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.

Influence

Although they began their career as an interesting New Wave art-school band in the tradition of Roxy Music, the band's quick rise to stardom, their polished good looks, and their embrace of the teen press seemed to have doused their chances of favour from music critics. The British music press was particularly venomous. During the 1980s, Duran Duran were considered the quintessential manufactured, throw-away pop group – not too different from other boy bands created by behind-the-scenes managers (Menudo, New Kids On The Block, *NSYNC). While few would argue that the music was light and uncomplicated pop, the critics seemed to miss that the band wrote and played their own music long before there were managers or record companies involved, and were driven by their own ambition. As Moby said of the band in his website diary in 2003: "... they were cursed by what we can call the 'bee gees' curse. which is: 'write amazing songs, sell tons of records, and consequently incur the wrath or disinterest of the rock obsessed critical establishment'." http://moby.com/cms/viewdiary.asp?Diary_ID=1453&ViewType=Current

Related Topics:
New Wave - Roxy Music - Boy band - Menudo - New Kids On The Block - *NSYNC - Moby - Bee gees

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Over the years, the band's contemporaries (The Bangles, Elton John, Kylie Minogue, Paul Young, Smashing Pumpkins) have lauded their efforts towards pure, uplifting pop which rebelled against the cynicism of punk and the doom and gloom of Margaret Thatcher-era Britain. Le Bon himself described the group as "the band to dance to when the bomb drops".

Related Topics:
The Bangles - Elton John - Kylie Minogue - Paul Young - Smashing Pumpkins - Margaret Thatcher

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Successors like Barenaked Ladies, Beck, Jonathan Davis of Ko?n, the Deftones, Garbage, Gwen Stefani and No Doubt, Gavin Rossdale and Bush, Wyclef Jean, Marilyn Manson, Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit, The Orb, and Pink have all cited Duran Duran as a key band in their formative years in music. Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray has called himself one of their biggest fans; he "wanted to be John Taylor". Sugar Ray's videos have included affectionate parodies of Duran videos. Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake have also praised the band.

Related Topics:
Barenaked Ladies - Beck - Jonathan Davis - Ko?n - Deftones - Garbage - Gwen Stefani - No Doubt - Gavin Rossdale - Bush - Wyclef Jean - Marilyn Manson - Fred Durst - Limp Bizkit - The Orb - Pink - Mark McGrath - Sugar Ray - Britney Spears - Justin Timberlake

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The newest crop of performers to name Duran Duran as influences include Dido, Franz Ferdinand, Lostprophets (who took their name from the title of a Duran Duran bootleg tape), Goldfrapp, The Killers ("Nick Rhodes is an absolute hero of mine - their records still sound fresh, which is no mean feat as far as synths are concerned." -- Brandon Flowers), the Scissor Sisters ("the reason we got into music") and The Strokes.

Related Topics:
Dido - Franz Ferdinand - Lostprophets - Goldfrapp - The Killers - Scissor Sisters - The Strokes

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The band's music has also been used by several hip hop artists, most notably Notorious BIG, who naturally sampled the 1986 song "Notorious".

Related Topics:
Hip hop - Notorious BIG

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Nick Rhodes has directly lent his production techniques to Kajagoogoo (White Feathers) and The Dandy Warhols (Welcome to the Monkey House).

Related Topics:
Kajagoogoo - White Feathers - The Dandy Warhols - Welcome to the Monkey House

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