to Britain to receive the Best British Music Video award at the BRIT's for "Wild Boys." The following month, "The Reflex" garnered International Hit of the Year at the Ivor Novello Awards held in London Just days later the band's "Save A Prayer" genuflected it way into the U.S. Top 20. Not bad for a song that had originally appeared on Rio! By the end of March, The Power Station's "Some Like It Hot" was firing up the U.K. charts to Number 14. It would land eight places higher in the U.S. that May, only to be beat by Duran Duran's "A View To A Kill" which shot its way to the top of the U.S. charts in July. In the interim, the eponymous Power Station album soared up the U.K. and U.S. charts in April. The band followed that success up with "Get It On" in June, another hit on both sides of the Atlantic. No wonder the party never ended. "There was a lot of hanging out going on," Andy recalls, "we used to hang out down in the Village [in N.YC] at Beepop and get wacked, do Power Station and fuck about. At the time we had The Power Station and Arena out at the same time, we had two bands on the go, and it was fuckmg nuts. We were in N.Y. most of the time, really living it up, spending $500 a night, just doing stupid things. It was just a massive party all the time, I don't know how we got any work done. It was great." And although the Taylors had sworn that the Power Station would never tour, they swiftly changed their mind. "We couldn't resist it," John laughs, "...and Robert walked out 10 days before it was due to start." And former Silverhead vocalist Michael Des Barres was...very flexible. He was our agent's choice, I didn't really know him. Wayne Fortay, our agent at the time, said there's this guy, Michael Des Barres, I don't know how he knew him, but he figured he might just be available. So he called him, and he was hanging out on some movie set with Don Johnson in Shrewspolt. "Don came and sang with us in Miami, and quid pro quo, we got to be on Miami Vice. Now people can't imagine, but back I then, I really wanted to be on Miami Vice. Andy's own first choice was Paul Young, if but he wasn't available, thus depriving the world of what would have been a phenomenal funk/soul combo. The guitarist adds that he was actually the one to suggest Michael Des Barre for the tour, as he'd seen him onstage a short while before.

Somehow, the Taylors were still managing to keep all the balls in the air. From Miami Vice it was on to Live Aid, where both the Power Station and Duran Duran performed in July. "We were burning the candle," John continues "it was not a lot of fun that Power Station tour, it was not a great time for me. Halfway through the tour, it had lost a lot of its lustre. You always have to be careful when you create an alternative, that the alternative doesn't become what you're creating the alternative against. You create Power Station to be the alternative to the hulking, great beast that was Duran, or you form the Neurotic Outsiders [more on them later], and the next thing you know; you're arguing over who should be doing the video. Who gives a shit? Who wants to have an argument over shit like that?" The Power Station's final single, "Communication" was released that fall, and although it made the Top 40 in the U.S' its placement was disappointing compared to its predecessors. The tour had been an equal let down, but that was less surprising, Michael Des Barres was not Robert Palmer, and even fans of the Taylors knew the difference. By the time "Commumcation" reached a paltry Number 75 in Britain, the band had folded.

Now it was Arcadia's turn to shine. The taster for that group's album, "Election Day," arrived In October, and climbed into both the U.K. and U.S. Top Ten. While the Power Station found Andy and John moving far afield from Duran Duran's sound, with an intriguing hybrid of funk and glamrock, "Election Day" was a sublime reaffirmation of the mothership's style. Pulling the shrouds of darkness from Duran Duran, adding shades of pop from Rio and Ragged Tiger, the single was dark electro-dance- pop at its best. Surprisingly, however, Arcadia's album, So Red The Rose, only scraped into the Top 40 in the U.K., while even in America, the album barely reached the Top 25. "I'm a really big fan of the Arcadia album, I think history will be very kind to it, it's really diverse," Rhodes insists. It was indeed an excellent album, but perhaps fans conldn't cope with that very diversity. But maybe the real reason for its comparative lack of success was that it really wasn't a pop album at all. "I think we were heading towards an almost classical style actually," Le Bon confirms, "slightly classical, slightly jazzy, things like 'Lady Ice, it wasn't rock music, that's for sure! No, it wasn't. It was a mature album, which succesfully explored a variety musical styles and influences. But even the alure of Sting singing back-up vocals on the exquisite 'The Promise," couldn't pull that single higher than Number 37 in the U.K. the only plausible explanation is perhaps Arcadia were maturing musically faster than their audience. But Rhodes is right, history will be kind to th album, and hopefully fans will actively begin seeking it out.

