Duran Duran

Duran Duran is an electronic pop/rock band, notable for a long series of catchy, synthesizer-driven hit singles and vivid music videos. They were part of the New Wave music explosion in the early 1980s, as well as a leading band in the MTV-driven Second British Invasion of the United States. They are still often identified as an Eighties band despite continuous recording over their twenty-plus year history. The band has sold over 70 million records, and has had eighteen singles in the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and thirty in the Top 40 of the UK Singles Chart, including "Rio", "Hungry Like The Wolf", "Save A Prayer", "Is There Something I Should Know", "The Reflex" and the James Bond theme "A View To A Kill" in the 1980s, "Ordinary World" and "Come Undone" in the early 1990s, and "Sunrise" and "What Happens Tomorrow" in the 2000s.

History of Duran Duran

1978–1980: Origins

John Taylor and Nick Rhodes formed the band in Birmingham, England in 1978, envisioning a group with the raw do-it-yourself energy of the Sex Pistols, the dance grooves of Chic, and the elegant style of David Bowie and Roxy Music. Other influences the band has mentioned include Mick Ronson, The Clash, Japan, New York Dolls, Velvet Underground, Visage and Blondie. Inspired by one of their favourite Birmingham clubs, Barbarella's, the band took their name from the evil character "Dr. Duran Duran", played by Milo O'Shea in Roger Vadim's sexy science-fiction cult film Barbarella. Their first singer was Stephen Duffy, who went on to lead Tin Tin and The Lilac Time. John Taylor, originally on lead guitar, switched to bass after original bassist Simon Colley left. Several drummers and guitarists were subsequently tried, as well as a handful of vocalists after Duffy left Duran Duran early in 1979.

Related Topics:
Birmingham - England - 1978 - Sex Pistols - Chic - David Bowie - Roxy Music - Mick Ronson - The Clash - Japan - New York Dolls - Velvet Underground - Visage - Blondie - Evil character - Milo O'Shea - Roger Vadim - Barbarella - Stephen Duffy - The Lilac Time - 1979

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Finally, drummer Roger Taylor fell in with them at a party, Andy Taylor came south from Newcastle to audition after responding to a magazine advertisement, and Simon Le Bon was recommended to the band by an ex-girlfriend who worked at the Rum Runner nightclub, where the band rehearsed. The owners of the club, brothers Paul and Michael Berrow, became the band's management, and paid them to work as doormen, DJs and glass collectors when they weren't rehearsing.

Related Topics:
Roger Taylor - Rum Runner

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The up-and-coming group were considered part of the New Romantic scene, along with other style-and-dance bands like Spandau Ballet and ABC. Over the course of 1980, they recorded two demo tapes and performed tirelessly in clubs around Birmingham and London. Touring in late 1980 with Hazel O'Connor, the band attracted critical attention that escalated into a bidding war between the major record labels. "A certain patriotism" toward the label of The Beatles led them to sign with EMI in December. Nick Rhodes has since said, in a 1998 interview with Deluxe magazine, that the band was "appallingly ripped off".

Related Topics:
New Romantic - Spandau Ballet - ABC - 1980 - Demo - Birmingham - London - Hazel O'Connor - The Beatles - EMI - 1998

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Like Depeche Mode, Duran Duran were among the earliest bands to work on their own remixes. Before the days of digital synthesizers and easy audio sampling, they created complex, multilayered arrangements of their singles, sometimes recording entirely different extended performances of the songs in studio. These "night versions" were generally available only on vinyl, as b-sides to 45 rpm singles or on 12-inch club singles, until the release of the Night Versions: The Essential Duran Duran compilation in 1998.

Related Topics:
Depeche Mode - Remix - Audio sampling - Vinyl

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From the very beginning, the band had a keen sense of style, and worked with stylist Perry Haines and fashion designers like Kahn & Bell and Antony Price to build a sharp and elegant image, soon growing beyond the ruffles and sashes of the pirate-flavoured New Romantic look. They may have suffered from the typical hair spray and mullet excesses of the 1980s, but have maintained a focus on presenting fashion as part of the package throughout their career. In the 1990s, they worked with Vivienne Westwood, and in the 2000s with Giorgio Armani. (One of the band's advertising taglines adopts journalist Linda Ellerbee's phrase "Styles change, style doesn't.") In addition they retained creative control of the band's visual presentation, and worked closely with graphic designer Malcolm Garrett and many others over the years to create album covers, tour programmes, and other materials.

