0:03

They were the fab five of eighties New

0:06

Waves who made their mark with a unique

0:08

blend of rock, funk and futuristic

0:10

pop, and the superstardom they achieved

0:13

was beyond their imaginations. Duran

0:16

Duran became the British masters of

0:18

style who seduced the world

0:20

with glamour, groove and

0:22

good looks. Their unique musical

0:25

styles made them famous, but it was

0:27

also tearing them apart. As

0:29

the eighties came to a close, they

0:31

were left for dead, but Duran Duran

0:34

dug deep and scored their biggest

0:36

hit. Now, over twenty years

0:38

since Duran Durand's original episode

0:40

of Behind the Music aired, they're reflecting

0:43

on key moments of their lives, giving

0:45

new insights on the past, and

0:48

celebrating the present. This

0:50

is Duran Duran, the Story Behind

0:53

the Music. In

1:01

the spring of Duran Duran

1:04

was finishing work on their fifteenth album,

1:06

Future Past. The record marks

1:09

the continued evolution and artistic

1:11

innovation of Simon Laban, John

1:13

Taylor, Roger Taylor, and Nick

1:16

Rhodes. There's plenty of scope in that the

1:18

men don't see. What's always

1:20

driven us to move forward is

1:23

curiosity, intrigue, excitement

1:26

about what's next. What can we do?

1:28

How far can we push it? Why

1:30

can't we do that? Let's try. You

1:33

have to keep on moving. Food have stopped

1:35

at Rio. I don't think we'd have got very

1:37

far. Anybody that gets to do

1:39

what we do for this length of time needs

1:41

to justify themselves. Roger,

1:44

Nick, myself and Simon we all

1:46

and still impress each other, you know.

1:48

We bring something new to it, so it's exciting.

1:51

We really believe in

1:53

what we're doing. We really believe in

1:55

the music we're making. We believe in Duranne

1:58

Duran Duran

2:00

Durand's artistic journey began in the

2:02

late seventies in Birmingham, Ingland. The

2:05

images of the Beakles going around the world,

2:07

you know, as a four or five year old kid,

2:10

were pretty indelible and

2:12

thinking, I like the idea of doing that.

2:14

You know, now, what do I have to do? John I

2:17

met when I was about ten years old.

2:19

We hit it off pretty much straightaway.

2:22

We're both only children, were both Gemini's.

2:25

We were both super creative. We

2:27

were always interested in in art

2:30

and cinema. We had a keen interest

2:32

in photography. We got

2:34

into all sorts of things together. But

2:36

we also had shared love

2:40

of music, particular music.

2:42

John and I came from a sort

2:44

of clam rock t Rex

2:47

David Bowie, Roxy music, Sparks,

2:51

and then we went through disco. Unlike

2:53

other people, we kind of like disco, especially

2:56

Sheep. We also loved

2:59

electronic music and punk

3:01

rock, the energy of punk

3:03

rock, the Sex Pistols, the Damned

3:06

Susie, and the band Shoes of Clash. We

3:09

had inspiration all

3:11

around us. By their late

3:13

teens, John and Nick were devoted scholars

3:16

of innovative sound and vision. We'd

3:19

ride home after these gigs and which say, what did

3:21

you like the projections? And that opening

3:23

song was cool? Right the way that they did that thing with

3:25

the with the synth, and what was that synth?

3:28

The two friends began to learn the craft

3:30

and devised an artistic mission to

3:32

create their own brand of cutting edge music

3:35

and take on the world. We wanted

3:37

to take rock music onto the dance

3:39

floor. We wanted the sound we made

3:42

to become a sound that everybody

3:44

liked. If John and I

3:47

want to make something work, if we

3:50

agree, it usually happens.

3:52

It's making your own opportunities and seizing

3:55

those opportunities. People

3:58

don't get lucky. People make

4:00

bed luck. After a year

4:02

of playing with local musicians who couldn't

4:05

match their creative ambitions, John

4:07

and Nick recruited drummer Roger Taylor,

4:09

who was immediately struck by their intense

4:11

focus and shared sensibilities.

4:14

And when those who were just on the same page

4:16

from day one, they had this connection

4:19

between them, they were like

4:21

brothers. It was a huge moment in

4:23

my life to find these people that they

4:25

have the same influences, be

4:28

they kind of a dressed like me, and see

4:30

they were just totally committed

4:32

to what we wanted to do. Duran

4:35

Duran became the house band at the rum Runner

4:37

Club in Birmingham, where they befriended

4:39

club owners Paul and Michael Barrow, who

4:41

started to manage the band for

4:44

a bunch of teenage kids like ourselves.

