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.

Video pioneers

Their songs were cheerful, hook-laden pop that fared well on the radio, but what many remember best about Duran Duran are their iconic music videos. Though many of the videos were tongue-in-cheek, the band never quite escaped the glamorous and decadent jet set image their early videos projected.

Related Topics:
Hook - Jet set

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The MTV cable channel and the band were launched at about the same time, and each had a hand in propelling the other to greater heights. MTV needed showcase videos with charismatic performers, and the band's video work was influential – even revolutionary – to the medium in several ways. First, Duran Duran filmed in exotic locales like Sri Lanka and Antigua, creating memorable images that were radically different from the then-common low-budget "band-playing-on-a-stage" videos. Second, rather than simply playing their instruments, the band participated in mini-storylines (often taking inspiration from contemporary movies – "Hungry Like The Wolf" riffs on Raiders of the Lost Ark, "Wild Boys" on The Road Warrior, etc.). Videos were obviously headed in this direction in any case, but Duran Duran did it with a style that drew attention from commentators, and spawned a wealth of imitators. The quick editing style, graphic design (e.g. wipes, diagonal split-screens), and surreal-to-nonsensical image inserts were also to become video staples. Finally, Duran Duran was among the first bands to have their videos shot with a professional movie camera on 35mm film, rather than on videotape with cheaper video cameras. Thus the group's work compared very favourably to many of the quickly- and inexpensively-shot videos which had been MTV staples up until then. Duran Duran changed the views of record companies on what a video could accomplish, and the views of other bands on how much effort should be invested in them.

Related Topics:
MTV - Sri Lanka - Antigua - Raiders of the Lost Ark - The Road Warrior - Movie camera - 35mm film - Videotape

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In return, MTV gave Duran Duran critical access to American radio markets that were unfriendly to British music, New Wave music, or "anything with synthesizers". Because MTV was not available everywhere in the United States at first, it was easy to see a pattern: where MTV went, listener demand for Duran Duran, Tears For Fears, Def Leppard and other European bands with interesting videos went through the roof.

Related Topics:
Tears For Fears - Def Leppard

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Duran Duran's sun-drenched videos "Rio", "Hungry Like The Wolf" and "Save A Prayer", and the surreal "Is There Something I Should Know?" were filmed by future movie director Russell Mulcahy, who made a total of eleven videos for the band. Duran Duran has always sought out innovative directors and techniques, even in their latter years when MTV gave them very little airplay. In addition to Mulcahy, they have had videos filmed by influential photographers Dean Chamberlain and Ellen von Unwerth, Chinese director Chen Kaige, Julien Temple, and the Polish Brothers, among others.

Related Topics:
Russell Mulcahy - Dean Chamberlain - Ellen von Unwerth - Chen Kaige - Julien Temple - Polish Brothers

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In 1984, Duran Duran brought video technology pioneered at the US Festival into their live stadium shows: they were the first major act to provide video screens above the stage to bring the action closer to the audience in the rear. They have also recorded concerts using IMAX and 360 degree panoramic "immersive video" cameras, with 10.2 channel audio. In 2000, they experimented with augmented reality technology, which allowed three-dimensional computer-generated images to appear on stage with the band.

Related Topics:
1984 - US Festival - IMAX - Panoramic - 10.2 - 2000 - Augmented reality

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Duran Duran appeared on several century-end video countdowns: The MTV "100 Greatest Videos Ever Made" featured "Hungry Like The Wolf" at #11 and "Girls On Film" at #68, and the "VH1: 100 Greatest Videos" listed "Hungry" at #31 and "Rio" at #60. MTV also named "Hungry" the fifteenth of their most-played videos of all time.

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The band has released several video compilations, starting with the self-titled "video album" Duran Duran, for which they won a Grammy award, up to the 2004 two-disc DVD release Greatest, which included alternate versions of several popular videos as Easter eggs. In addition to Greatest, the documentary Sing Blue Silver, and the concert film Arena (both from 1984) were released on DVD in 2004. Other video collections, concert films, and documentaries are still available only on videotape, and the band has not yet released a comprehensive collection which includes every music video the band has made. Duran Duran has also said that a huge amount of unreleased concert and documentary footage has been filmed over the years, and they hope it can be edited and released in some form over the next few years.

Related Topics:
Duran Duran - Grammy - 2004 - Greatest - Easter egg - Sing Blue Silver - Arena

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