Related Topics:
Antony Price - Mullet - Vivienne Westwood - Giorgio Armani - Linda Ellerbee

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Teen and music magazines in the UK latched onto their good looks quickly, and the US soon followed; it was a rare month in the early eighties when there was not at least one picture of the band members in teen magazines like Smash Hits or Tiger Beat, even if the sugary coverage was at odds with the band's titillating videos and sometimes dark lyrics. It helped that each member had a distinctive look and personality. John Taylor once remarked that the band was "like a box of Quality Street ; everyone is somebody's favourite" – an effect that is now strategically planned in more recent boy bands. Duran Duran would later come to regret this early pin-up exposure, but at the time it helped gain them the national attention they sought.

Related Topics:
Teen magazine - Smash Hits - Tiger Beat - Boy band

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1981–1982: A band is launched

The band's first album, Duran Duran, was released in 1981. The first single, "Planet Earth", reached the United Kingdom's Top 20 at Number 12. A follow-up, "Careless Memories," stalled at Number 37. However, it was their third single, "Girls On Film", that garnered them the most attention. The song went to Number 5 in the UK, before the notorious video was even filmed. That video (featuring topless women mud wrestling and other not-very-stylised depictions of sexual fetishes) was made with directing duo Godley & Creme, and was filmed in August just two weeks after MTV was launched in the United States, before anyone knew what an impact the music channel would have on the industry. The band expected the "Girls On Film" video to be played in the newer nightclubs that had video screens, or on pay-TV channels like the Playboy Channel. The raunchy video created an uproar, and it was consequently banned by the BBC and heavily edited for MTV. The band unabashedly enjoyed and capitalized on the controversy. The album peaked in the UK Top Twenty at Number 3.

Related Topics:
Album - Duran Duran - 1981 - United Kingdom - Careless Memories - Sexual fetish - Godley & Creme - United States - Playboy Channel - BBC

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Thanks to the videos, the band also became a major success in Australia without doing any touring or promotion there – the "Planet Earth" single went to Number 1 on the Australian charts, and the album performed respectably as well. Adam Ant and Spandau Ballet were key rival artists at this time, often jockeying for position versus Duran Duran on the UK charts.

Related Topics:
Australia - Adam Ant

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Later in 1981, the band went on their first U.S. club tour, followed by more dates in Germany and the UK. This second tour of Britain coincided with a wave of riots sparked by unemployment and racial tension, including those of Moss Side and Toxteth; they played an eerily quiet Birmingham the day after the Handsworth riots.

Related Topics:
Germany - UK - Riot - Moss Side - Toxteth - Handsworth riots

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Duran Duran began to achieve recognition beyond their home country in 1982. In May, they released their second album, Rio, which scored four UK Top Twenty singles with "My Own Way", "Hungry Like the Wolf", "Save A Prayer", and the title song. A headlining tour of Australia, Japan, and the US was followed by a stint supporting Blondie during that band's final American tour. Diana, Princess of Wales declared Duran Duran her favourite band, and the band was dubbed "The Fab Five" by the British press.

Related Topics:
1982 - Rio - Blondie - Diana, Princess of Wales - The Fab Five

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However, the Rio album did not do well in the U.S. at first. EMI in England had promoted Duran Duran as a New Romantic band, but that genre was barely known in the US, and Capitol Records (EMI's American branch) was at a loss about how to sell them. After Carnival (an EP of Rio's dance remixes) became popular with DJs in the fall, Capitol arranged to have most of the album remixed by David Kershenbaum. Only after it was re-released in the US in November, with heavy promotion as a dance album, did Rio begin to climb the American charts, six months after its European success. MTV placed "Hungry Like the Wolf" and then several other Duran Duran videos into heavy rotation, pushing that song and "Rio" into the top twenty on the US charts in early 1983. The seduction ballad "Save A Prayer" also did well. In the end the album peaked at number five in US, and remained on the charts there for 129 weeks – almost two and a half years. In 2003, Rio was listed at number 65 in the NME 100 Greatest Albums Of All Time.