4:46

You know that they had. They were able to give us

4:48

old jobs in the club and they brought

4:50

me an amber and get

4:52

us somewhere to rehearse. John and Roger

4:55

used to collect glasses and wash up. Nick

4:57

was the DJ, Great DJ Nichols. We

5:00

had a goal and everybody did everything

5:02

they could day and nice in order to achieve it.

5:04

When Nick and John placed a wite air in the music

5:07

trade magazine Melody Maker. He

5:09

caught the eye of guitarist Andy Taylor. You

5:11

know, they had this whole scene the rehearsal

5:14

room off this club, officers above

5:16

the managers and the club. I thought, well, this is all right.

5:19

I thought were going to tell at the bar, you know, oh

5:21

yeah yeah. And

5:23

one of the barmaids at the run and I said, oh,

5:26

you should get my boyfriend to come down.

5:28

And Simon walked into the kitchen one day

5:31

and that was it. I found the rum

5:34

runn up down a little alleyway, and

5:36

I said, is this where I will find

5:38

Duran? Duran. As soon as I saw

5:40

Simon, I thought, yeah, he's got that swagger,

5:43

he's got the confidence, he's got the

5:45

cockiness that it takes to be a

5:47

singer. I was in drama students

5:50

since I was five years old, and

5:52

I guess I was used to being on

5:55

stage, and when I walked down

5:57

that alleyway, I

5:59

was on age. Roger, John,

6:02

Andy and Nick were immediately struck

6:04

by Simon's charisma. They just talked

6:06

he had the voice to match. I hope,

6:08

please please just let him be able

6:10

to sing as long as he can sing in tune.

6:12

We can, we can get around it. I'm sure.

6:15

Then we went into this little triangular

6:17

room called the tri Tech Room

6:20

and they started playing their music

6:23

and Simon was like, oh, hang on a second, you

6:26

know, and he had this I mean, this is mythology

6:28

and the Duran Duran story had this book

6:30

with lyrics in it, which we were like, oh.

6:34

Then I said, I think, I think I can.

6:36

I've got something that would work with that. As

6:39

soon as he started to sing, he was just

6:42

the right tonality. I

6:44

knew as soon as he opened

6:46

his mouth he was going to work. We

6:49

have these glances around the room so

6:51

as to say this is this is

6:53

the guy, We've got it. He just felt

6:55

right. He was one of us. The

6:58

new band Meats began writing songs

7:00

together and gigging around in where

7:02

they're heart edge dance grooves quickly grabbed

7:05

the British music scene. Roger

7:07

and John wanted to be in cheap you

7:10

know. And then Andy comes to Newcastle.

7:12

It's like a tougher place. He's got a bit more

7:14

of this like heavy rock background. Then

7:17

Nick just built this sonic architecture

7:19

out of all these sins time and just

7:22

brings the like already weird abstract

7:24

lyrics, so like they were at this vaults

7:26

on. We had a chemistry between

7:29

us and when we started

7:31

playing, something happened. The fuse

7:33

caused the electricity to fire

7:37

all around the room. We all

7:39

appreciated that together we were capable

7:41

of achieving something great, Like

7:43

I may be really kind of different to this guy,

7:46

but it's I get really close to him, maybe we can really

7:48

do something. In nineteen eighty, the

7:50

five members of Duran Durant each

7:52

brought their different musical backgrounds to

7:54

form a collective vision, and

7:56

through their songs, John, Nick,

7:59

Andy, Roger and Simon became

8:01

inseparable. It was really the music

8:04

that made the personalities. Joel

8:07

and we went everywhere together and

8:09

did everything together. We

8:11

were very very close. Duran

8:13

Duran carefully designed and innovative

8:15

aesthetic that went way beyond music,

8:18

meticulously building their image through

8:20

photography, art, hairstyle,

8:23

and fashion. I definitely loved

8:25

the visual of the band, and I went to

8:27

get my hair cut when I was eleven,

8:30

and I remember taking this picture

8:32

like folded up from like some fan magazine

8:35

John Taylor like in my back pocket, and I literally

8:37

like me to my back pocket, like so this

8:40

please and I remember leaving

8:42

and my mom was like, what's

8:44

wrong with you? Like I wasn't crying, but I was

8:46

like really upset, and I was like, he

8:49

cut my hair like Nick Rhodes, and I showed him

8:51

John Taylor by

9:05

Duran. Duran became the leaders of the

9:07

new Romantic music revolution with

9:10

a release of their self titled debut album.

