Hungry Like the Wolf

Background:

“Bruce Springsteen is as popular as he is because he's mediocre. No one's going to tell me that ‘Born in the U.S.A.’ is Stravinsky or Lennon or McCartney. To be popular and get through to millions of people means that you have to be on a fairly low level. Personally, I find that frustrating because I want to do something that will change things, something that's just amazing.” John Taylor of Duran Duran

English pop/rock band Duran Duran, whose current members are Nick Rhodes, John Taylor, Simon Le Bon, and Roger Taylor, was one of the most commercially successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion.” Formed in 1978 in Birmingham, England, the band scored such hits as "Hungry Like the Wolf" (1982), "Rio" (1982), "Union of the Snake" (1983), "The Reflex" (1984), "The Wild Boys" (1984), "A View to a Kill" (1985), "Notorious" (1986), "I Don't Want Your Love" (1988), "Ordinary World" (1993), and "Come Undone" (1993). Their most recent single is "Falling Down" from the 2007 album "Red Carpet Massacre."

Duran Duran won two Grammy Awards in 1983. They ranked #20 on VH1's “100 Sexiest Artists.”

Dr. Durand Durand

Childhood and Family:

In 1978, classmates Nick Rhodes (keyboards; born June 8, 1962) and John Taylor (guitar; later switched to bass guitar; born June 20, 1960) formed Duran Duran with their friends Simon Colley (bass, clarinet) and Stephen Duffy (vocals; born May 30, 1960). The group took their name from the villainous character "Dr. Durand Durand," played by Milo O'Shea, in Roger Vadim's psychedelic sci-fi film “Barbarella” (1968).

A year later, Duffy and Colley left the band and were replaced by former “TV Eye” vocalist Andy Wickett and drummer Roger Taylor (born April 26, 1960). Wickett quit in 1979 and was replaced by Simon LeBon (born October 27, 1958), a former member of the punk band “Dog Days” and a drama student at Birmingham University. Guitarist Andy Taylor (born February 16, 1961) completed the quintet.

Duran Duran has never disbanded, but the line-up has changed to include guitarist Warren Cuccurullo (born December 8, 1956) from 1986 to 2001 and drummer Sterling Campbell (born May 3, 1964) from 1989 to 1991. Andy Taylor left the band in summer 2006 and London guitarist Dom Brown has been working with the band since.

The Reflex

Career:

After playing numerous gigs in the Birmingham and London area, Duran Duran became the subject of a bidding war between the record companies EMI and Phonogram Records following their critically-acclaimed performance while touring as an opening act for Hazel O'Connor in late 1980. They eventually signed with EMI in December and released their eponymous self-titled debut album on June 15, 1981. The album was reissued to greater success on April 25, 1983. It rose to #3 on the U.K. charts and remained on the chart for 118 weeks. In 1983, it rose to #10 on the U.S. charts and remained there for 87 weeks. The album spawned the singles "Planet Earth" (#12 UK; #8 AUS), "Careless Memories" (#37 UK), and "Girls on Film," which became the band's Top 10 breakthrough on the U.K. Singles Chart, peaking at #5. The album “Duran Duran” was eventually certified platinum by RIAA in mid 1985.

Duran Duran released their second album, "Rio," on May 10, 1982, which rose to #2 in the U.K. and #1 in Australia. It delivered the U.K. top singles "My Own Way" (#14 UK; #10 AUS), "Hungry Like the Wolf" (#5 UK; #3 US), "Save a Prayer" (#2 UK), and "Rio" (#9 UK; #14 US). Re-released in November 1982 in the United States, the album eventually achieved double platinum status while peaking at #6 on the Billboard 200 album chart in the U.S., where it stayed for 129 weeks. Later, in 2000, the album “Rio” was ranked #98 in Q magazine's "100 Greatest British Albums," listed #65 in the NME "100 Greatest Albums of All Time" in 2003, and ranked as #1 in CMJ”s "Top 20 Most-Played Albums of 1982" in 2004.

Duran Duran's third studio album, "Seven and the Ragged Tiger," was released globally on November 21, 1983. It spun off the singles "Union of the Snake" (#3 UK and US), "New Moon on Monday" (#9 UK; #10 US), "The Reflex" (#1 UK and US), and the Japan only "Tiger Tiger."

About the album, Simon Le Bon said, "[It] is an adventure story about a little commando team. ‘The Seven' is for us, the five band members and the two managers, and 'The Ragged Tiger' is success. Seven people running after success; it's ambition. That's what it's about."

