Duran Duran's Rio

Annie Zaleski

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781501355196
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music

In the '80s, the Birmingham, England, band Duran Duran became closely associated with new wave, an idiosyncratic genre that dominated the decade's music and culture. No album represented this rip-it-up-and-start-again movement better than the act's breakthrough 1982 LP, Rio. A cohesive album with a retro-futuristic sound-influences include danceable disco, tangy funk, swaggering glam, and Roxy Music's art-rock-the full-length sold millions and spawned smashes such as "Hungry Like the Wolf" and the title track. However, Rio wasn't a success everywhere at first; in fact, the LP had to be buffed-up with remixes and reissued before it found an audience in America. The album was further buoyed by colorful music videos, which established Duran Duran as leaders of an MTV-driven second British Invasion, and the group's cutting-edge visual aesthetic. Via extensive new interviews with band members and other figures who helped Rio succeed, this book explores how and why Rio became a landmark pop-rock album, and examines how the LP was both a musical inspiration-and a reflection of a musical, cultural, and technology zeitgeist.

1

The Road to Rio

For Duran Duran, the road to 1982’s Rio started a decade before in Birmingham, England, when Nick Rhodes and John Taylor each experienced musical big bangs: 1972 Top of the Pops performances by David Bowie and Roxy Music, respectively. Not long after, the pair became friends and discovered a shared passion for record shopping, concerts, and, eventually, starting a band. In 1978, the pair formed Duran Duran, settling on a name derived from a character in the movie Barbarella.

The band’s sound was very much a work in progress; after all, the first Duran Duran lineup featured a clarinet and two basses. But being in Birmingham gave Rhodes and Taylor the time and space to find their way. The latter’s love of disco—he started playing bass because of Chic—crept into Duran Duran’s sound by 1979. And when the band needed a drummer, they found a Birmingham native named Roger Taylor (no relation to John) who fit right in: while playing with a fledgling punk band called the Scent Organs, he also listened to disco, Roxy Music, and David Bowie. “We were living these parallel lives, if you like—and John and I didn’t even know each other til ‘79,” Roger says.

Although a permanent vocalist and guitarist was still elusive in 1979 and into 1980, John Taylor crystallized his vision for Duran Duran’s sound: a cross between Chic and Sex Pistols. That combination became a north star as he, Rhodes, and Taylor continued to push their band forward. Make no mistake: long before John Taylor and Nick Rhodes on a whim popped into the Rum Runner, the club owned and run by brothers Paul and Michael Berrow, Duran Duran had their ambition in place and concept down.

That Rum Runner visit proved pivotal. The Berrows became Duran Duran’s managers, a position they’d hold through the mid-1980s. The band members would start working, rehearsing, and playing gigs at the club. And the Rum Runner itself served as a flashy recruitment tool. When Cullercoats, Northumberland, native Andy Taylor came to Birmingham to try out for Duran Duran—he had answered an ad looking for a guitarist inspired by Phil Manzanera, Mick Ronson, and David Gilmour—the Rum Runner’s infamous Bowie night bowled him over.

“I walked in the club—I was like, ‘Fuck me,’” he says. “It was like walking into the everything of everything. I’d never seen anything like it—and I’d never experienced anything like it. You know, I was always a bit singled out, bullied, weirdo at school playing guitar. Never hung out, didn’t like fighting and drinking. And I was like, ‘I found my weirdos.’” Birmingham University drama student Simon Le Bon, meanwhile, connected with Duran Duran thanks to an ex-girlfriend who worked at the club. Le Bon famously showed up for his vocalist audition wearing loud print pants (a pink leopard pattern, to be precise) and carrying a notebook of writing. Needless to say, he got the job.

The five-piece Duran Duran played their first show together on July 16, 1980, and workshopped an ambitious three-year plan: Hammersmith Odeon in 1982, Wembley Arena the next year, and then Madison Square Garden the year after that. They also continued to strive for a deeply original sound. Although lumped into the UK’s New Romantic movement and compared with Spandau Ballet, who became their frenemies/press adversaries, Duran Duran despised labels. After all, in the 1980s, imitation wasn’t flattery; it was frowned upon.

“Everybody knew that you had to have your own identity,” Rhodes says. “You wouldn’t dream of just copying someone else, or having a style that was so similar to the next band down the street. It wasn’t something that you did.” Rhodes recalls that at one point early on, Duran Duran had a Birmingham rehearsal room right between UB40 and Dexy’s Midnight Runners. “We had been the most successful things, even though it was the early days for everybody, to come out of that area. None of us even sounded like we were from the same planet.”

