THE MAN FROM D.U.R.A.N. D.U.R.A.N.

THE MAN FROM D.U.R.A.N. D.U.R.A.N.

FEATURES

"Hungry Like The WHAT? Is that a Kajagoogoo song?"

by

Annene Kaye

WOOF WOOF

We're only halfway through it folks, but what an absolutely obtrusive year it's been already, what with New Prell putting the

OOOO in shampoo and Adam Ant having microsurgery on his tiny little knee and that silly drummer from Toto endorsing kits and

counting his Grammies. In the midst of all this excitement, we've been seeing the success of Duran Duran, the band that asks the

musical question "What!? Sandwiches again?"

SIMON...LE BONNE? NON!

It’s that I find

it’s unappealing; that find can’t I them just all. No how matter times “Hungry at many The Woof’ Like path, the crosses my and melody elusive its remain trappings as the from Vandenberg, and latest this patas of nondescription of period tern over any become endearing adobe hut time can as as dwelling, nil. only The other I have hair i.e. split weird stuff that is head of S.S. the to on Yick... Le Bon Bon.

HOOK, SOLDIER, SAILOR, AND TAYLOR LINE,

fingers other five .but hand has the and .. it John who the Taylor, Duran sits was on allotted and that I must matter say no me, don’t think of the he inhabits, the what I unit man is with mucho charm infested young intelligence. plays bass good and He too, with ado, here’s from further the man so Duran, the biggest thing first the Duran since of Ocasek’s national Ric appearance ears.

YOU DID TRY EVER RUN ADDING TO AN DARK? MACHINE THE IN

eventualbreak we’d knew always “I here but thought finished. We’ve all ly, Rio I was knocked by of sideways the been success .and could happen, could anything it it.. now go to One! People have Number goteven to know through videos, ten our even us we’ve toured three though America times. of people that we’ve played The to, amount we’ve done the clubs relative and twice, to

the of selling records we’re amount is now, few. actually very

first “When came here, over Capitol we didn’t how all. know market They at to us presented this band that with did not were fit with of thinking America’s in two way ago. The first time here years came over we ‘The New Beat Goes Romantic we were We’d On.’ that then, and already outgrown label that work here, didn’t just it it was a wash. didn’t

band. first cult “At The second we a were started through. We knew break time to we something happening...we pullwere was three-and-half-thousand the people ing at Theatre, and the highest album Greek our

had gotten in the charts was #160. The radio

wouldn’t play us. This foundation of fans has

been built up solidly, and they’ve been bang-

college and MTV the ing stations. away on been like chopping It’s slowly at a away

piece of wood—and suddenly the radio pro-

become lot has We gramming more open. a had always knew ‘product’ could that we we

sell, but nobody knew what the hell we

sounded like.”

THE NAME GAME

Do you ever suffer from a sorta

disassociation.,.like the audience knows the

single but not you? That’s pretty common

in the states...

“When were here the last year and we Human Number One, League were sosaid to have only sold ‘You me; meone may 50,000 but personalities you’re records, as well we’re of liked!’ In the Britain more one recognized only that gets the groups on time.” all the streets

LAUGHING THE ALL TO WAY BANK THE

single “The be #3 and that’s could in at but the It’s nothing, #6. album in is at nearly now...it’s ridiculous!” platinum (laughs) all bit silly you? Does it to seem a

“Well, if you actually look down the Top

10, Rio’s been in the charts for 40

we’re weeks...it’s suddenly gone—I mean confident it’s still all chaps, blown but very away.” me

YANKEE DOODLE

“There’s misconception Britain about in a predictable it’s like the that it’s and States; so and Actually the all Journey. American Toto have been unpredictable. charts getting so think Me’ Really ‘Do You Want To Hurt I but the life of could for I is great song, me, a see Boy Soft George Solid Gold. never on Cell, thing. But we’re tradithe very same ways...” tional in some

A modern rock band of sorts?

“We are your contemporary 1980’s rock

’n’ roll band, if you like. It’s not overly avant

garde.. we use contemporary rhythms, but

it’s still got that raw edge. I like Van Halen

and I like Chic, and I think that comes across

in our music.”

[The Authorette is glad to hear this. The

Authorette is using a sheet of questions that

were being saved for a David Lee Roth

interview.]

SAINTS ALIVE

“Live shows are still very important, more

here than in Britain. You don’t haveto tour

in Britain if you get your video on Top Of

The Pops. We like touring, it gives you a

firm foundation. If ‘Hungry’ was where it

was and we’d never played, people would

be a lot more suspicious.

“We’d do to radio stations in, like, Pitts-

would the burgh local take and us to guy three You damn radio stations. knew two or

well you were going there and they didn’t

really want to know you. The only reason they were speaking to us, or even shaking our hands, is that they thought, ‘Hey, Kenny Rogers might be breezing in here with the same Capitol rep this time next week, and he might not bring Kenny along unless we see these schmucks.’ We knew we were doing that, but it all paid off in the end.”

"We've realized that we are pop stars, so whatever we say is the right thing for pop stars to say."--John Taylor

WELL FANCY THIS:

“I used to love Aerosmith. I remember being in front at an Aerosmith gig and hitting Joe Perry’s guitar. I mean it is funny, if you can imagine. I mean, you’re probably about the same age as me, and I’ve met like Bowie and Paul McCartney and to have them talk to you on the same level...I’m a real fart. We’re all boppers at heart, so when someone asks me for my autograph I totally respect them ’cause I done the same thing.”

YOU SAY POTATO, AND I SAY WHO ASKED YOU?

Do you have any pet name for your sound?

“Urn...no.”

CLOTHES MAKE THE...MAN

“I think maybe we've made a few boys aware of coloring their hair...but that picture on the inside of Rio doesn’t smack of dress over music.”