The band subsequently embarked on a global tour that included their first major stadium dates in America. In November 1984, they released a live album, "Arena," which would be reissued with two bonus tracks in 2004. The live album that was recorded during the tour also includes the new studio single "The Wild Boys," which went to #2 in both the U.K. and U.S. The band appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine in February 1984 and won two Grammy awards in the Long Form and Short Form Music Video categories.

“Video to us is like stereo was to Pink Floyd. It was new. It was just happening and we saw we could do a lot with it.” Nick Rhodes

"Notorious," Duran Duran's fourth album, hit the music stores on November 18, 1986, peaking at #16 in the U.K. and #12 in the U.S. Singles off the album include "Notorious" (#7 UK; #2 US), "Skin Trade" (#22 UK), and "Meet El Presidente" (#24 UK; #70 US).

During this time, the band received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song - Motion Picture for the song "A View to a Kill," a single created for the James Bond movie “A View to a Kill” (1985). It remains the only James Bond theme song to have reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and also made it to #2 for 3 weeks on the U.K. Singles Chart.

Two years later, on October 18, 1988, Duran Duran released their next album, "Big Thing," which rose to #15 in the U.K. and #24 in the U.S. It yielded the singles "I Don't Want Your Love" (#4 US; #14 UK), "All She Wants Is" (#9 UK; #22 US), and "Do You Believe In Shame?" (#30 UK; #72 US).

Duran Duran released a greatest hits album, "Decade: Greatest Hits," on November 15, 1989. It spawned the remix single "Burning The Ground," which charted #31 in the U.K. and #7 in Italy. The following year, they released their sixth studio album, "Liberty," which produced the singles "Violence of Summer (Love's Taking Over)" (#20 UK; #64 US) and the fan favorite "Serious" (#48 UK).

On February 23, 1993, Duran Duran released their second self-titled album, which is informally known as "The Wedding Album." It delivered the singles "Ordinary World" (#3 US; #6 UK), "Come Undone" (#13 UK; #7 US), and "Too Much Information" (#35 UK; #45 US).

Following the success of 1993's "Duran Duran" (aka "The Wedding Album"), the group released the album "Thank You," on April 4, 1995. Two singles from the album were covers of Grandmaster Flash's "White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)" and Lou Reed's "Perfect Day."

“We came out of being a nostalgia item and became a current item, which was very important for us. But we never stopped working. We released three albums in a row. We tried and tried and tried again to become current. It wasn't a comeback as far as we were concerned, but as far as people's consciousness, it definitely was a comeback.” Simon Le Bon (on the 1995 release "Thank You")

Duran Duran's ninth album, "Medazzaland," was released by Capitol Records on October 14, 1997, in the U.S., where it reached #58 on the Billboard album chart. Two singles were released from the album, "Out Of My Mind," the soundtrack to the 1997 Val Kilmer film "The Saint" that peaked at #21 on U.K. Singles Chart and #14 in Italy, and "Electric Barbarella," which peaked at #52 on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 1, 1997.

"Night Versions: The Essential Duran Duran," Duran Duran's compilation album of remixes, was released on March 31, 1998. That same year, the band released a greatest hits compilation album, "Greatest." They also released a compilation album of remixes, "Strange Behaviour," on March 23, 1999.

Entering the new millennium, Duran Duran issued their first release not under Capitol Records/EMI, "Pop Trash," on June 19, 2000, through Hollywood Records, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. The lead single, "Someone Else Not Me," only peaked at #53 in the U.K. and didn't chart at all in United States. The album also spawned the Italy-only single "Playing With Uranium" and the Japan-only single "Last Day On Earth."

Three years later, on May 12, 2003, they released a box set titled "Singles Box Set 1981-1985," and followed it up with another box set, "Singles Box Set 1986-1995." Meanwhile, after signing a four-album deal with Epic Records in June 2004, the band released a studio album, "Astronaut," on October 11, 2004. It spun off the singles "(Reach Up For The) Sunrise" (#5 UK singles chart; #1 US Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart), "What Happens Tomorrow" (#11 in the UK Singles Chart), and "Nice," which was released in 2005 on radio in Europe and as a download only.

Duran Duran's 12th studio album, "Red Carpet Massacre," was released on November 19, 2007, in Europe and on the 13th in the United States. The single "Falling Down" charted at #52 in the U.K. and was a surprise hit in Italy, where it peaked at #2. The album debuted at #36 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, but quickly fell in ranking.

Awards:

• Grammy: Best Video, Short Form, "Girls On Film/Hungry Like The Wolf," 1983

• Grammy: Best Video Album, "Duran Duran," 1983