9:12

They took full advantage of an exciting new

9:14

record marketing tool, the music

9:17

video. It became

9:19

a very very important way

9:22

that we could manifest ourselves all

9:24

over the world. Was

9:26

done because our managers thought it would get us

9:28

a lot of attention. They

9:31

were right about that. It was an eye opener.

9:33

Their debut reached number three on the UK Album's

9:36

chart. After a ten month tour,

9:38

they worked quickly to record a follow up. One

9:41

Saturday morning, Simon and Nick dragged

9:43

themselves into the studio after a

9:45

night of heavy drinking that morning.

9:48

I don't know why I agreed to go into

9:50

the studio on a Saturday. I hadn't

9:52

shocking hangover. I didn't really want to go

9:54

into the studio tool, but I had

9:57

a relatively new synthesizer at that

9:59

time, and I wanted to play

10:01

around with it. Simon came in, heard

10:04

it and said, wait a minute,

10:06

Okay, do that again, and suddenly

10:09

we had something going. The rest

10:11

of the band came in and they just

10:13

loved it, and he thought, I think

10:15

probably one of the greatest rock riffs of

10:17

the eighties. Down there

10:20

was something about it that just sounded

10:22

right. In just under

10:24

two hours, Duran Duran had created

10:27

Hungry Like the Wolf. The

10:29

band was creatively firing on all

10:31

cylinders, and as the sessions progressed

10:34

for their second album, Rio, Duran Duran

10:36

knew they were making a masterpiece. I

10:39

don't recall there being any self

10:41

doubt with that record. It was just everything

10:43

flowed. When Rio was released in

10:45

May two, Duran Durand

10:48

formulated a plan for a new music

10:50

video. We had this

10:52

idea to make a video

10:54

that was kind of based on Raiders

10:57

of the Lost Arc, hence

10:59

the hat. You know, it was a quest

11:01

and it wouldn't have worked if as singer

11:04

hadn't have had some experience in

11:07

acting. Duran Durand premiered

11:09

Hungry Like the Wolf on MTV in February

11:12

of three, while the fledgling

11:14

network was still working to find a wider

11:16

audience. It was interesting because MTV

11:19

was only in about three or four cities

11:21

at that time, and we could

11:23

see that the people that were seeing MTV,

11:26

there was a spike in our radio play.

11:29

It was going up because people were calling

11:31

into the radio station saying, I

11:34

want my Duran Duran. MTV

11:36

most definitely had an effect.

11:39

As MTV's viewership grew, so

11:42

did Duran Durant's fan base. The

11:44

band arrived in America, where the media

11:46

hyped them as the New Beatles and dubbed

11:49

them the Fab Five. They

11:51

soon found it wasn't safe to travel the streets

11:54

alone during teenage fans

11:56

pursued them everywhere. We're really

11:58

enjoying the success because this is a bunch

12:00

of guys that have gone into the music business

12:03

for the affirmation and we wanted people

12:05

to like us. The success that we had

12:07

out of the gate and the kind of success

12:10

it was, I mean, we didn't see it coming.

12:12

We get on stage and we

12:14

play our songs, which a lot of them weren'd

12:17

sexual, and we'd

12:19

have this wave of sexual energy

12:22

sort of come towards us. For us, the

12:24

world had changed and we were

12:27

these icons. Suddenly

12:30

we were rock stars. It

12:33

was sort of thrilling we'd seen the four

12:35

Teacher of the Beatles and the Doors and the

12:37

Rolling Stones, and nobody had expected

12:39

to see that again. And somehow

12:42

it was us. With our conquest

12:44

of America, Duran Durand became international

12:47

cover boys. They were besieged

12:49

by Vans seeking the ultimate

12:51

autograph. It was a babe fest

12:53

backstage for all the security.

12:56

Somehow the girls would get through, and

12:59

it didn't hurt that they all the silpermodel

13:01

type. I definitely felt a rivalry

13:03

with John for attention, for

13:06

female attention, and John won

13:09

that battle completely and utterly.

13:11

He won it. I mean, there was a competitiveness

13:13

between the band. Almost

13:16

couldn't help it. You know. When they

13:18

started doing like individual T

13:20

shirts and individual posters sets,

13:22

and somebody had mentioned how many. I

13:25

saw how many, and he sold

13:28

and I think that they were the seeds of descent.

13:31

We all started to get girlfriends. That

13:34

changes the dynamic completely, because

13:37

you're not just a gang of five

13:39

young guys running around doing stuff

13:41

together. You get separated

13:43

out suddenly you want the

13:45

partners will say I don't know, I don't

13:47

think you should be doing that, or why isn't

13:50

there more of you in that video? When

13:52

we started there was a bunch of guys that would

13:54

hang out and spend seven

13:56

together. But I think as the pressure

13:59

built up, everybody kind of retreated a

14:01

little bit. It just begins to fragment.