Arcadia certainly had a wonderful time recording it. Done in France, the album gave the band the opportunity to work with a dizzing number of guest singers and musicians, from Herbie Hancock to Grace Jones, who proviided the spoken bits on "Election Day," and pretty much everyone in between. And that was what was most liberating for Rhodes, finalIy having the opportunity to play with other people. In early 1986, John was approached to write the theme for the movie 9 112 Weeks. In April, his solo effort for the film, "I Do What I Do," charted on both sides of the 'Atlantic. And then came the bombshell Roger announced he wanted another year off and returnedto his Gloucestershire home. Stunned, the quartet began working or their next album in June without him. And then Andy walked out. "I know they were shocked when I said wanted to step out of it, but all I wanted to do was take six months off, that's all. When you're at that point in your career, these bastards want product, product, product They don't care who it is, what it is, how it is, as long as it's got the name on it, and they can flog it. You always feel that on you to point until you feel, 'Hey, I've written 19, 20, including Power Station, consecutive hits [close, actually 16], five consecutive multi- platinum albums fincluding Arena, what more do yo fucking want from me?' "I only do this because I enjoy it, I do it for fun. I studied an instrument since I was six, and I was able to make my life something I enjoyed by it. When that was all gone, why should I be taking $40 off the public each night when I'm just fucking hating it? I'm not doing that to people, I refuse to work under those circumstances. That's what people were asking us to do, bang another record out, fuck it, sell it, take the money and run."

Of course they were, that's the label's job. And record companies understand the importance of quickly following up success with new product. What they don't under- stand is a band member who's just exhausted by it all. The side projects were meant to be a happy compromise, give the label product, yet in another new, exciting, fun setting. But as much fun as the Power Station was, it came with its own headaches too. Some break! But a new Duran Duran album was needed, it had been over two years since Ragged Tiger, an eternity in the life of a "teen band." Surely, their audience would soon outgrow the band, so in the label's mind, it really was now or never. In which case, for Andy, it was never. The rest of the band tried to talk him round, a difficult proposition as to a certain extent they all felt the same way. But lawyers started coming down waving contracts, studio time was already booked, and tempers began to fray. And that just pushed the guitarist over the edge. "If someone says to me I'm not being hard working, I'm being disloyal and foolish, and I know I'm not, that I'm trying to put it on a logical footing, and they're just taking cheap shots. Yeah? Well fucking see how you do without me. Bye." With time, the anger's ebbed away, and the hurt feelings have soothed. At the time, it seemed neither was possible. "So, I left the band, and what do you do when you leave a band? Well the best place to go is L.A., hang out for a couple of years, do a John Lennon, get slung out of bars like Harry Nilson, and do nothing. "Then they come along and say, do a solo record. Gosh... telephone them, it's worth big money, what would be $5 million now. You spend all your life trying to have a value on your head, then someone comes along, and you go, WelI, if the fool's want to give it to me, I'll take it.' Oh yeah, but you've got to make a record," Andy laughs. "I didn't start the leaving process in my mind because I wanted to become a solo act, and you may have noticed I didn't particularly pursue it for very long. It sort of happened, came along, well it's going to pay for the party, I thought I was into it at the time, but later on down the line, I believe I felt I was kind of treading water I guess." And treading with him was ex-Sex Pistol Steve Jones. "If you saw him play in the studio, this is the thing, he can play rhythm guitar and just rock on it like no-one else can," Andy enthuses. "I wanted to have that. In those times, if I wanted it, I would go and find a way to get it, because I was bloody minded about things. I wanted to have Steve Jones on my album, so I've got to fix Steve Jones up. I've got a big organization, I've got loads of money, I can do whatever I want, I can sort him out. But what you realize is you can't change people."

The sorting out was hard enough. Andy had crossed paths with the guitarist in the past, when Jones was well into the L.A. party life, and deeply involved in drugs and drink Now he was 30 days into sobriety, flat broke, without even a guitar. Andy took him do'wn to an L.A. music shop, bought him one, and gave him a year's wages ($50,000) to sort himself out with. Then the two began work on Thunder. The end result was pretty disappointing, as its lowly chart placement reflected. It wasn't in any way a bad album, it was merely that Andy had the potential for so much more. "At the end I was happy with it, it's not something that now I'd say..... there's a couple of songs on there I quite like, but..." Incidentally, this was not Andy's first solo outing, he'd already composed and recorded "Take It Easy," for the soundtrack of American Anthem. The guitarist did however, return to the fold briefly, well, the Arcadia fold, to perform on the British music show "The Tube" in July, '3 in support of the group's fourth single "The Flame."

