# Duran Duran, Simon LeBon and the New Romantics - not my cup of tea!



## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

They're tied with New Kids on the Block (70 million), Kenny G (70 million) and The Spice Girls (75 million). All real heavy-hitters. In case *you *weren't aware.




WEEZY said:


> 15 minutes of fame? Duran Duran has sold over 70 million records. They were kinda a big deal in the 80's in case you weren't aware.


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## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

I realised that it wasn't fair to hijack Iarasee's thread with my personal opinion of Duran Duran and Simon Lebon, so I'm starting my own thread here:

Heres what I originally said:
"Isn't Simon LeBonBon's 15 minutes of fame over yet? You should get him to emigrate to Ottawa and be your front man."

Having grown up in the UK in the 70s and 80s, and been subjected to much of the posery-ness of the New Romantic era, I'm still at a loss to understand the appeal of bands such as Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Visage etc. To me, they were all just a pale imitation of David Bowies music, from his milestone records such as Low, Heroes and Station to Station. While I don't question their abilities as musician, they could play, I still think they were all style over substance ie crap pop songs covered up by the glitzy image and trendy music production.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

Being as Duran Duran is one of Marnie's favorite bands, I have seen them 3 times live. I have to admit that they put on a pretty good show and many of their tunes are fairly "listenable" is that a word? anyway, I dont have any albums in my collection but if I was locked in a room and was given the choice to be tortured by loud music and the choices were Duran Duran, The Spice Girls, Spandau Ballet or the The New Kids on the Block I think I would have to go with Duran Duran


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## Guest (Jun 18, 2010)

Meh. To each their own. I'm not out to sell anyone on the music I like.

I will say: sit down, try to play some of it. Might change your appreciation for it. Start with something straight-forward like The Reflex.


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

I'm not a huge Duran Duran fan, but there are probably at least 10 songs of theirs that are real stand-outs and strong songs regardless of era and genre. Also, add to that the fact that they were able to put out their self-titled disc in 1993, well after their "time" was up and score 2 huge hits with it shows that they have a decent idea of what will and won't work as popular music. Their longevity is a testament to their talent, especially in a genre that lends itself more to flash-in-the-pan artists.


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## fraser (Feb 24, 2007)

i like duran duran- i like a lot of bands from that era.
i didnt at the time tho.
in 1985 i was only interested in guitar players
hendrix and such lol.
i discovered this recently- i like it

[YOUTUBE]z2cDsqu91q8[/YOUTUBE]


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

I'm really not a fan of Duran Duran, but not because of any macho stuff. I just don't care for the songs. They're good musicians, but it's just not a style of music that appeals to me, and the image doesn't help. How easy or difficult it may be to play isn't important.


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## WEEZY (May 23, 2008)

> They're tied with New Kids on the Block (70 million), Kenny G (70 million) and The Spice Girls (75 million). All real heavy-hitters. In case you weren't aware.


haha, true that. But I was only referring to your "15 minutes" comment which was ridiculous considering they had numerous hits over 25 years 

These bands are mostly novelty bands that I would agree suck ass hard. Duran Duran captured a generation, they were called the Fab 5 for a while, their songs were well crafted and their sound was original and cutting edge for the times. You can't say that about any of the other bands you mentioned. I'm not a big fan of theirs, but I do remember having respect for what they were doing musically. Again, I can't say that for any of these other bands you mentioned. To each their own I guess.


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## Guest (Jun 18, 2010)

Milkman said:


> How easy or difficult it may be to play isn't important.


My comment about playing it wasn't really about how difficult or not it is to play. It's about understanding how to craft a killer pop song. Once you start dissecting it you really start to gain an appreciation for how it's put together. The album version (not the radio single) of The Reflex is a good example because that intro is controlled chaos. Where do you find that kind of asymmetry in pop music? No where else. Duran is really good at making subtly complex and intricate palatable to the masses.


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## Sneaky (Feb 14, 2006)

The Reflex was always my fave DD song.


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## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

Duran Duran was a standout in a sea of mediocrity. That was my generation and the music sucked! Hair metal was fun, but certainly not lasting. Think I could listen to a Ratt album now? not a chance. not to mention that Duran Duran were at the right place at the right time and took full advantage of the video explosion. I'm sure you guys can remember and appreciate the 1/2 naked girls in their videos? I can still throw on 7 and the ragged Tiger and listen to it from side to side along with Their 1st album. Planet Earth sounds Great cranked!!! Think I'll give it a spin at the cottage this w-end.