14:04

As with anything you build, the cracks

14:06

start to show. In

14:10

three. Despite an emerging divide within

14:12

Duran Durant, excitement continued

14:14

to follow the band on tour as their

14:16

concerts became sold out teenage screamfests.

14:21

With that much fun going on at the shows,

14:23

where everybody people

14:26

having that much fun, you couldn't just unplug

14:29

everything. We're having fun. We are

14:31

definitely having fun. I

14:34

mean I was. I noticed

14:36

that Roger wasn't feeling

14:38

the same way about it as I was.

14:41

He didn't really like that kind of attention

14:44

and he didn't feel safe. Roger

14:47

Taylor's growing discomfort with the hysteria

14:49

that stopped Ran Duran came to a

14:51

head One night in Manchester, England. He

14:54

played a show and the

14:56

Fister was kind of on its own block and

14:58

the crowd had around it the

15:01

entire block, and we couldn't get out,

15:05

and the noise around her, you

15:07

could just hear these people screaming

15:09

and shouting and singing and

15:12

chanting It was loud, and

15:14

it was intense. You couldn't you could not escape

15:17

from it. And I looked at Roger

15:19

and then he had his look on his face was was

15:22

like and I said to me, said the U cases. He

15:25

said, this is how are we going to get out of here?

15:27

How are we going to get out of here? A

15:29

little bit of fear crept in because it

15:32

was going somewhere that

15:34

you couldn't have foreseen. I

15:36

didn't know we were going to be like the next Beatles,

15:39

but suddenly I felt my life kind

15:41

of closing in a bit. Roger

15:44

stuck it out at the time, but it was clear

15:46

the band's success was turning into something

15:48

they had never anticipated. We were

15:50

celebrating really what would achieved, and

15:52

no one was at stop us. And

15:55

sometimes it would get where I

15:57

happened while each member

16:00

Duran Duran dealt with fame in the wrong

16:02

way. For John Taylor, the party

16:04

was getting out of control. My

16:06

drugged choice was coke. I was

16:08

able to be this up guy, you

16:10

know, twenty four hours a day, especially

16:14

after midnight. It was really useful. Then.

16:17

You know, drugs and no ALCOHOLO about

16:19

numbing emotions and feelings, you

16:22

know, I mean, I think there was just so many

16:24

feelings going on the entire

16:27

experience of band's career. It

16:29

was just like two much. I was just waking

16:31

up every morning thinking, now if I got what I need to

16:33

get myself through the day. The

16:36

drugs and alcohol were kind of running me, and

16:38

it wasn't about do I want

16:40

to, It was like I have

16:43

to. Despite the toll their

16:45

success was taking on the band, Duran,

16:48

Duran retreated to the south of France to

16:50

write their highly demanded follow up, Seven

16:53

and the Ragged Tiger. Recording

16:55

sessions lasted a ruling six months,

16:57

and unlike their previous albums that have had,

17:00

a band was no longer seeing eye to eye

17:02

artistically. The third

17:04

album was Crime, and

17:07

it's amazing that any of us were still speaking to

17:09

each other by this time we finished that album. You

17:11

know, Andy would want to bring it in this direction,

17:14

nich would maybe want to bring it over to that

17:16

direction. And he's also

17:18

got a very forceful character

17:21

in a way. He's like me like that, and

17:23

that when he decides he wants to do something, that's

17:26

what he wants to do. They were never particularly

17:28

suited to each other. If they weren't see a band

17:30

together they would have never been friends.

17:33

As we started getting further and further

17:35

and further apart, I think the elastic

17:38

broke. The band was forced

17:40

to keep it together to support the release

17:42

of Seven and the Ragged Tiger in four,

17:45

but by the end of the tour and he was

17:47

on the verge of quitting Duran Duran and

17:50

he was like, I'm not doing this again. This

17:53

isn't working for me, and you

17:55

know, I didn't want to lose him. In late

17:57

eighty four, John and Andy decided to form

18:00

The Power Station, a side project with

18:02

hard hitting, guitar driven rock. It

18:05

was a clear and intentional departure

18:07

from Duran Durant. It's like, come on,

18:09

let's just go and do something where you can

18:11

play as loudly as you like. There could be lots

18:13

of room for solos. They can be as long as you want

18:15

them to be. One of Andy's

18:18

driving forces to

18:20

make The Power Stations was to

18:22

get away from Nick. The

18:25

album was a hit, and John

18:27

and Andy started to realize they might be able

18:29

to have careers beyond the Fab Five.