Meanwhile, Duran Duran themselves were in chaos. "Andy announced he was leaving and then Roger who following the guitarist's announcement by also formally quitting the group, and it was so shocking," Rhodes begins. "Andy just wasn't into it, his heart wasn't into it, and he only played on a few tracks." Soon after his departure, the remaining members were contacted by guitarist Warren Cuccurullo, whose own band, Missing Persons had recently folded. And he kept contacting them, until finally Duran Duran invited him out to N.Y., tried him out and brought him in for the rest of Notorious recording. "We didn't initially see him as a member of the band," Rhodes explains, "but that changed." The other change was the airival of new drummer Steve Ferrone, who'd previously played with Brian Auger and the Average White Band. Even so, John had his doubts about the viability of the group."I was sort of ready to leave as well, at least I thought I was. But Nick was in New York, and we sat and talked. I don't know what drew me back and once I was back, then it was not an easy road, and I became one with the fight; Holy shit, we're fighting for our survival. We're fighting to keep Duran Duran in the hearts and minds of any audience. It seemed to me over the next, five years, over the making of Notorious, Big Thing, Liberty, we were trying to keep an identity and keep an audience, just fighting to stay relevant. "Times change and Notorious was our weakest album at that point, because we lost the musician of the band. Although we did the fashionably right thing, which was replace him with Nile Rodgers, and created a video that was really stylish, we'd lost something. It was at a time that we needed it to be our best work, and it wasn't, it was too inconsistent. We were searching around for an identity, we were two men down, and that's what it's about as far as I could see. "I think there was a lot of things that were successful about the Power Station, the organic quality of the sound, that I wanted to bring to Duran Duran. That what's I was trying to do by bringing in Steve Ferrone. In the light... we had a lot of horns on that album, it was like more of a Power Station. And what I had going for me in the arguments was, 'Hey you guys had Arcadia, it didn't work, I did Power Station, it worked. Let's take the lessons I learned in Power Station and apply them, use those as the paste to give the band a new direction.' But I don't think Simon was ever comfortable with that." Indeed he wasn't, although he wasn't willing to admit. this at first. "It wasn't a lot of fun making that album," Le Bon says. We had a lot of meetings with lawyers [to sort out the situation with the departing members]I from which Nile Rodgers would drag us out, 'OK, You've had enough of that, do some music now.' He really held that album together, and he became a member of Duran Duran for that whole period, absolutely and completely. God bless him, he really, really gave himself to Duran Duran and he was just really so generous with himself, his talent, his good will, and great nature, he really held that thing together."

But what about the musical direction you were movingi n? "It was fine, fine," he begins. John felt you weren't very comfortable with it. "There was certain areas where John was going like Sly and the Family Stone, where I could just about get my head around Michael Jackson. Not, not get my head around, but my vocal ablity. "I wasn't going to do a bad impersonation of a funk singer, so I had to just bend it to ,yself, which I think I did very well on "Skin trade" and "Notorious", and not so well on other songs on that album. But I think those are two where it really, really worked." So John was kind of right? "I think he recognized it, and didn't push push it with the next album. Notorious did push it's way to Number 16 in the U.K. and four places higher in the U.S. But that was a far cry from their previous album chart standings, and in that respect, the band saw it as a failure, although the title track placed high in the singles chart. Its follow up, "Skin Trade," did not, landing just inside the Top 40 in the U.S. At the same time, the confusion within the Duran Duran camp saw rumors fly that the band were soon to call it a day, which peaked at their London Palladium appearance at the Secret Policeman's Third Ball that April. Obviously the tales were false, as Duran Duran continued their U.K. tour, which ended the following month with a three night extravaganza at Wembley Arena. The final show of their world tour took place on May 16, in N.YC, where the group staged a benefit for homeless children, and were joined onstage by Lou Reed. Duran Duran had proved they could continue as a trio, and if the start was a bit shaky that was only to be expected. With Notorious behind them, the group were now to begin solidifying their new sound.