Related Topics:
Capitol Records - Carnival - EP - 1983 - 2003 - NME

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1983–1984: On top of the world

Duran Duran began 1983 by playing the MTV New Year's Eve Rock'n'Roll Ball, with "Hungry Like The Wolf" still climbing the charts in the US, and the American reissue of the "Rio" single to follow in March. To satisfy America's newly awakened thirst for all things Duran, the band decided to re-release their self-titled first album in the US in the middle of the year, with the addition of the new single "Is There Something I Should Know?". This song went straight in at Number 1 in the UK (a rarity then, and their first chart topper in their home country), and reached Number 4 on the American charts. During the promotion of this album, Rhodes and Le Bon served as MTV guest VJs for a show, during which artist and admirer Andy Warhol dropped by to greet them. An autograph-signing session in Times Square got so far out of control that mounted police had to be called in to control the mob. The hysteria of their teenage fans accompanied them everywhere they went, drawing frequent comparisons to Beatlemania.

Related Topics:
1983 - Is There Something I Should Know? - VJ - Andy Warhol - Autograph - Times Square - Beatlemania

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Also in 1983, keyboardist Nick Rhodes produced the Number 1 hit "Too Shy" for the English band Kajagoogoo, and Andy Taylor became the first member of Duran Duran to get married. The band's main rivals were now Culture Club and Wham!

Related Topics:
Kajagoogoo - Culture Club - Wham!

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Duran Duran returned to songwriting at a chateau in France in May 1983, before flying to Montserrat and then Sydney to record and mix their third album. The band was under enormous pressure to follow up the success of Rio, and the recording process took over six months as different band members went through bouts of perfectionism and insecurity. A newly decadent lifestyle and substance abuse issues added complications as well. In the documentary film Extraordinary World, filmed a decade later, Rhodes described the effect on their sound as "barely controlled hysteria, scratching beneath the surface".

Related Topics:
Montserrat - Sydney - Substance abuse

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Finally at the end of 1983, the band released Seven and the Ragged Tiger, which included the hits "Union Of The Snake", "New Moon On Monday" and "The Reflex"; Duran thus had Top Twenty hits off of three albums in a single year. They made music headlines by deciding to release the "Union of the Snake" video to MTV a full week before the single was released to radio, at a time when the industry feared video really might kill the radio star.

Related Topics:
Seven and the Ragged Tiger - The Reflex - Video really ''might'' kill the radio star

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The band then embarked on a massive around-the-world tour that continued through the first four months of 1984, including their first major stadium dates in America. The band was followed closely by a film crew led by director Russell Mulcahy. The resulting documentary film Sing Blue Silver (accompanied by concert film Arena) shows both the live music and the hard work of putting on a show, together with a variety of behind-the-scenes and "off-duty" moments with the band – including travel difficulties, practical jokes, sightseeing, and bassist John Taylor declaring, at a meeting with executives from their top tour sponsors Coca Cola, that he much preferred Pepsi!

Related Topics:
1984 - Sing Blue Silver - Arena - Coca Cola - Pepsi

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The live album Arena was also recorded during the tour, and was released with the new studio single "Wild Boys", which went to Number 2 on both sides of the Atlantic. In February 1984, they appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, and won two Grammy awards in the brand-new Long Form and Short Form music video categories. After the tour concluded, Roger Taylor was married in Naples, Italy, and Nick Rhodes celebrated his marriage in London, famously wearing a pink velvet tuxedo and top hat.

Related Topics:
Arena - Atlantic - 1984 - Rolling Stone - Grammy - Long Form - Short Form - Naples, Italy - London

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Halfway through the year, Duran Duran began a long break; however, as most of them remained in London and were active in celebrity circles, the band was never far from the tabloids or the public eye.

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At the end of the year, the group was featured on the Band Aid benefit single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" along with other music celebrities like George Michael, Boy George, Bono, Paul Weller, Paul Young and Sting.

Related Topics:
Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas? - George Michael - Boy George - Bono - Paul Weller - Paul Young - Sting

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1985: The band falls apart

In 1985, Duran Duran's hiatus from their hectic lifestyle continued, but creative differences began to split the five members into two different bands.

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John and Andy Taylor wanted to break away from the synth-rock of Duran Duran and wanted to play harder-rocking, Led Zeppelin-style material, so they joined forces with the frontman Robert Palmer and Chic drummer Tony Thompson to form the supergroup known as Power Station.