18:32

You know, it started to seem like maybe

18:34

it's this is something more than a

18:37

one off for Simon, Nick and

18:39

Roger. It was clear that the musical differences

18:42

that once brought Duran Duran together, we're

18:44

now tearing them apart. Musically,

18:46

we were always pulling in two different directions,

18:49

and the tension between what I

18:51

do and what Andy was doing was

18:54

one of the great things about the dynamic

18:56

in early Duran Duran records. When

19:00

Andy decided he wanted to go a bit further

19:02

and a bit more rock, that's

19:05

that's just too much for me. I have

19:07

no interest in that. Nick and

19:09

I were interested in something

19:12

different. We wanted to be more

19:14

experimental. In the

19:16

summer of eight five, Simon, Nick and Roger

19:19

formed Arcadia and recorded an album

19:21

with several high profile guest stars.

19:24

An amazing time we had, incredible

19:27

It was a good line up in a Dave Gilmore

19:30

sting Grace Jones. I

19:32

mean, it was an amazing line

19:34

up. All the groove and the guitar

19:37

and the heaviness seemed to go to power Station

19:39

and then all the kind of synth and clever,

19:42

weird, alternative witness went to Arcadia.

19:45

It kind of like took something that you really loved

19:48

and like, Okay, we're gonna take half of it here and take half

19:50

of it here, so it sounded a bit like that. On

19:52

opposite ends of the creative spectrum. Arcadia

19:55

and power Station created a schism

19:57

within Duran Durant. Of course you

19:59

get competition coming into playing. I

20:02

didn't want power Station to be any more successful.

20:04

You know, we've got to make a better album than they're

20:07

making. John Andy

20:09

were doing this project here, Simon

20:11

that we're doing this project here, and

20:13

I was putting one for in each project, and

20:16

these kind of two ships were sailing apart from

20:18

each other, and I was kind of in the middle

20:20

of it, you know, trying to hang onto both, thinking

20:22

are we going to like each other when we get back

20:24

together? After six months apart,

20:27

the band honored a commitment to shoot the music

20:29

video for the new James Bond theme of

20:32

You to a Kill in a true case

20:34

of our Imitating life. As the tensions

20:36

amongst the band were practically lethal.

20:39

I remember it as being pretty toxic. There

20:41

was an error resentment. We weren't get him

20:44

along at all, and he locked himself

20:46

in his trailer. He wouldn't come out

20:48

to do his filming. We're not

20:51

really playing well

20:53

with each other. I think you can

20:56

see when Andy is trying to actually

20:59

kill me during the video.

21:03

Yeah, but that that was about as close as you'd

21:05

get to h to reality. I

21:08

hate that video and I don't think anybody

21:10

looks good in it. And then we

21:12

just went our separate ways and didn't come together

21:15

again until Philadelphia. In the Live AI in

21:17

July, Duran Duran

21:20

was given an offer they couldn't refuse when

21:22

their friend Bob Geldoff organized

21:24

Live Aid, a global fundraising

21:26

event for African famine relief that

21:29

featured performances from the biggest names

21:31

and music. Yes, they were going

21:33

down, but what are you going to do? Call

21:36

out of the Live AIG show because it's

21:38

not quite right now. You've just got

21:40

to get on with it. You've got to pull up

21:42

a big gig here. You're gonna go and play

21:44

in front of but I don't know how

21:47

many billion people. So you have the pressure

21:50

doing the biggest show that's ever been

21:52

put on the up before

21:55

Duran Duran would take the stage that evening

21:58

John and Andy and listed on performing with

22:01

power Station. The fact that John

22:03

and Andy had already been on stage

22:06

with power Station said

22:09

something about the whole day. A few

22:11

hours after power Station left the stage,

22:14

Duran Duran was about to play their first

22:16

show in nearly a year in

22:18

front of the entire world. I

22:21

was totally committed. I

22:23

think Nick was totally committed as well.

22:25

I think Roger was feeling very anxious,

22:28

and I think John and Andy

22:31

were thinking, I'm

22:33

not sure I like this as much as being

22:35

on stage with power Station. Live

22:38

Aid was a bit of a disaster.

22:41

And when we got on stage, we've got no monitors.