Rhodes described Notorious as the band's "dance record," comparing it to what Bowie had attempted on Let's Dance. In which case, according to Le Bon, their next album, Big Thfng was "like Duran Duran and rave music, there's acid house in that. That funky piano thing, it's house music, we were really, really into that, we were into the whole house scene, a lot of that came out on that album. I think it had better songs on it; it had 'Land' and 'Too Late Marlene' which I think were fantastic, and 'All She Wants,' I love that." Your vocals definitely seem much more relaxed, you seem much more comfortable working in this direction. "It did work for me better, but also it was a much less stressful album to make, because the band had settled down, and Warren was really kind of working out. We got over the fact that Andy and Roger had left, Steve Ferrone was really part of the group as well at that time. And it was much more fun working in Paris, than in studios in London." Now it was John that was unhappy "I nearly left the band when Big Thing was finished, because we'd had an argument over the song 'Drug.' The original version of the song is one of the b-sides of the limited edition triplepack 7" versions of 'Do You Believe In Shame.' That original version of "Drug" is about seven minutes long, but when we went with that crappy remix version of the song that appears on the album, I couldn't believe it! "We got into this very in~nse argument, that to me, if ever I had the opportunity to reissue the album, digitally remastered and remixed, I would find that version of 'Drug.' To me, the album is incomplete without it, it's totally incongruous the version of the song that's on the album." Be that as it may, Big Thing did slightly better than Notorious, at least in the U.K., but in the States, it barely scraped into the Top 25. Unfortunately,.Duran Duran were only the first of many bands to discover that rave doesn't sell in America... at least back then. They were a mere nine years ahead of their time.

Regardless, the first single, "I Don't Want Your Love," did well, putting the band back into the Top Five in the U.S., although "All She Wants Is" would only reach Number 22. Back home, their chart placement was more faltering, with "Love" just making the Top 15, and "Do You Believe in Shame?" a rather rueful Number 30. In the U.S., even though it featured in the Tequila Sunrise film, "Shame" blushed at its Number 72 charting. For the moment, it seemed like Duran Duran's grip on America was slipping. As 1990 dawned, the band released the greatest hits collection Decade. At home, it gave the band their highest album chart place (Number Five) since Seven And The Ragged Tiger snarled its way to Number One. To accompany the album, their label suggested that Duran Duran release a remix of one of the old songs, an idea that Rhodes hated. "It just seemed a hitle drab to me. So ' I said, 'Why don't we do something better other than that? Why don't we go and create something totally new using elements of a lot of the different songs that we had. And so we went into the studio, and I sampled about every bit of everything I could think of, and then we built the song." "Burning The Ground" was strewn with Duran Duran's legacy, from the drum sounds from "The Wild Boys," through bits of "Reflex" and most intriguingly backward lyrics courtesy of "Planet Earth" a true pot pourri of their past. But for all its innovation, the British buying public preferred their old in its purist form, and the single crashed and burnt at #31. In the States, apparently Americans were no longer keen on Duran Duran old or new. As poorly (by the band's standards) as Big Thing had done, it positively bulged as compared to Decade, which turkeyed, landing at a miserable Number 67.

It must have been with much trepidation that Duran Duran began work on their new album, Liberty. And with a new drummer to boot, Ferrone departed, and in his place came Sterling Campbell. "With Sterling in the band," John begins "we thought we could be that band again, be that five piece, it was very hard not to look backwards at that point, because we'd failed. Because Big Thing was a commercial failure, and those were the only criteria we were judging on, so really with that album, we were looking backwards I think. "Oh, I don't know.. .when we were in rehearsal, it seemed like we had a great album, but we weren't able to parlay it into a great album in the studio, whatever. I can just remember smoking hash oil, that's all I can really remember about making that album." "I don't think we ever got it right personally," Le Bon agrees. "Liberty didn't quite do it, and it didn't quite do it on many different levels I think. We went into a barn in Sussex and started jamming away, and before we got finished, it was like, 'Right we've got the album, let's go and record it now.' And I don't think we got it right; I don't think we were paying enough attention. We were quite self-conscious at the time as well, the way things had been going, and it kind of made us stand outside of ourselves to do the album.