Related Topics:
John - Andy Taylor - Led Zeppelin - Robert Palmer - Chic - Tony Thompson - Supergroup - Power Station

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Simon Le Bon and Nick Rhodes later formed their own side project, Arcadia. Unlike Power Station, Arcadia further explored the atmospheric part of the Duran Duran sound and added more sophisticated touches. Roger Taylor was primarily the drummer for Arcadia, but contributed some percussion to the Power Station album as well.

Related Topics:
Simon Le Bon - Nick Rhodes - Arcadia - Roger Taylor

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Both Power Station and Arcadia put out albums before the end of the year; each debuted in the top 30 and had at least one top ten single. Power Station debuted higher and spawned one more hit single than Arcadia, at least in part because Arcadia chose not to tour in support of their album.

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Duran Duran was never the same after the hiatus was over. The two side projects created very different styles of music, which drastically changed the image of the band members. Andy and John Taylor had grown out their hair in the fashion of other American hard rock bands, while Le Bon, Rhodes, and Roger Taylor furthered developed thier New Romantic fashion with a more artsy style, wearing dyed black hair and heavy make-up.

Related Topics:
Hard rock - New Romantic

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As a result, the band's image as a whole was off-balance when they regrouped to contribute the title song to the soundtrack of the 1985 James Bond movie A View to a Kill. This single remains the only Bond theme to go to Number 1 on the US charts, and it also remains the highest-placed Bond theme on the UK chart, reaching Number 2. The song was accompanied by a tongue-in-cheek "spy" video that had the band scampering all over the Eiffel Tower. The lead singer ended the video by introducing himself as "Bon. Simon Le Bon."

Related Topics:
James Bond - A View to a Kill - Eiffel Tower - Bon. Simon Le Bon.

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As a follow-up to the Christmas 1984 Band Aid single, Duran Duran performed in front of 90,000 people (and an estimated 1.5 billion TV viewers) at the Live Aid charity concert held at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 1985. It was not intended to be a farewell performance – the band planned only to take a break after four years of non-stop touring and public appearances – but the original five did not play together again until July of 2003. With the Bond song holding at Number 1, and the band arguably suffering from overexposure, their Live Aid set became infamous for Le Bon inadvertently hitting a falsetto note in the chorus of "A View To A Kill" – an error gleefully noted in the press as "The Bum Note Heard 'Round The World", and which the singer himself would later describe as the most humiliating of his career.

Related Topics:
Live Aid - JFK Stadium - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - July 13 - 1985 - 2003 - Falsetto

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During the previous year, Le Bon had taken up the hobby of yachting. He again drew media attention when his maxi-yacht Drum capsized during the August 1985 Fastnet race, trapping him under the hull for an hour. He went on to participate in the 1986 Whitbread Round the World Race as well. At the end of 1985, he married model Yasmin Parvaneh.

Related Topics:
Yachting - Fastnet race - Whitbread Round the World Race - Yasmin Parvaneh

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1986–1991: Waning success

After Live Aid and Arcadia, the ever-shy drummer Roger Taylor, exhausted by Duran Duran's hectic lifestyle, retired to the English countryside with the band's blessing. Guitarist Andy Taylor, on the other hand, led the band to believe he would return to work on a new Duran Duran album even as he was signing a recording contract for a solo career in Los Angeles. The band finally resorted to legal measures to get him into the studio, but after numerous delays, they let him go at last. He played on only a few tracks on the Notorious album; producer (and former Chic guitarist) Nile Rodgers played guitar on several more songs while the disagreements were being settled.

Related Topics:
Live Aid - Arcadia - Roger Taylor - Andy Taylor - Los Angeles - Notorious - Nile Rodgers

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Finally in September 1986, Warren Cuccurullo (formerly of Missing Persons and Frank Zappa's touring band) was hired as a replacement sessions guitarist. With Le Bon, Rhodes, and John Taylor, he recorded the rest of the album Notorious, released in October, 1986. Although the title track went to number two in the US, the band found that they had lost much of the momentum and hysteria they had left behind in 1985. The music was funkier, more mature, and less "pop", and many of their teenage fans had grown up while they were away.

