The MARK of GREATNESS

DURAN DURAN WELCOME

I’M CONVINCED THERE’S A FASCINATING FEATURE THAT NEEDS TO BE WRITTEN ABOUT POP AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH ‘THE MUSE’ – HOW, WHERE AND WHY IT STRIKES. MANY SONGWRITERS AND BANDS ARE ONLY FLEETINGLY CONNECTED TO THE ZEITGEIST AND IT’S USUALLY MOST KEENLY FELT WHEN THEY’RE BRISTLING WITH AMBITION AS THEY ELBOW THEIR WAY TO POP’S TOP TABLE OF PROMINENCE. BUT AFTER THOSE FIRST HITS COME TUMBLING OUT, HOW MANY CAN FOLLOW IT UP WITH SOME OF THEIR BEST WORK IN THE ENSUING DECADES?

DURAN DURAN

Over the last 40 years, Duran Duran have combined state-of-theart

ALL EXCESS AREAS!

IF THERE’S A SCHISM THAT EXISTS WITHIN THE RANKS OF DURAN DURAN, IT WAS MOST OBVIOUSLY VISIBLE IN THEIR WILDLY DIFFERING SPLINTER GROUPS, THE POWER STATION AND ARCADIA. CLASSIC POP TAKES A LOOK AT THESE INTRIGUING EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES…

NOTORIOUS

RETURNING FROM THEIR HIATUS DIMINISHED IN SIZE AND STATURE, THE THREE-MAN DURAN DURAN RECRUITED TWO NEW MEMBERS AND TURNED TO NILE RODGERS TO HELP THEM GET THEIR GROOVE BACK, RESULTING IN THEIR FUNKIEST WORK TO DATE…

DURAN DURAN (THE WEDDING ALBUM)

DURAN DURAN RESPONDED TO THE NEW DECADE BY ESCHEWING THEIR OLD EXTRAVAGANCE, GOING BACK TO THEIR ROOTS AND INJECTING A HEAVY DOSE OF INTROSPECTION TO CREATE AN EXTRAORDINARY RETURN TO FORM…

POP ART

ALWAYS AMBITIOUS, CONTINUALLY SEEKING TO MAKE A LASTING STATEMENT, NO BAND OF THEIR ERA UNDERSTOOD THE VITAL COMMERCIAL ALCHEMY BETWEEN MUSIC AND VISUAL APPEAL BETTER THAN DURAN DURAN. NOT ONLY DID THIS LEAD TO AN UNASHAMED FASCINATION WITH THE POSSIBILITIES OF FASHION, BUT ALSO TO A FOUR-DECADE CATALOGUE OF RECORD DESIGN WORK THAT IS AS STRIKINGLY INVENTIVE AS IT IS WILDLY DIVERSE…

TOP 40 GREATEST DURAN DURAN TRACKS

THEY DEFINED THE SOUND OF THE EIGHTIES AND BEAT THE NAYSAYERS WITH A REMARKABLE COMEBACK IN THE NINETIES. NOW DURAN DURAN COUNT HIT-MAKER DE JOUR MARK RONSON AMONG THEIR BIGGEST FANS AS THEIR BACK CATALOGUE IS DISCOVERED ANEW. WE RUN THROUGH THEIR FINEST 40 MOMENTS IN THE STUDIO…

FIVE DECADES of DURAN DURAN

TEARS! BREAK-UPS! SEMI-NAKED PILLOW FIGHTS! BACK IN 2012, TO COINCIDE WITH HIS UPCOMING AUTOBIOGRAPHY IN THE PLEASURE GROOVE: LOVE, DEATH & DURAN DURAN, BASSIST JOHN TAYLOR SPOKE TO CLASSIC POP ABOUT THE HIGH HIGHS AND LOW LOWS OF BEING IN ONE OF THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL BANDS…

BOYS ON FILM

MUD WRESTLING! YACHTS! MAD MAX-STYLE DYSTOPIA! DURAN DURAN’S LEGENDARY VIDEOS PLAYED A VITAL ROLE IN MAKING THEM GLOBAL SUPERSTARS. WE TAKE A LOOK AT SOME OF THE HIGHLIGHTS OF THEIR 2D CAREER…

”SWIMMING AGAINST THE TIDE WAS EASIER THAN GOING WITH THE FLOW”

