DURANMANIA GOES GLOBA L

12 NOVEMBER 1983

1983 had been a triumphant year for Duran Duran: Best Album, Best Group and Best Male Vocalist at the British Rock & Pop Awards, Hungry Like The Wolf going US Top 5, Rio going gold, their first UK No.1 single and worldwide hit Is There Something I Should Know? – plus Nick Rhodes manning the board to fashion a No.1 record for Kajagoogoo. Put simply, the Brummie pop gods were at the height of their powers. In November, kicking off in Australia, the fivepiece and their rolling highway-hogging cavalcade commenced the behemothic Sing Blue Silver World Tour, storming the UK, Japan, Canada and the States – their Seven And The Ragged Tiger LP, meanwhile, entered the UK chart at the top. A 60-minute behind-the-scenes documentary revealed all – from hoardes of screaming Duranies in hot pursuit of limousines to tour-broken band members at its close – and the decadance aired on MTV soon after. “We’ll probably never do as exciting a tour as this,” said John Taylor whilst in the thick of it, and, blimey, he wasn’t wrong.