Anyone else dig Duran Duran music?

[eric]

Hopefully I'm not setting myself up for mockery, but I've always been a huge fan of Duran Duran music since the early 80's. When I was in my early teens, I was but a nerdy piano student and had little exposure to anything resembling rock keyboards. When I began learning about synthesizers and saw those early Duran videos with the big Roland logo emblazoned across the back of Nick Rhodes' Jupiter 8, I was pretty convinced that this would be something I wanted to do. So this was an early influence for me and I continue to enjoy the music to this day.

 

I was recently watching a 1984 Duran documentary called "Sing Blue Silver" that I picked up at the used video store. It captures the hype from the time and shows some interesting behind-the-scenes stuff. This re-sparked my interest and I've been going back to listen to some Duran after a long break.

 

The music really is high quality. It has the funk sensibilities and in your face keyboard textures all over the place. They wrote some very cool songs and I really like the overall vibe. They took some flack for the pretty boy image, but were good musicians writing some killer music. Nick Rhodes is known somewhat as a one-finger virtuoso and sequencer king, but I think there's a lot more hiding under the covers. He pretty much defined the era of 80's synth pop and he maximized the sounds possible from his gear at a time when the technology was just coming up to speed.

 

I'd be curious to know if any of you were influenced by Duran Duran or if you simply enjoy the music.

 

Regards,

Eric

[Rod S]

I still enjoy them a lot, and not embarrassed to say so

 

Nick Rhodes is probably a perfect example of a keyboard player with limited keyboard skills (up for debate, anyways), but whose style fit perfectly with the band. Sort of like U2 'the edge' - limited skills guitar player (again up for debate), but has done some interesting stuff with reverbs and delays.

 

"Save a Prayer" is a great song, and I really like the keyboard sequence. He definitely defined a lot of the 80s synths sound.

 

I agree with you regarding the 'boy image' - some of their 80s videos are pretty ridiculous, but then again, so were a lot of the other ones.

 

The 80s are still a big influence for me keyboard wise. There's a lot of bands that were considered cheesy but I still dig what they did with keyboards, and I think they influenced a lot of the electronic stuff in the 90s: Erasure, Depeche Mode, A-ha, Buggles (there's more but I can't think from the top of my head). Actually I recently had the Erasure greatest hits album in my car CD player.

[Meriphew_dup1]

Duran Duran are great! Alot of people dismiss their musicianship because of the whole image thing, but those guys (DD) can play. Bottom line is they wrote alot of great, memorable songs. What more can you ask for?

[Jonathan Hughes]

I, too, was very into Nick Rhodes' keyboard work. He did some seriously cool stuff, and I dreamed of owning a Jupiter 8 and Fairlight CMI (and how cool would be to be able to use the lightpen on a Fairlight monitor in front of 50,000 screaming girls -- like Nick was doing in the Reflex video (I think that was the one)).

 

As a bass player, I was (and still am) impressed by John Taylor's bass lines. He did a lot of cool, intricate, melodic stuff that was pretty unique at the time, and you rarely hear anything like it _these_ days in a pop context.

[Meriphew_dup1]

Aside from Mick Karn and Steve Jansen from the band Japan , I think that John Taylor and Roger Taylor were the best Rhythm section of that era.

[Stephen Fortner]

Always dug their production a whole lot. Sonically, a lot of 80's bands put out great records... what I call the "double-breasted suit" bands like ABC and Spandau Ballet really seemed to be detail-oriented in their sound.

 

Funny thing about Duran Duran... melodically, I always liked what they did with verses, but when the song hit the chorus, it would invariably just cheese me out.

 

Level 42 is another 80's band that has the respect of a lot of musicians. I think I read in Keyboard that David Frank (Genie in a Bottle producer) was a key member of that band.

[tenthplanet]

They were good. I even have a cassette of Arcadia around here somewhere.

 

Michael

[g05]

i'm a fan.

 

word is that roger, andy, and john are coming back and they are already doing stuff in the studio.

 

g.

[Jonathan Hughes]

"Always dug their production a whole lot. Sonically, a lot of 80's bands put out great records... what I call the "double-breasted suit" bands like ABC and Spandau Ballet really seemed to be detail-oriented in their sound."

 

Totally. In fact I think a lot of early to mid-eighties records sound great in general. This was before people started going crazy with digital reverbs on EVERYTHING and huge gated snare drums in every song. If you want to hear a killer example of _good_ 80s production (and great songs and playing) check out "Two Wheels Good" by Prefab Sprout (produced by Thomas Dolby).

 

"Funny thing about Duran Duran... melodically, I always liked what they did with verses, but when the song hit the chorus, it would invariably just cheese me out. "

 

Yeah, sort of like the Police. They had these great verses, but the choruses were sometimes _too_ simple and poppy.

 

"Level 42 is another 80's band that has the respect of a lot of musicians. I think I read in Keyboard that David Frank (Genie in a Bottle producer) was a key member of that band."

 

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! Mike Lindup was the keyboard player, and keyboardist Wally Badarou was often their producer and occasional fifth member.

[DJDM]

I was really into them back in the day. Then I recently heard the Arcadia album again and really liked it! I can't say the same for much of what I liked back then. Good album if you can find it!

