Duran Duran

Talk about still having their voice. Went to see Simple Minds last year. You could close your keys and think it was 40 years ago.

TM

Yup

Back in the day…their concerts were a magnet for damn good looking women. 🤣

They had some good songs….

I remember seeing their first video on MTV in 1981, "Planet Earth" and saying they would be huge someday. Same with U2.

Saw them in Houston about a year ago and they sounded great. 

Come Undone and Ordinary World are my 2 favorites probably. Love the lyrics from Ordinary World. Just wonderful. https://genius.com/Duran-duran-ordinary-world-lyrics

Heck, even there Bond theme song kicked ass. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp4CR2HcHLQ&list=RDFp4CR2HcHLQ&start_radio=1

I didn't like Duran Duran in the '80s because I was a close-minded rock dude. My buddies and I made fun of Prince, Michael Jackson and Duran Duran (in ways that would be really unacceptable now,) for their lack of distorted guitars and so I never really listened until later in life. It's true; their musicianship is top-notch and quite well done. I'd probably have loved them if they turned up the distortion and wore big-hair metal outfits instead of New Wave fashion. 

Much to my delight, I learned later that lots of those songs are fantastic. I love Ordinary World, Skin Trade, Save a Prayer... not to mention John Taylor's foray into his other band, The Power Station (more my style). 

EDIT: Hahaha, these guys might have been my favorite band in 1984 if their tunes went with this look:

Re ‘Save a Prayer’, does anyone else hear a bunch of missed MX gear shifts at the beginning of the song?

Sounds more like a 65cc rider learning how to clutch it in corners to me, but I know what you're referring to. 😆

I like Duran Duran a lot. Both the Taylors were pretty awesome in Power Station, too. 

I remember vividly sitting at my kitchen table in my first apartment with Paul D’Amour telling us that he’d never pay money to see any band in concert except for Duran Duran. I think that his musical taste changed quite a bit, but he probably still appreciates the talent!

Simon Le Bon did / does Track Days on a variety of MCs.

Apparently, quite a reasonable, 'safe' ( and that's Big Thing when it comes to Track Days - lunacy ensues, far too often!)  rider.

When I first saw articles about it in the ever cynical Brit Bike Press, it was a surprise, as they were surprised in how he did it - no fanfare, no entourage, just him  and a bike , or two. 

I bet his Managers and  Recording Executives would have been having Kittens over that. 

Saw them way back in the late 80's (87 or 88 I think) at Compton Terrace next to Firebird Raceway (used to be a MX track and drag strip).

Great show, but the added bonus was that it was the only concert I can ever recall where the females outnumbered the males by probably 3 to 1, so that was a great night to be single!

They definitely had a very unique sound kind of punk rockish. I always liked their songs.

They all had jobs at a club for the main reason was they could use a room to rehearse .  The band is actually very good. John Taylor,s bass playing is Amazing . The best inside a band happenings is a few part it’s on yt.  It’s really crazy how big they where especially with the girls at there peak.  

I didn't know Andy was in Power Station until I looked just now. I guess you really do learn something new every day! 

I always thought they were one of the most 80s-sounding bands. Really great melody writing and production.

The whole reason to exist, I reckon.

Not really much different than any other teenagers hanging out, drinking, listening to music, etc.  I had just turned 18, started freshman year of school at our local community college.  Paul was a good friend of my roommate's younger brother, they were juniors in high school I think so maybe 2 years younger (I was on the young side for my grade).  He was really into everything Simon Le Bon at first, though later in the year he did turn a bit 'darker' thanks to our influence (or so I like to believe!).  He was a pretty nice kid overall, at least back then.  I haven't talked to him in 40 years but I have some good acquaintances who have talked with him over the years.  He still looks like a tiny guy, and he definitely was back then.  

Crazy thing is, another kid from his class who also used to come over all the time back then was I'm pretty sure how he got to know Adam Jones.  Kevin (the other kid, not me!) was an artist also and he did a fair amount of the artwork for some of their early stuff.  I think that he even modeled one of the stop-motion style videos that they shot, but can't remember which one (Stinkfist, maybe?).  Kevin was a nice kid too, and his older brother was in my class in school, Kevin played on my brother's LL team, etc.  Just normal small town stuff, mostly.  I had no idea that Paul was even a successful musician while he was actually in Tool, didn't realize it until a few years after he left the band.  

But his obsession with Duran Duran was always something that was memorable and his stating that he would never pay money to see anyone else was so crazy to me that it just stuck in my head all this time.  

Well way back then, I think I still thought that they were brothers and when they both formed Power Station it made sense that they were, sort of. But just as Power Station was 'almost' ready to hit the road and Palmer backed out, I remember seeing that they were only brothers of completely different mothers (and fathers)!

Geeze lumpy790, Duran Duran were / are so, So bloody far from being Punk. 

With the music industries penchant / need to categorize bands, they were  within the 'New Romantic' area.

Anyone remember The Fixx? Great tunes

Like I said, I had no idea that Paul had become a pretty decent musician until the later 90s, but when I opened my own insurance agency in the early 00s, I 'inherited' his dad as a client.  He came in one day to do some policy updates and after I realized who it was we chatted a bit about how Paul was doing, etc.  Apparently Paul had just bought a pretty expensive Mercedes sedan and had told his dad that because it was a 'special' type of insurance, his dad wasn't allowed to drive it.  I had access to look up the policy and it was a standard auto policy, but I didn't tell his dad that!  

A few days later I was talking to my best friend who was my roommate when we met Paul and told him that I met Paul's dad.  He told me a funny story about HIS meeting Paul's dad many years before.  It seems that my buddy had given up trying to learn to play the bass, so Paul had 'bought' it from him.  Some cheap bass with a beginner amp for about $250 or so.  But Paul had never paid him for it.  After 3 or 4 months he went to Paul's house looking for him and his dad answered the door.  He told him that Paul had bought his bass but had never paid him and that he'd appreciate it if the dad paid him for it if possible.  Paul's dad laughed at him and said something like "If you're stupid enough to sell my son anything without cash in hand while you know he doesn't have a job, you deserve to lose your stuff!".  I think he might have eventually got part of his money from Paul, but it was a funny story at the time.  I'm pretty sure that the bass in question didn't last very long either and definitely wasn't anything he was playing with after he moved away.  

I almost went to a Ministry show in Dallas when we were down there just to see if I could cram my way to the front and see if he remembered me.  I think he would after a little prompting, just because it was a pretty memorable time for most of us.  Like I've said in some other threads, I think that I may have bought him his first alcohol because he was a pretty straight laced kid when he first started hanging out with my buddy's little brother.  Kind of 'straight edge' before it was a thing, but with the Le Bon hair style.  

I will always be a Duranie! So many great songs, one of my faves is Winter Marches On. They were my first ever concert in ‘84 at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, NY “Seven and the Ragged Tiger” Tour with Billy Idol as the opener. 

They are a great band. I did like the Fixx better though.

We used to stay up and watch Friday Night Videos.  Seems every week we were up in the wee hours with the tv cranked while kick boxing and breaking shit to Hungry Like A Wolf.  It was like the ding ding bell to us.  

Thanks to this thread, I woke up singing Hungry Like A Wolf the last 2 mornings.  

As a big Tool fan, it's cool to hear those stories about Paul D'Amour!

And yeah, big respect for Duran Duran. They were probably the biggest band in a world for a while there. And they kind of defined the 80s.