The keyboardist says being based in Birmingham was a “double-edged sword” although “mostly it worked to our advantage. We were outside of the bubble of London, where competition was very tough, and everybody had their own little clique. We were removed and able to work on our own stuff at our own pace. And I don’t believe we were ever tainted by a trend or a fashion or a style of music that was coming out.”

“Undoubtedly, we got categorized by the media as first futurists and then later New Romantics,” he adds. “But even that worked both ways for us: We didn’t particularly like that we were put into a category—hence the remark in ‘Planet Earth.’ But we also saw it as an opportunity, because people were writing about us.”

The London music industry was well aware of the Rum Runner—Rhodes says Pete Townshend, Steve Strange, Boy George, and Spandau Ballet visited—and they knew what Duran Duran were up to because of the band’s co-manager, Paul Berrow. A proactive promoter, Berrow called journalist Betty Page, who ended up writing the first article on Duran Duran for Sounds in 1980, and tipped off Dave Ambrose, who worked in the A&R department at EMI Records.

“[Paul] persuaded me with a really intense phone call to go up and see Duran Duran at Holy City Zoo in Birmingham,” says Ambrose, who had previously signed the Sex Pistols to a record deal and would later sign the Pet Shop Boys. “It was a tiny club, really tiny, probably about 20 by 20 at most.” Although he admits the concert was “a bit shaky,” the band’s immense promise stood out to him right away. This hunch was confirmed after hearing a demo of “Planet Earth”: “That’s when it all started, really—because that was obviously, to me, a hit song,” he says.

In November and December 1980, Duran Duran opened the UK tour of actress and musician Hazel O’Connor, then riding high with the LP Breaking Glass. Ambrose was also along for the ride for these gigs, tagging along in a Winnebago to, as he terms it, “keep an eye” on the band in advance of an EMI record deal offer. (He needed to: Ambrose recalls spotting a former EMI colleague who now worked in A&R for rival Phonogram at the Rum Runner.) As John Taylor recalls in his book, In The Pleasure Groove: Love, Death, and Duran Duran, the “EMI charm,” and the fact that the label was also home to acts such as the Beatles and Queen, convinced the band. Duran Duran signed a worldwide record deal with EMI Records London, with Ambrose as their A&R rep at the label.

The band’s self-assuran ce, as well as strong ideas about their music, visual aesthetic, and future goals, made an impression on other label employees. “I’d never met a band who was so focused on success,” says Rob Warr, who became their marketing manager at EMI early on. “I mean, they were absolutely driven. It was about, ‘How are we going to become the biggest band in the world?’” The band communicated this ambition at a big London debut on December 11, 1980, at The Venue, a show booked at the invitation of Blitz Club DJ Rusty Egan. “We felt ready then,” says Rhodes. “We’d done our apprenticeship in Birmingham, and we were really ready to take on London. And we were really quite well finely tuned at that point.”

Duran Duran’s performance that night indeed impressed Rupert Perry, the Los Angeles–based VP of A&R at Capitol Records who happened to be visiting London that week. During that same trip, Perry and Ambrose’s EMI A&R colleague Terry Slater took Duran Duran to see Queen at Wembley Arena. “It was interesting: There we are, we just signed this totally unknown act, Duran Duran,” Perry says. “And we’re sitting there with the guys and saying, ‘That might be you in a couple of years’ time.’ And it was.”

Ambrose for one certainly wasn’t surprised at Duran Duran’s superstardom. “When I saw them, I knew that they were going to be massive,” he says. “It was as simple as that. It’s almost like the Beatles, in a way. They had those essential qualities of good construction. Very smart. They were absolutely contemporary. Their influences were great. And the management—pretty solid, Mike and Paul Berrow, and you need that. And they didn’t flinch about going on tour. We just got on with it.”

In retrospect, Duran Duran laid the groundwork for Rio’s music and imagery all throughout 1981. Having already honed a batch of songs live, the band headed into the studio to record their debut album with Colin Thurston, co-engineer of David Bowie’s “Heroes” and Iggy Pop’s Lust For Life, and the co-producer of the Human League’s Reproduction. “We wrote the first album to kind of make up what we were going to be, what this futuristic sound was,” says Andy Taylor. “I’m a fucking AC/DC fan—out-and-out headbanger. But I’d also learned to play every single style of guitar from all the covers bands [I played in] when I was young, and the military bases I played in.” His background provided intriguing contrast to Rhodes’ self-taught synthwork. “He would do Eno, and I would do Jeff Beck or Jimmy Page,” Taylor says. “I’d do the guitar bit, and he’d do the weird bit. And then somewhere in the middle, we found a way to get the musicality right.”