22:43

I couldn't even hear myself and it's

22:45

quite terrifying. I was having to sort of turn around

22:48

and look at Roger thinking, Okay, this has

22:50

been broadcast to billions of people,

22:52

I cannot actually hear what I'm

22:54

playing, and them we're just being more

22:57

impressed with Led Zeppelinton. Anything

23:00

we were doing. We were woefully under

23:02

rehearsed. Really, when I watch

23:04

it, I can feel that it's, uh, you

23:06

know, we're not having a good time. It was

23:09

just trying to hang on to

23:11

a very thin piece of string. We'd

23:14

really played all our chips, put

23:16

them all on the table. At that point, it was

23:18

the end of a relationship. After

23:20

Duran Durant's difficult performance at

23:22

Live AID, John and Andy Taylor returned

23:25

to touring with power station in Roger

23:27

decided he was ready to take himself out

23:30

of the limelight. It was a very

23:32

odd time for us, because we

23:34

thought we were going to have a five piece

23:37

band back together again. But

23:39

Roger had actually had

23:42

enough of the music business and

23:45

he didn't want to come back. I think he

23:47

was just exhausted, quite honestly, There's

23:49

only so much attention and so

23:51

many glaring lights that some people

23:53

can take, you know, you do take on a

23:56

besieged mentality. Roger

23:58

Taylor left the band and withdrew

24:00

from public life. He didn't want to have anything

24:03

to do with it anymore. I don't think

24:05

a lot of people really understood while I

24:07

was going through at the time, and I think people

24:09

tended to, you

24:11

know, label it with different things. And I

24:13

don't think I was emotionally prepared

24:17

for the height of fame that we achieved.

24:19

I didn't have the tools to deal with that.

24:22

It sounds like a cliche, but it was like, I need

24:25

to find the real me. Who am I

24:28

when I look back at myself in those early

24:30

days and who is that? And

24:32

when I left, I just kind of found myself.

24:35

Losing Roger was a stunning blow to the band.

24:38

It was time for Duran Duran to regroup,

24:41

but Andy Taylor ignored requests to return

24:44

to the fall. He blows your

24:46

confidence a little bit when people leave. When

24:49

Roger and Andy left, I think that the

24:51

band kind of lost a little bit of his innocence. Then

24:53

it's never it was never going to be the same. But

24:56

by six John Taylor

24:58

was ready to rejoin Simon and Dick. They

25:00

set aside their creative differences to

25:03

try and keep Duran Duran alive.

25:05

The three of us had so bonded

25:08

we just felt we were on the right path. We

25:11

clung on to each other and to

25:13

the idea of Duran Duran. We learned

25:16

very much to make

25:18

our egos subservient

25:21

to the band. Of course, it felt

25:24

very different not having two members

25:26

there that we spent every day with the five

25:28

years, But at the same time,

25:31

it was a new adventure and

25:34

in the spirit of Duran Duran, we embrace

25:37

change. The trio

25:39

entered the studio to record Duran Durand's

25:42

fifth album, Notorious, with

25:44

one of their biggest influences as producer,

25:47

sikes Nil Rogers. When

25:49

I showed up to do the album Notorious

25:51

and there was no Andy and there was

25:53

no Roger. I wasn't quite sure

25:56

they would feel like I was working with Durant. But

25:58

the thing is is that spirit

26:00

of Durand is sort of bigger than

26:03

the individual players, and it felt

26:05

really like Duran. We've never been

26:07

as funky. There's Notorious before

26:10

all since, which is Nile's

26:13

got the funk. The more you heard what you

26:15

were doing, the more you have belief in it.

26:18

Na Rogers is the person who

26:20

rescued Duran Duran. It

26:22

was this new evolution. It

26:25

sounded like they've been holed up in some very

26:27

expensive New York recording studio.

26:30

Like some of those records in that Erra just sound

26:32

like cocaine and money, and I

26:34

feel like that's one of them. When

26:36

Notorious was released in November of eighty

26:38

six, it reached number twelve on the U S

26:41

Album charts. But as Duran

26:43

Duran closed out the eighties and their

26:45

follow up albums Big Thing and

26:47

Liberty failed to make a mark. As

26:50

they entered a new decade, Duran Duran

26:53

were deemed a relic of the past. The

26:56

landscape had changed. We've

26:58

been pretty successful through the eight and I

27:00

think a lot of people I thought

27:03

we were synonymous with that period, and when

27:05

they locked the door behind

27:07

the eighties, some

27:10

people were determined that we were going to be on

27:12

the other side of the door, and they were

27:14

taking the key with them, And that's

27:16

kind of when you realize that that moment

27:19

had passed. We weren't anymore.

27:22

We were like, it's over there, damn

27:24

you know. Can we Maybe if we paddle faster we

27:26

can catch it up, But it's hard

27:29

in the band went to

27:31

work on their seventh album, writing with guitarist

27:34

Warren Coucarulo, who broughtened

27:36

their sound. As the

27:38

sessions progressed, one track emerged

27:40

as particularly promising, and

27:43

Simon Leban channeled his emotions

27:45

about a recent tragedy into the lyrics.