Related Topics:
1986 - Warren Cuccurullo - Missing Persons - Frank Zappa - October - 1985

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Subsequently, Duran Duran's fame began to wane, as they struggled to escape the teen idol image and gain critical success with more complex (and less confident) music. Another factor was the band's dismissal of early managers the Berrow brothers. There was no public reason given, but disagreements over money, and their involvement in Le Bon's yachting adventures (they were co-owners of Drum) were suspected to play a part. Whatever the reason, Duran Duran did not have consistent management through the latter part of their career, switching managers frequently and going through periods of self-management. In addition, EMI (which fired its president and went through a major corporate restructuring that summer) seemed to have lost interest in promoting the band. Many casual fans never heard that the band had released anything after Notorious, and assumed that the band had broken up.

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The next album Big Thing (1988) yielded the singles "I Don't Want Your Love", "All She Wants Is" & "Do You Believe In Shame?". The record was very experimental, taking inspirations from house music and mixing it with Duran's atmospheric synth pop and more mature lyrics (the juvenile title track notwithstanding). It also strongly featured Cuccurullo's creative guitar work. Fans and critics either loved it or hated it. In April 1989, after the six-month world tour for Big Thing, Cuccurullo and tour drummer Sterling Campbell were made full members of Duran Duran.

Related Topics:
Big Thing - 1988 - Do You Believe In Shame - House music - Synth pop - 1989 - Sterling Campbell

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A greatest hits album titled ' was released late in 1989, along with a remix single entitled "Burning The Ground" which consisted of woven snippets of the band's hits from the previous ten years. The single came and went with little fanfare, but the album became another major seller for the band.

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However, the tepid 1990 release Liberty (a retreat from the experimentation of Big Thing) failed to capitalize on any regained momentum – a pattern the band repeated regularly in their later years. The singles "Violence of Summer" and "Serious" were only mildly successful, and the album's low-key, R&B-flavoured soft rock did not fare well against contemporaries like Alice in Chains and Jane's Addiction, when Nirvana, Pearl Jam and the grunge revolution were just around the corner. For the first time, Duran Duran did not tour in support of an album, performing only a handful of club dates and on several TV talk and variety shows.

Related Topics:
1990 - Liberty - Serious - R&B - Alice in Chains - Jane's Addiction - Nirvana - Pearl Jam - Grunge

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Sterling Campbell left the band early in 1991, going on to work with Soul Asylum and David Bowie. At the end of that year, John Taylor (then 31) married nineteen-year-old model/actress Amanda De Cadenet, already pregnant with his daughter at the time.

Related Topics:
1991 - Soul Asylum - David Bowie - Amanda De Cadenet

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1992–1996: A second climb, another fall

In the early 1990s, the rise of the Internet fueled a resurgence in Duran Duran's popularity. Many of the older fans rediscovered the band through Usenet and a growing number of Duran Duran mailing lists and websites, and began "catching up" on the albums they had missed. This has grown into a remarkably resilient and loyal community of fans, supporting at least a dozen active mailing lists and over 65,000 fan-built web pages as of 2005.

Related Topics:
1990s - Internet - Usenet - Mailing list - Website - As of 2005

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In 1993, the band released a second self-titled album – this Duran Duran album is informally known as The Wedding Album (for Nick Egan's cover art featuring the wedding photos of the bands' parents) to distinguish it from the 1981 release. The swift commercial and critical success of this album (#4 in the UK, #7 in the US) came as a surprise to many who considered Duran Duran to be a purely "Eighties" phenomenon which had already faded to oblivion. It hinged on two Adult Contemporary singles: "Ordinary World" was forced onto radio playlists months earlier than planned by listener demand for the leaked single, and went on to win a prestigious Ivor Novello Award award for songwriting. It reached Number 3 on the US chart, and Number 6 in the UK. "Come Undone" was a slinky number primarily written by Cuccurullo, with a memorable "underwater" video, which scored Number 7 in the US and Number 13 on the UK chart. Both the band and the record label seemed to be caught by surprise, and bassist John Taylor, who was considering leaving the band, agreed to stay. The band's largest tour ever, which included stops in the Middle East, the recently de-embargoed South Africa, and South America, was halted after seven months when Le Bon suffered from strained vocal cords. After six weeks recuperation, the tour continued intermittently for another five months, including appearances in Israel, Thailand, and Indonesia.