[Gus Lozada]

Originally posted by eric:

... I've always been a huge fan of Duran Duran music since the early 80's. When I was in my early teens, I was but a nerdy piano student and had little exposure to anything resembling rock keyboards. When I began learning about synthesizers and saw those early Duran videos with the big Roland logo emblazoned across the back of Nick Rhodes' Jupiter 8, I was pretty convinced that this would be something I wanted to do. So this was an early influence for me and I continue to enjoy the music to this day.

This is pretty much my same story...

 

however what amazed me to die was the Fairlight computer behind Nick. I was in shock when he was playing and suddenly drawed something on the computer screen and the sound changed... so my life did.

 

My band plays synth pop, go figure... but I'd never wear like a "New Romantic"

[F7sound -]

Hey I dig Duran Duran and a lot of the other music from "that era". Now that I am a professional and understand about how records are actually made, when I hear tunes from the early and mid '80s (as well as earlier), I have a new appreciation for it.

 

Michael Oster

F7 Sound and Vision

[erpeewee]

ahhhh (sigh of relief), finally i can admit to it: i've always loved 80's synthpop . Although i was more a Depeche Mode man myself, i did (and still do) like Duran Duran. I've got Arena at home and still play it now and then.

 

and the Fairlight..well..maybe one day

 

Ronald

[Mark Zeger]

Originally posted by SteveFortner:

Level 42 is another 80's band that has the respect of a lot of musicians. I think I read in Keyboard that David Frank (Genie in a Bottle producer) was a key member of that band.

David Frank was half of the synth-pop duo The System. "You Are In My System" and "Don't Disturb This Groove" were killer bits of '80s pop. I think he also did the synths on Chaka Khan's "I Feel for You".

[chris c]

"Level 42 is another 80's band that has the respect of a lot of musicians. I think I read in Keyboard that David Frank (Genie in a Bottle producer) was a key member of that band."

[/QB]

 

David Frank was in a "group" (it could have been just him for all I know) called "The System" wasn't he? I remember reading an article many, many years ago in (where else) Keyboard Mag about his funky keyboard stylings.

[Felix_dup1]

Though not a huge Duran Duran fan, I really like their first two albums (Duran Duran and Rio), and have liked some other singles through the years. Great hooks, excellent production...

 

And while Nick Rhodes is no virtuoso - he does his part in the band very well I think. Last time I saw them on tour (about 3 years ago), he had his Jupiter-8 and his K-2000 (as usual), and they put on a great show (I've seen them 3 or 4 times).

 

I understand the band is reunited with all of the original members, and that they have nearly completed recording their "reunion" album, though their label dropped them and they've yet to land a new contract.

 

Also, Nick Rhodes has teamed up with Stephen Duffy (of the Lilac Time and a member of Duran Duran before they hit it big) to record as the Devils ( www.thedevils.tv ). They locked themselves in a room with a bunch of old analog synths and made a CD that's very retro new-wave. The new CD just came out (but I think it's only available as an import). You can hear sound clips at their website.

[whitefang]

At MY age, reading someone who refers to the '80's as "back in the day" strikes me as amusing! But no doubt, in the '80's, as I was referring to the '60's as "back in the day", there were folks who were just as amused!

 

No matter.....

 

I couldn't STAND Duran Duran! Not because of their musicianship, which was fine, but I couldn't get into the MUSIC! I've stated elsewhere that ALL decades in music history put out a certain amount of crap. It's just that I felt the '80's put out far more than their fair share. Duran Duran, to me, seems to fall somewhere in the middle of it all. I thought the musicianship was fine, and the production was first-rate! Just not my bag is all. In the '80's, however, I was more into "fusion"(Whatever that was supposed to really mean), but I DO have some favorites from the so-called "pop/rock" genre. Most notably Thomas Dolby's "The Flat Earth". Whatever became of him, anyway?

 

If you go through the history of recorded music, it's easy to find a lot of nonsense. But as one's trash is another's treasure, ya gotta be careful how you pass judgement, and be a bit more

tolerant of other's tastes.

 

Which can be easier said than done!

 

Whitefang

[Felix_dup1]

Most notably Thomas Dolby's "The Flat Earth". Whatever became of him, anyway?

Thomas Dolby Robertson has been involved with Beatnik ( www.beatnik.com ) for a while. Beatnik is a way of delivering high-quality audio in a very small file size (.rmf files). Originally though of as a way to bring websites to life by adding sound, looks like Beatnik is now focusing on the telecommunications industry (like providing polyphonic ringtones for a new Nokia phone).

 

The Flat Earth is still one of my all-time favorite albums, and it has aged much better than some of my other favorites from the same time period.

[Jeff Klopmeyer]

In 1982, I was a freshman in high school, played guitar and keyboards, and loved Duran Duran like you wouldn't believe. The first two albums were awesome, and they really defined the "neu romantic" genre. I think I got my first Roland synth purely as a result of seeing it on the back of Nick's rig, and John Taylor was a big influence on bass for me.

 

I can't say I've listened to them a lot in the last 15-20 years. but the first day that my little band successfully covered "Rio" and "Hungry Like the Wolf" was a big one for me!

 

- Jeff

[Botch.]

Count one more fan. One test I have for a good band, are the tunes fun to sing in the shower? I'm constantly singing Duran tunes in the shower. Several years ago I'd just joined a new band and had just purchased the yamaha EX5, my first on-stage 'board with a sequencer. My first sequenced song was "Rio", I was also singing the lead on that one plus the sax solo (w/breath controller in the EX). Kept me hopping but boy that was fun. Glad to hear they've gotten back together!