27:49

I wrote about the death

27:51

of a very very dear

27:54

friend of mine who died

27:56

tragically, very very very young, and

27:59

when he died, I dedicated

28:02

a part of myself to him. I

28:04

was finding it very difficult to

28:07

let go of the sadness and to move

28:09

into the next chapter of my life,

28:13

and I had to free

28:15

myself. I wanted

28:17

to say goodbye, and

28:20

that's why I said, but I won't

28:22

cry for yesterday. There's an

28:24

ordinary world that I want to live in

28:27

now and I will, I

28:29

will carry on and I will survive.

28:33

And that really was my way of

28:36

burying my friend instead

28:38

of trying to keep him alive

28:41

in my own heart, but with sadness

28:44

and loss. Simon's

28:46

tribute to his late friend connected to millions

28:49

across the globe. Released

28:51

as a single in December of ninety two, Ordinary

28:54

World became the biggest hit of Duran

28:56

Durand's career. To have

28:58

your biggest hit, what thirteen

29:01

years after your first hit or your breakthrough

29:03

like that just doesn't happen in music

29:05

like that means that you have a true place in people's

29:08

hearts and you have a truly special song.

29:10

Ordinary World propelled the wedding album

29:13

to the top ten. Seemingly

29:16

out of nowhere. Duran Duran

29:18

had once again returned to the mainstream.

29:22

We're back and we're in the nineties,

29:26

and that for me was one of the most significant

29:28

moments in that Korea. The

29:38

band continued to record and tour over

29:40

the next four years, but in

29:44

the band suffered an unexpected blow.

29:47

John Taylor decided to leave Duran

29:49

Duran. It was hard

29:52

because you know, I've

29:55

been a member of this band, my entire adult

29:58

life since I was seven. It

30:01

was almost like, for once in my life, I had to

30:03

invest in my personal life. It

30:05

wasn't easy, but it

30:08

was necessary. John

30:10

moved to Los Angeles, got married, and

30:12

checked into a rehab facility to finally

30:14

get his substance abuse issues in order.

30:17

Getting sober was a big one for me, maybe

30:20

the biggest. You know, it's

30:22

an incredible rebirth. I mean, it was

30:25

good to know, at least in the

30:27

way that I understood my recovery, that that

30:29

it wasn't my fault, you know, that I had

30:31

like a faulty, faulty brain when it came

30:34

to you know, alcohol and drugs,

30:36

that it wasn't just that I was making bad choices

30:38

or that I was lacking in discipline. With

30:40

John tending to his personal life, Aldie,

30:43

Simon, and Nick remained from the original

30:45

Fab five. John

30:47

leaving was a monumental

30:50

blow. I felt

30:52

deserted when John

30:54

left the group. For the next three years,

30:57

they carried on recording and touring, but

31:00

was becoming a parrot. That inspiration

31:02

was fading. I really questioned

31:05

whether I wanted to carry on At that point. To

31:08

me, it didn't feel like Duran Duran

31:10

anymore. I think there was

31:12

a couple of options. One was to just stop

31:15

or look at going all the way back to the beginning again

31:18

and putting the original lineup together. I

31:21

called up John, Nick, and Simon

31:23

and I had lunch. He was

31:25

ready, really excited, and he said, right,

31:28

let's call Roger's home here by

31:30

the pool with Simon and Nick would think about

31:32

a game the original band together again. At

31:35

that point I kind of nearly fell through the floor.

31:38

So I think, you know what, I'm going to really embrace this, so

31:41

I'll call him back there. I said, yeah, okay, I'm in. So

31:44

then there was only Andy and it was a case

31:46

of finding it. Andy

31:48

had moved to the Spanish island of Abisa.

31:51

After a phone call with Roger, he was

31:54

on board. The five

31:56

original members of Duran Duran got

31:58

together in a studio and for ads to see

32:00

if they could recapture the old magic.

32:03

Everybody had the same dynamic. Andy

32:06

and I still didn't really get on. These

32:08

five people not spend any

32:11

time together in a room. But

32:13

what was it eighteen years or something. We

32:16

had some real personality issues. How

32:18

do we relate artistically? Can

32:21

we still beat Duran Duran? It

32:23

was really hard. Despite

32:26

the clashing in the studio, the band managed

32:29

to write new material for a reunion album,

32:32

but when they shopped their songs to record labels,

32:35

to their surprise, there was little

32:37

interest. I think we thought

32:39

that just by getting together will take a polaroid

32:42

and then it'll be a blank check, and

32:44

it wasn't. The industry

32:47

was like, WHOA which an army? What's

32:49

the interest level? The

32:51

band recruited former Aerosmith manager

32:53

Wendy Leaster to help right the ship.