Related Topics:
1993 - Second self-titled album - Duran Duran - 1981 - Ordinary World - Ivor Novello Award - Middle East - South Africa - South America - Vocal cord - Israel - Thailand - Indonesia

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However, the band's upswing in momentum was once again swiftly curbed, this time by the poorly received covers album Thank You. The album was reportedly begun as a lighthearted tribute to the band's influences, in the vein of Bowie's Pin Ups – some of the tracks were recorded in borrowed studios (including Prince's Paisley Park) while the band was on tour, with the intent to have an album ready to release soon after the tour was finished, with another studio album to follow quickly afterwards. However, conflicts within the band and between the band and Capitol/EMI created delay after delay; mix after mix was ordered and rejected, and by the time it finally came out in 1995, the band was not enthusiastic about supporting the album.

Related Topics:
Cover - Thank You - Pin Ups - Prince - Paisley Park - 1995

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Singles from Thank You included covers of Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five's "White Lines" (which included backing vocals from the original artists) and Lou Reed's "Perfect Day". In a video interview included in the album's electronic press kit, Reed said that he considered Duran Duran's effort the best cover ever done of one of his songs. The title track was also included on the 1995 Led Zeppelin tribute album Encomium. Still, the critics lambasted the band's attempts at "911 Is A Joke", "Lay Lady Lay", "Ball of Confusion" and "Crystal Ship", and the band completed a 1995 summer tour of radio station festivals only under duress.

Related Topics:
Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five - Lou Reed - Perfect Day - Press kit - Led Zeppelin - Encomium - Ball of Confusion

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After that tour's completion, John Taylor co-founded the B5 Records label and recorded a solo album, as well as founding and touring with the supergroup Neurotic Outsiders. He also initiated a reunion of the Power Station, but the project went on without him when he had to withdraw to deal with his divorce from De Cadenet and drug rehabilitation from his long addiction to cocaine. Finally, after struggling for months to record the next album Medazzaland, in January of 1997 Taylor announced at a Duran Duran fan convention that he was leaving the band "for good". His departure reduced the band to two original members (Rhodes and Le Bon) plus Cuccurullo. The trio decided to stay the course and keep recording under the name Duran Duran.

Related Topics:
B5 Records - Supergroup - Neurotic Outsiders - Drug rehabilitation - Cocaine - 1997

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1997–2000: Soldiering on

Freed from some internal writing conflicts, the band returned to the studio to rewrite and re-record many of the songs on Medazzaland. (Taylor's work remains on only four tracks.) This album was a return to the layered experimentation of Big Thing, with intricate guitar textures and processed vocals. The track "Out of My Mind" was used as the theme song for the movie The Saint, but the only true single to be released in the United States was the quirky "Electric Barbarella". It was the first single ever to be sold online, as a 99-cent Internet download. The video for this single, featuring a sexy robot purchased and played with by band members, had to be censored before airing on MTV, but there was little of the controversy that had surrounded "Girls On Film". "Barbarella" peaked at #52 in the US in October of 1997.

Related Topics:
The Saint - Online - Internet

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The group played a set at The Princess Diana Tribute Concert on June 27, 1998 by special request of her family.

Related Topics:
June 27 - 1998

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Although Medazzaland was released in the US in October 1997, the album was never released in the UK. This was due in part to lagging interest in the band, but in part to record label politics, some of which involved Duran Duran's determination to make "Electric Barbarella" available as an Internet download before releasing the single through normal channels – another attempt to stay out in front of changing technologies. "Barbarella" was later released in the UK as a single from the 1998 Greatest compilation album, and it peaked at #23 on the UK chart in January of 1999.

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Duran Duran parted ways with Capitol/EMI in 1999; the label has since used Duran's back catalogue to release their own compilations of remixes and rare vinyl-only b-sides.

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The band then signed a short-lived deal with Disney's Hollywood Records – it was to be a three-album contract, but lasted only through the poorly received 2000 album Pop Trash. The album itself was considered by some to be a strange one in the band's catalogue, slow-paced and heavy-sounding. It took its title from the track "Pop Trash Movie", which was originally written by Rhodes and Cuccurullo for a Blondie reunion album. Though the album included the standout cuts "Playing with Uranium" and "Last Day on Earth," Rhodes' intricate production and Cuccurullo's songwriting and experimentation with guitar sounds and time signatures were not enough to hook the public, and the album did not do well on the charts. The dreamy single "Someone Else, Not Me" lasted barely two weeks on the radio. This single was noted for having the first video produced entirely with Macromedia Flash animation.