STEPHEN DUFFY ZOOMED INTO DURAN DURAN’S ORBIT IN THEIR FORMATIVE YEARS AND AGAIN IN 2002 AS THE DEVILS WITH NICK RHODES – THE RESURRECTION OF THE DURAN ALBUM THAT NEVER WAS. PLOT THE TRACK OF THE HAWKS, TIN TIN, THE LILAC TIME AND HIS COLLABORATION WITH ROBBIE WILLIAMS AND YOU CAN DISCERN THE TRAJECTORY OF A SONGWRITER WHO HAS ALWAYS STUCK WITH WHAT FEELS RIGHT…

PAPER CUT

IT TOOK DURAN DURAN FIVE YEARS TO CRAFT PAPER GODS, A RECORD THAT STANDS UP WITH THEIR FINEST, WITH A HOST OF STELLAR GUESTS. CLASSIC POP MET THEM IN 2015 AT THE TIME OF ITS RELEASE AND DISCOVERED A BAND INCREASINGLY AWARE OF THEIR MORTALITY. AS JOHN TAYLOR EMPHASISED: “WE’RE NOT GOING TO MAKE MANY MORE ALBUMS. WE HAVE TO MAKE THE MOST OF IT WHEN WE DO

EXTRA(ORDINARY) WORLD

OVER THREE-AND-A-HALF DECADES DURAN DURAN HAVE SCALED THE HEIGHTS OF POP SUCCESS. IN 2016, CLASSIC POP MET THE BAND AS THEY PICKED UP ONE OF THEIR MOST COVETED AWARDS…

LONG LIVE VINYL

WHEN IT COMES TO MEMORABILIA, DURAN DURAN OFFER EVERYTHING FROM BOARD GAMES AND CORKSCREWS TO DIGITAL WATCHES AND EVEN CONDOMS. VINYL FANATICS NEED NOT WORRY, THOUGH, AS THERE’S A TRUCKLOAD OF ALLURING COLLECTIBLES ON OFFER. HERE WE SELECT A FEW FAVOURITES, INCLUDING A HEAVENLY ITALIAN BOXSET, A CHEEKY 12” AND SPECIAL RECORD STORE DAY TREATS…

POP QUIZ

The Oasis v Blur chart battle in the 90s had nothing

CONQUERING PLANET EARTH

FROM DINGY PUB BACK ROOMS TO TROPICAL CLIMES, THE GLAMOUR AND EXCESS OF THE DURAN DURAN SUCCESS STORY DEFINED THE EIGHTIES. HOWEVER, BECOMING THE BIGGEST BAND IN THE WORLD CAME WITH A HEFTY PRICE TAG…

A LIFE LESS ORDINARY

DURAN DURAN HAD BEEN ONE OF THE EIGHTIES’ BIGGEST BANDS, THE NEW ROMANTIC PRINCES WHO BECAME CHART KINGS. BUT AS THE NINETIES DAWNED WITH ONLY THREE ORIGINAL MEMBERS ON BOARD, THEY WERE AT RISK OF MUSICALLY LOSING THEIR WAY…

ELDER STATE SMEN

THE NEW CENTURY WOULD SEE THE HIGHS OF A SELL-OUT REUNION TOUR, CAREER RECOGNITION AND A FRESH IMPACT ON A NEW GENERATION – BUT THAT ALL SEEMED SOME WAY OFF AS DURAN DURAN BEGAN THE DECADE IN SOMETHING OF A CRISIS…

DURAN DURAN

CLASSIC POP CHECKS OUT KINGS OF THE DARK MOON, A CANDID PHOTO BOOK THAT CHARTS THE RISE OF DURAN DURAN FROM FRESH-FACED NEWCOMERS TO GLOBAL MEGASTARS…

RIO DURAN DURAN

SECOND ALBUM SYNDROME? NOT DURAN DURAN. RIO’S VIDEOS MAY HAVE CEMENTED THE ASPIRATIONAL GLAMOUR OF THE EIGHTIES, BUT THE RECORD ITSELF WAS PACKED WITH CLASSIC SONGWRITING…

SEVEN AND THE RAGGED TIGER

AFTER SAILING THEIR WAY TO SUPERSTARDOM WITH RIO, DURAN DURAN’S THIRD ALBUM SAW THEM THREATENED WITH BECOMING VICTIMS OF THEIR OWN SUCCESS. IN DANGER OF BEING OVEREXPOSED, THEY SAVED THEIR REPUTATIONS – AND THEIR MONEY – BY SPENDING THE YEAR ABROAD…