32:56

Her idea get the boys out

32:59

of the studio and back on stage.

33:02

I felt that we needed to create a demand.

33:04

Rather than going knocking on doors. I wanted

33:07

people knocking on their door. So we put

33:09

shows on se We said let's do something, and sold

33:12

out in some crazy amount of time, I mean

33:14

so much quicker than we had even thought

33:16

of. On July seven,

33:19

two thousand three, Duran Duran

33:21

was set to play their first show as the Fab

33:23

five in eighteen years. Banned

33:26

tensions at an all time high. I'll

33:29

remember the night before the first show, I thought

33:32

I'm going to kill somebody. The intra

33:36

personal differences

33:39

were so you know, on

33:41

fire, and I mean I'm sure I was making people

33:43

crazy as well. In my

33:46

back of my head, I just thought we'd just got

33:48

to get to the stage. We

33:51

could hear the crowd, the anticipation

33:53

out there. It was terrifying.

33:57

It was one of those moments where you had to walk

34:00

through her, to walk through the beer. The

34:02

weight of it. It

34:05

was a big deal. A

34:08

crowd went absolutely bananas.

34:12

Once we're in front of the audience, it becomes

34:14

so obvious that it's so much

34:17

bigger than we are. It's

34:19

an entirely different calculation. It's like it's

34:22

me and then it's us, and then

34:25

we managed to find

34:27

our way back to the chemistry

34:30

that we had. It just

34:32

sent chills down the spine, you know, that moment

34:34

of of realizing

34:37

that actually this is going to work and the world

34:39

is going to love during Duran again,

34:42

we knew that there were areas that we

34:44

would disagree, but I think we are all

34:46

prepared to put those aside

34:50

in order to create

34:52

something special. As Duran

34:54

Duran, Simon, John

34:57

Nick, Roger, and Eddie continue

34:59

touring of the next two years, playing

35:01

some of their biggest shows ever. Critics

35:04

began to praise the return. As they released

35:06

their comeback album, Astronauts

35:09

but the reunion would be short lived for

35:11

Andy Taylor, who once again bowed

35:13

out in two thousand five. Andy

35:16

had been becoming more difficult

35:18

to work with. Everybody in the band

35:20

felt that we weren't all going in the same

35:22

direction. That was clear. I can't

35:25

say I missed Andy terribly. I

35:27

know how creative he is and I would never ever

35:30

take that away from him, but

35:33

personality wise, and he never

35:35

really fit in with the rest of us. To

35:38

fill the space of their departing guitarist

35:40

Duran, Duran embraced the idea of the

35:42

band as a collective with

35:45

a wide range of producers and collaborators

35:48

to add fresh elements to their magical sound.

35:51

It's come to be, you know, the empty

35:53

chair, you know, which is like the X

35:55

factor. So it's actually a way of

35:57

injecting energy and creativity

36:00

into the situation. We

36:03

have found that it's good to have another

36:06

person in the room. Having

36:08

different people in different energy changes

36:12

the way you work. I

36:14

think it's really made the

36:17

four of us really kind of open

36:19

our minds and our imaginations,

36:23

and it's broadened our perspectives

36:26

in Duran Duran

36:29

expanded their artistic scope once

36:31

again as they wrapped up work

36:33

on their fifteen album Future

36:35

Past, working with producers

36:38

Errol Alkin and Georgio Moroder

36:40

while collaborating with Blur guitarist

36:42

Graham Coxon and Mark Ronson.

36:45

Their influence on me is basically indelible.

36:48

Because they were my first favorite

36:50

band. I get to have this little, very

36:53

personal relationship with everybody.

36:55

It's really exciting to know that you

36:57

can still do it, you

37:00

know, after all this time. As soon as you

37:02

start hearing that sound coming back, and

37:04

it's a real moment. You never tire of

37:07

that moment when you hear coming back through the speakers.

37:10

We're making an album that we're all

37:12

very excited about. It's cutting

37:15

edge in some aspects, but it still

37:17

sounds like Duran Duran, and that puts

37:19

us all in a very good

37:22

frame of mind. I was an only

37:24

child. I'm magiced into the world brothers,

37:27

and I have brothers. We were all kind

37:29

of equal shareholders in the dream.

37:32

There's no other band I'd want to be in. Listen

37:36

to Behind the Music on the I Heart Radio app,

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