"But out of that came two of the best songs Duran's ever come up with, 'Serious' and 'My Antarctica,' they're really, really beautiful songs. I don't think it's a bad album, but there's definitely weak spots on it, definitely. I mean, something like 'Violence Of Summer,' it just didn't have a proper chorus, great verse though. Just not paying enough attention, we just lost our concentration." Once again, the Atlantic divide loomed. The first single off Liberty, "Violence Of Summer," battered its way into the Top 20 in the U.K., but in he U.S. it didn't even break the Top 50. The album did, barely, coming to rest at #46, but in Britain, unfettered, it sailed to Number 8. But it was on U.S. sales alone that Duran Duran judged their success. 1991 came and went without a word, as the band desperately regrouped. For a time, John even considered resurrecting The Power Station. By then, Andy had left his solo career far behind, and was now producing bands out of his own Trident Studios. "I'd done the big fame bit," the guitarist explains, "but there's a lot more I want to learn about making records, and the only way to do that was work, work, work." And work he did, first with Rod Stewart, co-producing, alongside Bernard Edwards, the sexy one's Out Of Order comeback album. Since then, Andy had produced, on average, four to five records a year. Most of the albums were with Brifish hardrock and metal bands, but he'd also produced Scottish New Wavers Big Country, as well as having worked with Paul Rogers. Andy and John hadn't spoken since the guitarist had left Duran Duran, so the call from the bassist came as a bit' of a shock. However, the pair had dinner, put the past behind them, and a Power Station reunion seemed on the cards. That is until EMI , decided the band was a great way to further Robert Palmer's career. "I sussed that was where they were at," Andy explains, "and I spoke to Bernard about it, and he said, 'At the moment, EMI are too wrapped up in Robert Palmer to do this.' So we left it. Andy returned to his seat behind the recording boards, and John and Duran Duran began ve work on their new eponymous album, better known from its cover art as The Wedding Album. Here's Rhodes' recollections of the time. "Sterling left, went off to some big band Soul Asylum, and got himself on the cover of Rolling Stone; we couldn't, but Sterling can!" He chuckles at the absurdity of it all. "We started doing the Wedding Album, which we were doing really low budget, because the Liberty album hadn't done well. "However good it was, there was no way it was going to get heard, because radio was all hip-hop or grunge. And we were neither of those, and didn't want to pretend to be I either of them, even though there were elements of things we liked within them. We just knew there was no space for Duran Duran at the end of the '80s. Somebody wanted to shut us in and throw away the key We just knew, and got on making the next album I suppose.

"That turned out to be very fruitful, because we locked in with Warren properly, and actually developed our sound. We produced a lot of pieces of music, not all of which ended coming out. Things like 'Time For Temptation' was written then, and there were a fair few that never got completed. There was a song called 'Firefly' which we never completed, that was written about the Gulf War, I regret not putting that out actually, John was very instrumental on that one, perhaps we'll find that one day." "Bringing Warren in and just giving full rein to his talents is really what that was about," John adds. "Rather than us trying to control it, just acknowledging what Warren had to offer is what made that album work." The first taster for the record, "Ordinary World," which appeared in early '93, amply proved that point, and soared into the Top 10 on both sides of the pond. And interestingly enough, it did it without the help of MTV. By the time Duran D~ran actually finished the video and delivered it to the station, the single was already in the Top 5! The full length did equally well, hitting Number Four in the U.K. and a resounding Number Seven in the U.S. "That really relaunched things," Rhodes enthuses, "and we then went on to do a pretty extensive tour, which went down really well. We were thrilled to find that a lot of the audience had come back to us, there were people that had stuck there, and I think there was a very warm feeling towards Duran Duran." Indeed there was, and a massive number of still loyal fans out there to boot. The tour lasted 16 months, and took the band from acoustic evenings at Birmingham's Symphony Hall and London's Dominion Theatre, to the Tonight Show, and as far afield as South Africa. In May, Duran Duran even performed at a Tower Records in L.A., and broadcast the show across the world to London, Sydney and Tokyo. In July, they returned to the States for the first leg of the U.S. tour. The day before it finished, on August 28, Duran Duran received their crowning glory, a Hollywood star. However, the band had to cancel the second leg of their tour after Le Bon tore a vocal chord in October, in the midst of their U.K. outing. With Duran Duran off the road, John once again turned his attention to the Power Station. Just before Christmas, '93, Andy received another call. "He said, 'Everybody's cool about doing this in the way we should be doing it: get together, come up with our material, then when we're ready to make a Power Station album, then we'll record it, and do it only on our terms." "I said, "That's how I want to do it, not to serve some other purpose for some individual or for EMI, but to get together and have a blow the same way we had before." And on that basis, everybody called each other that same night, and there seemed to be a complete positive attitude towards it, and that's when we decided to get together."

