Duran Duran

Performer: Duran Duran
Engineer: Colin Thurston
Producer: Colin Thurston
Distributor: EMI Music Distribution

Notes: Duran Duran: Simon LeBon, Nick Rhodes, John Taylor, Roger Taylor, Andy Taylor. Duran Duran's eponymous debut artfully coalesced the sonic and stylistic elements of the burgeoning new romantic movement they were soon to spearhead: pumping synths, glossy production, and seemingly impossible haircuts. Ultra-smart singles like "Girls on Film" and "Planet Earth" became instant smash hits both in the U.K. and America, and other fine pop gems such as "Anyone Out There" and "Careless Memories" rounded out the album's stellar first side. Side two was a far more experimental and revealing affair, with primary songwriter Nick Rhodes leading the band through atmospheric mood-pieces like "Night Boat," "Sound of Thunder," and the instrumental "Tel Aviv," all of which are particularly reminiscent of mid-era Roxy Music (clearly one of Duran's biggest influences). The band's groundbreaking music videos would do the rest, securing them a unique standing as forerunners of the first MTV generation and cementing their status as one of the decade's most successful pop music icons. [The band's first U.K. number one, the non-album single "Is There Something I Should Know?" was also later added to the CD version of Duran Duran.] ~ Eduardo Rivadavia Along with Spandau Ballet, Visage, and others, Duran Duran led the early-'80s charge of the New Romantics, a movement heavily inspired by the fashion-conscious, synth-colored art-school antics of Bowie and Roxy Music. Duran Duran and their peers updated that sound for a new decade, adopting punk's DIY attitude and helping to give birth to dance-rock along the way by adding a disco-ish beat. Subsequent releases would find the band moving more toward straight pop, becoming simultaneously less dance-oriented and less arty. The 1981 debut, however, is full of thumping, club-friendly beats and long, atmospheric tunes full of extended synthesizer-centered interludes. The fact that the boys were pop-savvy enough to add irresistible choruses to "Girls on Film," "Careless Memories," and "Planet Earth" doesn't hurt matters.

Rolling Stone (9/4/03, p.146) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Simultaneously atmospheric and dance-floor-directed...a synth-rock blueprint..." Q (10/03, p.127) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Naturally, it's all terribly glamorous..." CMJ (1/5/04, p.8) - Ranked #19 in CMJ's "Top 20 Most-Played Albums of 1981"

At the dawn of the 1980s, Duran Duran was part of Britain's "futurist" or "new romantic" scene, which merged glam-rock attitude with disco beats and synthesizers to form an intensely fashion-conscious variant on new wave. With their good looks and pop hooks, the group ruled the music world for the first half of the decade. After that, there were numerous side projects (Arcadia, Power Station) and personnel changes, but the original band reunited to much ado in 2003.

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