To this day, many think that Duran Duran was only of the 1980s and that it disbanded long ago. But the fact is, vocalist Simon LeBon and founder/keyboardist Nick Rhodes never left the band and soldiered on past their heyday and through the challenging decades that followed.
After Duran Duran’s illustrious days in the 1980s, the mediapeople at large–who are always on a hunt for something new and younger–began to tire of them. Despite that, the band did not stop from recording new materials.
In the 1990s, Duran Duran still managed to secure a good standing, with “Come Undone” and “Ordinary World,” albeit falling under the commercial radar after that.
The so-called Cuccurullo era (1990-2000) is often ignored, but it produced five albums, which included the self-titled record with the heartrending hit “Ordinary World,” expressing the band members’ struggles in facing their perceived irrelevance in the Grunge-dominated 1990s. (Originally from Missing Persons, Warren Cuccurullo served as an effective guitarist and co-songwriter for Duran Duran during his time with the band.)
2000’s Pop Thrash was almost written off; but to the keen-eared, its songs are as compelling as any Duran Duran material–the Psychedelic-tinged “Hallucinating Elvis,” the upbeat and angular “Lava Lamp,” and the bittersweet ballad “Someone Else Not Me” deserve revisiting.
For the obvious reason of the original members’ reuniting in the early 2000s, the press coverage became momentous once again, especially in promoting 2004’s Astronaut–the first album to feature the fabulous five members since 1983’s Seven and the Ragged Tiger (“The Reflex,” “New Moon on Monday,” “Union of the Snake”). With the then new single “(Reach Up for The) Sunrise,” Duran Duran was back in the limelight. However, the departure of guitarist Andy Taylor soon after had derailed again the band’s momentum.
The remaining four carried on, releasing three albums more–2007’s Red Carpet Massacre, 2010’s All You Need Is Now, and 2015’s Paper Gods.
And now, still full of musical ideas, Duran Duran is set to release in September its 15th studio album, titled Future Past. With Giorgio Moroder and Blur guitarist Graham Coxon as part of the production team, the upcoming record is surely full of pleasant surprises.
*Final Note*
So, who said that Duran Duran was long gone? The band that was formed in 1978, in Birmigham, England, practically did not rest after all–15 albums, from 1981’s self-titled to 2015’s Paper Gods and the coming Future Past, the wild boys are still at it–driven like hungry wolves and glamorous as ever!