As everybody involved had other commitments, progress was slow, especially as Duran Duran returned to the stage in January, 1994. They kicked off with three nights at the Radio City Music Hall in N.YC., and then completed their delayed U.K. dates. In May, "Ordinary World" won the Most Performed Work at the Ivor Novello Awards. Meanwhile, work continued on the Power Station album, and just as they were nearing completion, John announced he was leaving. "He was going through a divorce," Andy explains, "he was in rehab and all that, the complete mess. His wife was kicking the shit out of him, and he wasn't dealing with it very well at all. I knew what was going on, you're not blind. It doesn't matter a hoot about the band, you've got your baby there, you've got to take care of things. "When he said, 'I can't go on,' he didn't go into a full explanation, but I knew why He's a dear, sweet gu~y and no-one should end up like that. I know it was a difficult thing for him to do, to phone me up and say he can't continue, but it was the right thing for him to do. I'd rather see him happy and healthy, than see him doing this and not be happy, and just a huge fucking mess. "You make all these plans, and life just takes over. You have to be sympathetic... if a guy quits a band and you lose a million dollar record deal, he usually gets sued til he starts bleeding, everybody sues, the band, management, but that never even entered anybody's head." Although a record deal for the rest of the world was already in place, the U.S. was not. "We were literally a day or two away from signing with Polydor, and he wasn't there to sign it, so what do people do? They don't do the deal, because you've got to have four signatures. As mad as I was, because we'd put a lot of work in, perhaps he knew he wasn't as in good as shape as he claimed to be... you don't kick someone when they're down. Anyway, we had a solution, his name was Bernard Edwards, so what's everyone worried about?" It took 18 months to rekindle interest in America, and a deal was finally put in place. At which point, all of John's bass parts were re-recorded by Edwards. The album was virtually finished when the bassist flew off to Japan to perform with Nile Rodgers. There, Edwards came down with a particularly virulent flu, and tragically died in Tokyo, on April 18, 1996. It was a crippling blow for Power Station, but within days, the remaining members knew they had to complete the record that Edwards had contributed so much to (he'd produced it as well). And in late 1996, with the release of Living In Fear in Europe and and Japan, the great bassist and producer's legacy lives on. The album was released nearly a year later in the States. In the summer of '97, American audi.nces were finally treated to performances hat European and Japanese crowds were rowing over. Power Station's line-up was leshed out by the Uptown Rorns (from the Zonan O'Brien Show), bassist Manny Yates, second guitarist Luke Bally (from the Iritish deathmetal band Thunder).

Obviously during this time, Duran Duran were also extremely active. Raving come off tour, back in '94, they returned to work on their next album, Thank You. "After the tour," Rhodes recalls, "I think we became a little more dissipated. We tried to complete the covers' album that we recorded during the summer of the tour, and again I think it was one that got overlooked. Some of the songs on there, certainly 'Perfect Day' and 'White Lines,' we made them sound like we'd written them. That's what we sort of set out to do, and we were very pleased with the album when we completed it. But obviously, it didn't receive commercial fit "only" brushed the bottom of the Top 20 in the U.S. or critical acclaim." It also saw the brief return of Roger Taylor, after nearly a decade's absence. "We'd actually invited Roger to come and play on every single album that we did," Rhodes explains, "but he declined until the Thank You album. We asked him, and I was surprised when he said yes, but very happy "He played on I think three tracks, 'Perfect Day;' 'Ball Of Confusion', but I don't think we ended up using him on it, because we changed the whole song around and his drums didn't work anymore; and something else as well. It was just great having him around, when we were in the studio, and I'd turn around and saw him there, it was just as if I was in a time warp. When he came down to record, he forgot his sticks!" But even with Roger's temporary return, Le Bon still had some doubts about the album. "You know what we were saying earlier? A perfect example of me being pushed to do something I wasn't comfortable with was on Thank You, and that was 'Ball Of Confusion.' That is the best example of me succumbing to the pressure of the band to attempt something I really couldn't do, and I really couldn't do that. It only worked in the chorus, when I was singing like Simon Le Bon from Duran Duran. "'I Want To Take It Higher' was difficult for me, as well. John and Warren were very into that one, it's that Sly and the Family Stone thing again, The Temptations, I mean I love everything else on that album." Well, those were their choices, which one's did you suggest? "I don't think I actually suggested any of them, they John and Cuccurullol came up with the ideas, and I basically said, 'I do think I can handle it, I don't think I can handle it.' We had been talking about Lou Reed 'Perfect Day' for years though." What would have been your choices? "Uuuummmm not going to tell you, there may be other songs by the same artist." Then the singer starts laughing, and adds, "'These Boots Are Made For Walking."' I'd like to hear you do THAT! At which point, Le Bon breaks into a rather threatening rendition of the Nancy Sinatra classic. Have Trent Rezuor produce it, and it would be a definite winner.

