Duran Duran

[riggers]

Jan 26, 2023 12:25:35 GMT fange said:

Jan 26, 2023 11:40:15 GMT riggers said:

Encapsulated everything I loathed about 80's music and I'm baffled by their critical reappraisal these days.

Is reappraisal the right word? I'm not sure it is. I don't think there is anyone who hated them at the time and thinks they are great now. Their popularity has just not faded as some others have, because as mentioned above they are still out there, playing to fans and making music. That counts for a lot.

I guess, I suppose I'm just a little surprised by how well regarded they seem to be these days.

["BING E BONG"]

I don't hear catchy songs at all, never did. If they were putting out catchy songs I'd have been more receptive to them at the time.

I just don't think they're very good. The vocals are flat, the production is flat, the mix of funk and rock that (I guess) they're aiming for doesn't result in special music. It results in stodge. There isn't even one decent vocal melody there. I'd honestly take INXS over Duran Duran.

[Stacy Heydon]

Jan 26, 2023 12:34:56 GMT "BING E BONG" said:

I don't hear catchy songs at all, never did. If they were putting out catchy songs I'd have been more receptive to them at the time.

I just don't think they're very good. The vocals are flat, the production is flat, the mix of funk and rock that (I guess) they're aiming for doesn't result in special music. It results in stodge. There isn't even one decent vocal melody there. I'd honestly take INXS over Duran Duran.

Something like Girls On Film is so catchy..I'm surprised you can't hear it.

["BING E BONG"]

Jan 26, 2023 12:38:00 GMT Stacy Heydon said:

Jan 26, 2023 12:34:56 GMT "BING E BONG" said:

I don't hear catchy songs at all, never did. If they were putting out catchy songs I'd have been more receptive to them at the time.

I just don't think they're very good. The vocals are flat, the production is flat, the mix of funk and rock that (I guess) they're aiming for doesn't result in special music. It results in stodge. There isn't even one decent vocal melody there. I'd honestly take INXS over Duran Duran.

Something like Girls On Film is so catchy..I'm surprised you can't hear it.

Yeah, I suppose it is in a way, with those clipped catchy guitar lines. But it's ruined - as per - by Le Bon's truly awful yelping. That's a deal breaker for me. 

I dunno - they never really went for big primary-colours pop sounds that the likes of the Human League did. I wonder if that was because of a kind of non-creative tension between Nick Rhodes and the Taylors - the rock element there keeping the synths 'in check'. Everything's so lumpen. 

Having said that I'm surprised not to see 'Save A Prayer' winning this poll. I'm no fan but I always thought that was THE big DD statement - a proper tune, something special, they aimed for something and (more or less!) reached it.

[Stacy Heydon]

Planet Earth's winning.

[DarknessFish]

I voted Planet Earth. That and Wild Boys seem to be the tracks that have the most memorable moments for me, but PE is the song I'd much rather listen to. I agree with JC about Le Bon's vocals, they're usually a horrible flat whine, which doesn't work with the pomp of their songs. Wild Boys probably has his most soaring flat whine.

[harrylemon]

I liked the first album. By the time the second album came out they were full on pop stars, which wasn't what I was listening to. Working I would hear their singles and they were always better than most run of the mill chart stuff.

They were always honest about wanting to be huge. Unlike Spandau Ballet who tried to be all cool, stylish and exclusive, and then looked liked total fannies by the time True came out and the "credibility" went out the window.

I admire the fact that they never stopped. They had a very falliw period where they would accept every offer going. They even turned up on a Hogmanay programme plugging a new single at one point.

I have a greatest hits which is decent but tracks get skipped.

[Sneelock]

I could be harshly dismissive of them for an hour and I'd have a good time doing it.
One hears a lot of 80's music when dining out in the southland. the fact of the matter is that "Rio" can get stuck in my fucking head for hours like poop on a shoe that you can't stop smelling even after you've scraped it all off.

there's something to be said for a song that you hum along to even when you've compared it to having poop on your shoe.
therefore, I pick "Rio". I hear many of the others but they aren't anywhere near as persistent.

[DarknessFish]

I had to read through loads of Islamic guidance online about the Koran's teaching on dancing to make that pun. It seems that there is very little mention of women dancing in there.

[fonz]

Some fond memories of early teens.

Wild Boys is a fucking joke.

Ordinary World is a good song.


None of them were brothers! Can you believe it?!

[Reactionary Rage]

I went for Girls on Film, Hungry like the Wolf, The Wild Boys, A View to A Kill and Ordinary World.

I have a very soft spot for A View To A Kill and think it’s one of the great Bond theme tunes. Ordinary World is rather lovely too.

They are very redolent of the 80s and depending on your stance on 80s pop you either appreciate their slightly naff lads-on-the-make brashness or recoil in pavlovian horror.  I mean something like Wild Boys is ridiculous whilst the lads standing on a yacht wearing fucking suits posing like twats is so silly you either dig the 1980s aspirational absurdity of it all or simply laugh. I guess it is pretty iconic though. Like the Miami Vice theme tune it takes you straight back to that time and place.  Surely a big part of their appeal.  I kinda like that about ‘em though but then I always like bands who just go straight for the crowd pleasing jugular. If you want a fucking laugh btw watch the video to A View To A Kill and check out the state of Nick Rhodes.  

They’re not a great band, far from it but they were pretty good at what they did. I’d take ‘em over Sonic Youth that’s for sure.

[fearlessfreap]

Why yi yi yi yi
Why yi yi yi wuh
LeBon is absolutely terrible. They can play -- they should have been an instrumental group.

["BING E BONG"]

All of those UK acts that were big around 1983 were rotten - Spandau Ballet, Eurythmics, Wham, Howard Jones, Thompson Twins, this lot.

When we talk about how great pop music was in the 80s I think it's the brighter one-offs that peep through that made it gold. 'The Safety Dance', 'Whip It', 'Hey You (The Rocksteady Crew)', 'Pass The Dutchie', 'Bette Davis Eyes' etc etc and not careerist shouters like these clowns

[Stacy Heydon]

Jan 26, 2023 16:44:50 GMT "BING E BONG" said:

All of those UK acts that were big around 1983 were rotten - Spandau Ballet, Eurythmics, Wham, Howard Jones, Thompson Twins, this lot.

When we talk about how great pop music was in the 80s I think it's the brighter one-offs that peep through that made it gold. 'The Safety Dance', 'Whip It', 'Hey You (The Rocksteady Crew)', 'Pass The Dutchie', 'Bette Davis Eyes' etc etc and not careerist shouters like these clowns

They had more pop nous and musicality than all the lot you mention.
And that's a pretty rum list of 80s highlights.

["BING E BONG"]

Jan 26, 2023 16:49:11 GMT Stacy Heydon said:

They had more pop nous and musicality than all the lot you mention.

I don't hear it at all, G.

Anyway I'll leave it there and go for me jalfrezi.