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## Guest (Jun 18, 2010)

Sneaky said:


> The Reflex was always my fave DD song.


I'm finding it's a very divisive track: people either love it or totally hate. I'm in the former camp myself.


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## Guest (Jun 18, 2010)

What's not to like about this? It's got a little funk, a lot of pop, and hey: it's about PORN.

[YOUTUBE]3YNq4sqKG1w[/YOUTUBE]

They even play the blooze, completely with a harmonica thing, for you at the start of this version bagpipe:

[YOUTUBE]T22Y6pIDI1E[/YOUTUBE]

Actually, for an '88 show LeBon's sounding really good on that version above. Not pitchy at all.


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## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

to each his own..don't like it!...it's not like there is ONLY DD out there. i'm sure you listen to stuff other would find garbage also.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

There's no rationalizing why you like what you like. I know how skilled the musicians are. I just don't like the songs. I don't like the timbre and style of the lead vocals. 


Quite simply, it's very good, well crafted music, that I don't care for.


It happens


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## Guest (Jun 19, 2010)

Hey bagpipe, did you send this to me through my Kijiji ad? Was in my inbox this morning:



> Hello! The following is a reply to your "Duran Duran Tribute Project Seeks Singer" Ad on Kijiji:
> 
> 
> > From: [email protected]
> ...


I was laughing all morning about that one.


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## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

No Sir. At the very least I'd have owned up to it. I know you guys will do a great job, and I'm sure there's a good market for 80s and 90s retro music.



iaresee said:


> Hey bagpipe, did you send this to me through my Kijiji ad? Was in my inbox this morning:
> 
> 
> 
> I was laughing all morning about that one.


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## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

iaresee said:


> They even play the blooze, completely with a harmonica thing, for you at the start of this version bagpipe:


Nicely done Iarasee. I didn't know Mr LeBon played harmonica. He's gone up a little in my estimation! (a *little*)


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## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

fraser said:


> [YOUTUBE]z2cDsqu91q8[/YOUTUBE]


Chalk Circle were a great band - whatever happened to them? I seen them at Barrymores in Ottawa the late 80s/early 90s. Don't know who the singer/guitarist was, but I remember him trotting out a bunch of nice Les Pauls/335/Rickenbackers etc.


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## Guest (Jun 19, 2010)

bagpipe said:


> No Sir. At the very least I'd have owned up to it. I know you guys will do a great job, and I'm sure there's a good market for 80s and 90s retro music.


Yea, it has the spelling, grammar, punctuation and impact of a 10 year old.  But figured you'd get a laugh out of it too.

This thing is kind of in stasis until we can find someone who'll sing unfortunately.


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## Guest (Jun 19, 2010)

fraser said:


> i like duran duran- i like a lot of bands from that era.
> i didnt at the time tho.
> in 1985 i was only interested in guitar players
> hendrix and such lol.
> ...


Yea, Chalk Circle were a pretty good band. Not sure what happened to Chris Tait. Kind of just went off to do other stuff I guess.

Another favourite band of mine. Again: live these guys are a million times better than the albums (which are already stellar):

[youtube]mcbgRUQaza8[/youtube]


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

Starbuck said:


> Duran Duran was a standout in a sea of mediocrity. That was my generation and the music sucked! Hair metal was fun, but certainly not lasting. Think I could listen to a Ratt album now? not a chance. not to mention that Duran Duran were at the right place at the right time and took full advantage of the video explosion. I'm sure you guys can remember and appreciate the 1/2 naked girls in their videos? I can still throw on 7 and the ragged Tiger and listen to it from side to side along with Their 1st album. Planet Earth sounds Great cranked!!! Think I'll give it a spin at the cottage this w-end.


Oh, I dont know...I'm from the same generation. Back then, Duran Duran was a group I loved to hate. The image, the lack of guitar-centricity, and frankly some of the tunes just didnt grab me.
Now that I've mellowed with age, theres a handful of songs by them that I can say I like (although right now, only "Reach up for the sunshine" and "Rio" come to mind), and I can appreciate other aspects of their music (production, keyboards, bass)...but I'd still rather listen to 10 cd's of the best 80's hair metal bands than any 1 by DD.
In fact, tying into the OP's first post and maybe being TOO completely honest, there's more songs by Spice Girls that I'd rather hear than DD.


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