And so was Thank You, although, not quite as big a hit as The Wedding Album. It did respectably on both sides of the Atlantic, breaking into the U.K. Top 15, and the U.S. Top 20. And just to prove that Le Bon was a vocal great, in September, 1995, he performed with opera star Pavarotti at the War Child benefit concert held in Italy. Other festivals and tours took up the rest of the year, but in between, John ako found time for the Neurotic Outsiders. Earlier that summer, in June, a benefit was held at the Viper Room in L.A., for a friend of the club owner who needed cancer treatment. Out of an onstage jam, the Outsiders gelled into an actual band. The quartet comprised John, Steve Jones, and Guns N' Roses' Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum. The group began a Monday night residency at the Viper Room, and were oft-times joined onstage by friends. "It was just becoming a bit of a cabaret really," John recalls. "We'd have guests come on and sing with us, then Steve would sing a song, I would sing a song, Duff would sing, then we'd ask Simon Le Bon to join us or Billy Idol. It was very exciting, very different from what I'd done before. "We just kept it going, we went to Vegas, played N.Y., and then we were asked to make an album. Great, okay, sure, we can make an album, Jerry Harrispn [producing], you betcha, and then it was about video directors and front covers, and for me at least things started getting... ummm... losing the freshness of what made it exciting. "Having said that, look, we'd be playing this summer ['97] if Guns'n'Roses weren't ensconced making a new album, and that's what really keeping us from working. I don't know if it'll ever happen again, but it was terrific fun. Not everything you do can become your career." The Neurotic Outsiders released an eponymous album in 1996 on Maverick Records, on which John contributes two of his own songs, as well as a track co-written with Jones. As 1996 drew to a close, Andy bumped into Le Bon in Tokyo, and talk of a reunion began. It was a subject that John had previously broached with the guitarist, but Andy had mixed feelings. "It's been talked about a while, bits and pieces, they said that they wanted to do It with two guitars. Simon said that 'John really wants to do it,' yeah but I'd heard that he wanted to quit anyway Me and Simon talked about it, but what would we do? Would there be a market for it? You wouldn't rekindle 20,000 people just like that in every city in the world. It's impossible, unless you make a record or something substantial, but that's about as likely to~happen as me running the Vatican. If was a nice thought." But he was wrong, because Duran Duran were about to make something very substantial indeed Medazzaland. And just as it was nearing completion, John announced he was quitting the band. "John left almost at the fucking end," states a still stunned Le Bon. "I mean how ridiculous! I mean honestly! I do kind of understand it now but it was just really, really sad, I really miss him a lot, and I kind of wish he was back." "It was a long time you know," John attempts to explain, "and I just wanted to tell my own story I want to make the most of myself, and I think in order to do that, I needed to give myself another context. I don't think you can do it really within a band, well, I can't. I've tried, I've tried, but I don't have the stamina to do that. No... no, it was impossible."

While Duran Duran was left to pick up the pieces, John went into the studio and recorded his solo album, Feelings Are Good And Other Lies. Included within are new versions of his two songs from Neurotic Outsiders. "What can I tell you about this album now? It's anathema to Duran Duran, I needed to do something that was completely at odds to where we were at. I didn't feel that I should be making music like 'Ordinary World,' the sum total of my knowledge just took me to a very different place. I don't know, it's very difficult to judge, I'm kind of happy. Look, I needed to do it, to be perfectly honest with you, I had to do it because I had to know that I could do it. "I love my life right now I've got my own studio and I'm living in Los Angeles. It's great being in a pop band, but don't ever think you can have a life. It's 24/7. If I had a hit record, what would that mean? Would I have to go on the road for six months? I don't want to do that. I'm very happily making a new album, I'm trying to create a new identity for myself as an artist." Interestingly, the album was done with Steve Jones, who apparently is making a career out of working with Duran Duran solo projects. Drummer David Palmer also had a previous connection to Duran Duran, having pefformed in the "I Don't Want Your Love" video, and was actually asked to join the band at that time. However it didn't work out, and Sterling Campbell came in instead. John's album is far removed not just from Duran Duran, but interestingly enough, from the Power Station as well. There's not a lick of funk or pop within. Instead, the bassist moves from gentle ballads to rockers. It is indeed the antithesis of his past. Cuccurullo, too, had been stepping outside the band to pursue a totally different musical direction.

He's released two solo ambient albums - Thanks To Frank and Machine Language - the former on Imago, the second sadly is only available on import, from the Japanese label Bandai. However, unlike John, Cuccurullo saw the new Duran Duran album as a challenge, not a burden. The group, now reduced to only two original members, were left to finish Medazzaland. And Andy half jokingly raises the question nlany fans must now be asking themselves, "I mean, how can you have Duran Duran without a Taylor in it? Just call it Duran now!" But even without a Taylor in sight, the group not only completed the album, but created a true masterpiece. With John's departure, most ofthe basslines ended up being programmed, but surprisingly Cuccurullo supplied the rest, "He's turned out to be rather a good bass player, Le Bon declares. "'Burled In The Sand,' is that a phenomenal bass line or what? And it's Warren playing it, he also does 'Electric Barbarella.' It's very reminiscent of really great John Taylor bass lines. Warren has played some really excellent bass on this album, and I think those two are really good examples of his ability." "He wouldn't have been able to play this when he first joined the group in 1986, but he's learned so much about rhythms since he joined Duran Duran. We were much more a rhythmic than Missing Persons, much more funky, we've got much more black influence than Missing Persons had, and the precision of his rhythmic sensibilities, that's what's been excellent."

