Duran Duran

Duran Duran personified New Wave for much of the mainstream audience. And for good reason, too. Duran Duran's reputation was built through music videos, which accentuated their fashion-model looks and glamorous sense of style. Between 1982 and 1984, they rocketed from underground British post-punk sensations to teen idols.
Planet Earth," the band's first single, quickly rose to number 12 upon its spring 1981 release. Immediately, Duran Duran became the leaders of the New Romantic movement, becoming media sensations in the British music and mainstream press. The group's popularity increased through their cutting-edge music videos, especially the bizarre, racy clip for "Girls On Film." Although the BBC banned the Godley & Creme-directed video, the single became the group's first Top 10 hit, setting the stage for the fall release of their eponymous debut album. Duran Duran reached number three upon its release and stayed in the charts for 118 weeks. The band quickly followed the album with Rio in the spring of 1982. Rio entered the charts at number two, and its singles -- "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Save a Prayer" -- became Top 10 hits. Their exposure in the US was helped greatly by the emergence of MTV, who put the group's stylish videos into heavy rotation. MTV's constant playing of the videos paid off, and "Hungry Like the Wolf" became a Top Ten hit early in 1983. Rio followed that single into the Top Ten, eventually selling over two million copies.
Duran Duran-mania was in full-swing across America, with "Is There Something I Should Know" reaching the Top Ten -- it became the group's first English number one that summer -- and the group's first album climbing its way to number 10. Duran Duran capitalized on their popularity by releasing Seven and the Ragged Tiger in time for 1983's holiday season. The record hit number one in the UK and number eight in the US, spawning the hit singles "Union of the Snake" and "The Reflex," their first number one US hit and their second British chart-topper.
By 1985, the group went on hiatus. Andy and John Taylor formed the supergroup the Power Station with vocalist Robert Palmer and former Chic drummer Tony Thompson in January. The remaining members of Duran Duran -- Nick Rhodes, Simon LeBon and Roger Taylor -- responded with their own side project, Arcadia, which released an album called So Red the Rose in the fall of 1985; the album launched the Top 10 hit "Election Day." Early in 1986, Roger Taylor announced he was taking a year-long sabbatical from the group; he never returned. Several months later, Andy Taylor also left, reducing Duran Duran to a trio. Late in 1986, the band released Notorious, their first album in nearly three years. It generating a Top Ten hit with the title track.
The greatest hits album Decade was released late in 1989, followed several months later by Liberty, the first Duran Duran album to fail to go gold. By that point, former Missing Persons guitarist Warren Cuccurullo had become a permanent member of the group. In 1993, the band returned from a prolonged hiatus with Duran Duran, a mature, layered record of lite funk and soulful adult contemporary pop that became a surprise hit. "Ordinary World" and "Come Undone" became Top Ten hits in America, with the former reaching the Top Ten in the UK as well; the album itself climbed into the Top Ten on both continents and went platinum in America. Duran Duran returned in 2000 with the album Pop Trash. In March of 2001, the three Taylors -- Andy, John, and Roger -- met up in Wales and worked with each other for three weeks. Around this time, rumors of a five-member reunion began to circulate. Two months after Rhodes and LeBon denied the rumors, the reunion was confirmed. Duran Duran recorded on and off for a new album over the next three years and also toured sporadically. After signing with Epic, they released Astronaut in October of 2004. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

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