Related Topics:
Hollywood Records - 2000 - Macromedia Flash

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2001–2005: A highly anticipated reunion

In May 2001, as the trio finished their final dates for the global Pop Trash tour, it was announced that Cuccurullo would be leaving Duran Duran to work again with his 1980s band Missing Persons, and that John, Roger, and Andy Taylor had returned to reform the original five-member band.

Related Topics:
2001 - 1980s band - Missing Persons

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Throughout 2002 and 2003, Duran Duran worked on writing new material. The band rented a house in St. Tropez to work on their first serious writing session. They then returned to London to do some self-financed work with various producers (including old friend Nile Rodgers), while searching for a new record deal. A record label willing to gamble on the band's comeback originally proved difficult to find, so Duran Duran took to the road to prove the drawing power of the reunited band. The response of the fans and the media was more than anyone expected.

Related Topics:
2002 - 2003 - St. Tropez - Nile Rodgers

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First, the band played a handful of 25th-anniversary dates in July 2003. Tickets sold out for each show within minutes, and celebrities turned out en masse for reunion shows at small venues the band had played on their first trip to America – The Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles and The Ritz (now Webster Hall) in New York City.

Related Topics:
The Roxy Theatre - The Ritz

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Then in August, the band were billed to appear as presenters at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, but were instead surprised with a Lifetime Achievement Award. They were also given a Lifetime Achievement award by Q Magazine in October, and the equivalent Outstanding Contribution award at the Brit Awards in February 2004.

Related Topics:
MTV Video Music Awards - Q Magazine - Brit Awards - February 2004

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The pace picked up as a sold-out 25-city American tour was followed by several stadium dates in Australia and New Zealand with Robbie Williams. The band also played a full concert at a private Tailgate Party at Super Bowl XXXVIII; their performance of "Wild Boys" was broadcast to millions during the pregame show.

Related Topics:
Australia - New Zealand - Robbie Williams - Super Bowl XXXVIII

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A remix of the new track "(Reach Up For The) Sunrise" was released on the Queer Eye for the Straight Guy TV show soundtrack in February, while the Queer Eye guys (the modern "Fab Five") hailed Duran Duran as "the first metrosexuals".

Related Topics:
Remix - Queer Eye for the Straight Guy - Soundtrack - Metrosexual

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Duran Duran then celebrated their homecoming to the UK with fourteen stadium dates in April 2004, including five sold-out nights at Wembley Arena. The British press, traditionally hostile to the band, gave the shows some very warm reviews. Duran Duran brought along up and coming acts like Scissor Sisters and Goldfrapp as opening acts for this tour.

Related Topics:
UK - April 2004 - Wembley Arena - Scissor Sisters - Goldfrapp

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At last, with more than thirty-five songs completed, the band signed a four-album contract with Epic Records in June, and polished the new album, now entitled Astronaut, with producer Don Gilmore. The album was released in October 2004 and entered the UK charts at Number 3 and the US charts at Number 17; the first single was "(Reach Up For The) Sunrise". In November, "Sunrise" reached Number 1 on the Billboard U.S Dance Chart, and also peaked at number 5 on the UK singles chart; it was Duran Duran's highest charting UK single since "A View To a Kill" was released in 1985. A second single, "What Happens Tomorrow", debuted at #11 in February.

Related Topics:
Epic Records - Astronaut - Don Gilmore - October 2004

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In February 2005, the group began a world tour of North America, Europe, and Japan, follwed by a second leg in North America. On 2 July 2005, Duran Duran headlined the massive Live 8 concert at the Circus Maximus in Rome. They were one of the few bands at Live 8 who had also played at Bob Geldof's Live Aid concert twenty years before.

Related Topics:
2005 - 2 July - Live 8 - Circus Maximus - Bob Geldof - Live Aid

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The two-year Astronaut Tour will conclude in December with a eight-date Christmas mini-tour in Europe and the UK.

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2006 and beyond: World Tour and a New Album

In late 2005, Duran Duran began songwriting sessions and announced that they are looking for a producer to record their next album. Studio sessions are set to begin in January of 2006, with a tentative release date planned sometime in early summer 2006 ().

Related Topics:
January - 2006

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