Rhodes suggests that Medazzaland is almost a concept album something that Le Bon initially contradicts. "It isn't really. The piece of music 'Meddazaland' is kind of an overture in a way. It comes from a time when I had surgery; and I came back hke on a cloud. I'd been given this intravenous sedative called medazzaline as an alternative to a general anaesthetic. It enables you to be awake and respond to your surgeon's instructions, while at the end of it you completely forget everything. "I came back and Warren went, 'You've been in meddazaland,' and that's where the working title came from. And then Nick thought, 'Hmmm, it's kind of cool, this whole thing could work, describe the experience going under anaesthetic, then you lose it, and really go into Meddazaland,' which is I guess a place of lost dreams. The songs are like the lost dreams, there's a kind of feeling of not being able to remember. You k~ow how when you wake up from a dream, and suddenly two minutes later, you've forgotten everything? That's what I tried to do with 'Michael; You've Got A Lot To Answer For,' that little gm tar motif at the very end, it's stipposed to be hke a temple ball which they hit in Tibet, it just clears your mind of any aural memory. You're supposed to get to th,e end of that song, hear that bit and gb, 'Fuck, I can't remember that song at all now, what was it about?' And put it on again. It sort of works, in my imaginan on, it does kind of wipe out the rest bf the song from your memory. Before its completion, John had called the new album trance punk," an interesting way of summing up its sound. Some of the songs are indeed almost ambient pop, but Meddazaland also includes pop-rock, techno beats, and in the case of "Be My Icon" industrial. It's far removed from The Wedding Album, and seems to encompass a host of '90s musical threads. "We wanted to develop a newer sound," Rhodes confirms, "and for me really, I wanted to make this album what Rio was for the 1980s. I wanted it to be something that symbolized where we were at, reflected the times, and made certain statements about the atmosphere that we're all living in. Something that symbolized the decade really, certainly from our point of view; and that's what Medazzaland is about to me. As the millennium approaches, Duran Duran continue going strong, and in fact, at time of writing, the band have already completed five of the tracks for their next album. Once dismissed as an '80s band left floundering in the 90's, Duran Duran have remained relevant, innovative, and extremely popular.

Medazzaland may put the finishing flourishes on the 20th Century; but now the 21st beckons, and Duran Duran are ready for it. But we leave it the final word to Andy, even though Ite left the band a dozen years ago. "I watch them and what they do very closely obviously, because it has an effect on me, because I still own a huge piece of it via their back catalogue I. Anyway, if you've been involved in something you're always interested. "Simon is a pop writer and a pop singer, he's not a rock singer, he's not a chanteur, he's a pop singer; a very good pop singer and a great pop writer. That's how people see them, that's what he is, and that's what he's great at. He's a pure pop person, he's got great ears for pop, he may be limited musically, but pop music doesn't limit him. "When Duran Duran write pop, even though they're in mid-30s, they're still as goOd as anybody doing it. Simon can still write as good a pop melody as anybody out there, and he should fucking do that. It's that originality with what he does with pop and his melodies, you don't have to do anything else." On New Year's Eve, 1996, Andy visited his brother-in-law's trendy nightclub in the British Midlands. But it wasn't his presence alone that prompted the DJ to play, "Save A Prayer," a remix of that song was currently smashing its way through the club scene. "Fifteen years later and people are still digging it," Andy enthuses. "And it's a great version, it's a remix of the original master. It's really cool! There couldn't be a bigger complement to anyone, any guy in a band, any artist, that virtually a generation later people are dancing to your music in a different format. To me, that's the best. It's not forgotten, it's still alive in clubs." Duran Duran's songs live on, their legacy continuing to have a massive impact on today's musical scene. Be it techno remixes of their old hits, or cover versions by alternative groups, and more recently industrial bands, Duran Duran's glorious past remains instrumental to today's sounds. But that is not the band's epitaph, for it's too soon to write that now. The songs Duran Duran are composing today will inevitably influence the next generation as well, and thus the final words on the band are still to come.