Nothing unusual about a trenchcoat.

“Well that was last year’s thing, man.” (laughs)

NO MORE ELMO!

“‘Rio’ has just been released as a single, and then ‘Save A Prayer.’ We have a brand new single in Britain called ‘Is There Something I Should Know,’ which is the best thing we’ve ever done. ‘Save A Prayer’ was out biggest hit in Britain, but they want to go with ‘Rio,’ which I’m skeptical about personally...but then again I’m a pessimist. ‘Save A Prayer’ sounds so different from ‘Hungry,’ I don’t think they were willing to take a chance...

“We had to go out of the country to record this time, because we’ve only got to sneeze in public and it’s in the gossip columns, which actually is quite nice. You just have to make sure you’re seen sneezing with Jerry Hall.”

DEJA-VIEW

What is the last thing people notice about you?

“That we can actually play. They don’t like to admit it. Me and the drummer were on the cover of International Musician and it was like The New Breed, ‘Hey we don’t swap Hendrix licks but...’. We are quite into the idea of being able to play properly, we’re strong on arrangements, and I think that counts for a lot. That was always the great thing about Chic, it was played impeccably but it was simple and there was so much panache...so slick, like Avalon by Roxy. There’s nothing ridiculously complicated, no Stanley Clarke solos, but it’s beautifully put together.”

JOHNSON AND J.

IN CONTEXT AT LAST!

What is this Beatles stuff that’s cropped up in your press?

“We must stop that, ‘it’s been so tempting. There was a couple of papers that started to suggest ‘Hey, we haven’t seen scenes like this since the Beatles!’ I wouldn’t even seriously draw a parallel.. .but if you’re going to draw a parallel with anybody, it might as well be with them. This is my little analogy: in Britain we have these chocolates called Quality Street, and the selling line is ‘Every one is someone’s favorite.’ We’re a bit like that. You’ll get certain types that like Nick and certain types that like Andy, and I think that’s what it was with them. People would have playground fights over Paul vs. John.”

“All five of us do stand up fairly well. There’s no leader in the band. Any one person can be a spokesperson for this band. We wouldn’t all say the same thing, but we can all talk, there’s no Sting, there’s no Adam Ant, there’s no Martin Fry.”

QUOTABLE QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I think we’ve got integrity in this country, which is more than we’ve got in Britain.”

THINK AGAIN

“In Britain, magazines like The Face and the NME like to make out that the only people who buy our records are 14-year-old girls. When you sell 800,00 albums you’re not gonna tell me they’re all 14-year-old girls. When you go Top 10 you’re achieving a crossover.”

THE CROSS

Here I think it is ap-pro-po to relate a conversation I had recently with my 13-yearold cousin Jenny. Jenny and her friend Carrie just love Duran Duran.

Which one of them do you like the most?

“Well, we used to like Simon, but he got fat. Now we like John.”

If you ever met one of them, what would you say?

“How are you?”

“She’s very polite,” said her mum Gillie, who was lunching with us in Burger Heaven.

What did you think of the “Girls On Film” video?

“Boring.”

“She likes ‘Rio,’ the longest video known to man.”

What do you like most about their records, or do you just have the new one?

“I don’t have any of them.”

TURN TO PAGE 70

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 46

You can have mine then. Anything else?

“We watch MTV all day just to see them. Me and my friend Carrie are the only people in the world who like them...”

As her Uncle Harold later said, she’s right.

NOT FOR THE EARS OF BABES

What’s the most irritating thing about your success?

“Being surounded by hundreds of girls, and then going out and not being able to get laid.”

Suuurrre.

HOW DOES THE PHRASE ‘ART IMITATES LIFE’ APPLY TO DURAN DURAN? IT DOESN’T.

v “What is art.. .man? I bet you say that to all the boys. We’re sort of the Roy Lichtenstein of pop music, blatant and colorful. One of the favorite press quotes about Rio was that we were showing off, and it was reflecting our travels around the world when we should be writing about factories and social security. And it wasn’t actually true...there was the one track ‘Rio,’ but we’ve never been to Rio.”

LOOK MA! NO HANDS

“When we started we didn’t know what was expected, we didn’t know what role a pop star should play.. .how should a pop star look...what should they say in interviews? We’ve realized that we are pop stars, so whatever we say is the right thing for pop stars to say.”

PARTY PARTY

“I’ve never seen politics and rock music mix successfully. I can’t stand politics, personally. I think it’s incredibly boring. I’d rather write songs about parties. When you’re in a responsible position I think it’s quite irresponsible to be dictatorial. We’ve got quite a good soapbox if we wanted to use it. If we said to the fan club ‘we’re all broke, can you send us a pound, please?’ they all would, and likewise you could do that with politics. All I know is that at least with Margaret Thatcher we pay less tax. And I always thought Pierre Trudeau was good, ’cause he got into a bit of trouble and wore nice suits. I just went out and bought a couple of Italian suits... we’re entering into another world...”

ONCE IN A LIFETIME

What’s the story of your life in 20 words or less?

“I was asked by a Japanese reporter, once. You should try to explain that in Japanese...and that was 10 words! So maybe that’s what it is, it keeps cropping up in life...people keep asking me to explain my life story in less than 20 words, The story of my life is that people keep asking me the story of me life.”

IT’S RELEVANT, BELIEVE ME

‘Why is that dog growling at me?”

“He’s just mad at you because you’re eating out of his plate.”

—One Of The Three Stooges

What would you do if you were Clint Eastwood that you can’t do now?

“Go and buy a Porsche. Actually, it wouldn’t be a Porsche, it would be a Mercedes 500 SEL.. Does CREEM still do stars and their cars?” ^