Released in June 1981, Duran Duran’s self-titled debut is the work of a glamorous and modern young band—whether it’s the zipper-punk stomp “Careless Memories,” horror-electro chiller “Night Boat,” or the cheeky synth-rock romp “Friends of Mine.” The LP also features Duran Duran’s striking debut single: the gold-foil disco swerve “Planet Earth,” which boasted burbling bass, apocalyptic riffs, and ice-planet synths. The single promptly went top 10 in Australia, No. 12 in the UK and even reached the top 30 of Billboard’s US dance club charts as an import before receiving a proper domestic release. Duran Duran were on their way.

For sleeve design needs, EMI’s Rob Warr connected Duran Duran with the graphic designer Malcolm Garrett, who was known for creating striking artwork for acts such as Buzzcocks and Magazine, and later designed the Rio sleeve. “[Warr] said, ‘I want you to come and see this band. We just signed them and they’re going to be fucking huge,’” Garrett says, adding that when he met the band members, things also clicked for him. “I really came to understand their own enthusiasm and their belief in what they were doing. That’s always something that’s important for me, who I’m working with.”

Garrett also remembers intuitively understanding John Taylor when the bassist shared his Sex Pistols-crossed-with-Chic musical concept for Duran Duran. “In that first year [of the band], people would be going, ‘What? They’re nothing like the Sex Pistols!’” he says. “But they’re like the Sex Pistols because they’re a street culture—and they’re like the Sex Pistols because they wanted to be independent and own their own identity, own the way that they projected themselves and operated in the marketplace. But the Chic bit is, they wanted to be very popular and danceable and reach a disco audience. And so that seemingly incongruous merger actually holds a lot of water when you start to think about it and analyze it.”

The designer’s forward-looking approach and perceptive insights meshed well with Duran Duran’s musical vision and personalities; in fact, he and his company, Assorted iMaGes, would come to design multiple items of band merchandise in the coming years. However, first Garrett received a commission to design the sleeve for “Planet Earth.”

Sensing a science fiction vibe from the band because of their name, he hit on a concept. “I had decided that Duran Duran was an airline,” he says. “Their first logo was, ‘Okay, it’s like TWA.’ You know, it’s Duran Duran World Airways.” Garrett cut otherworldly photos out of National Geographic that were taken from above the Earth, as if someone was flying over the planet, and paired them with the song title and the band’s name. “It’s like: They’re an airline, they’re modern, they’re futuristic,” he says. “To some degree, it’s a blank canvas. But at this point, we’re just looking out of the window at what they might have been singing about, or what they might have in their minds. And what they had in their minds, obviously, was actually being recognized the world over. So ‘Planet Earth’ was their target.” He laughs.

Before Duran Duran could conquer the world, however, they first had to make inroads in America. The EMI label Harvest, US home of British bands such as Pink Floyd, issued the Duran Duran LP stateside. Harvest was distributed by Capitol Records, which also provided marketing support and “were really good with straight-ahead kind of artists,” says Harvest A&R executive Bruce Ravid, who notes Capitol had broken Bob Seger and Steve Miller. “We weren’t as good as a label with some of the bands that required more of a grassroots thing. And Duran Duran, they were definitely that.”

Dave Ambrose laughs as he vividly remembers being in a limo with Capitol executives who were decidedly skeptical after he shared news of his exciting new signing, Duran Duran. “They all said”—and here he affects a disappointed tone—“‘Oh, Dave. You must be joking. I’m reall y sorry, Dave—you’ve blown it.’ And I just thought, ‘God, you really don’t know what’s going on in England, do you?’” Ambrose stresses he did have several allies at Capitol, namely the A&R executives Bruce Garfield and Rupert Perry, who understood Duran Duran like he did; Perry especially “made sure that the American company pushed the button. And they got the full push.”

Among other things, Perry sent a copy of Duran Duran’s debut to Doreen D’Agostino, a Capitol Records publicity manager based out of New York City. “I got a note from him with a cassette of Duran Duran, and he wrote, ‘D’Agostino, this one’s for you. Let me know what you think,’” she says. The publicist, who was a fan of Kraftwerk and the new sounds coming out of the UK, loved the music and wanted to work on promoting the band in America. “It was really difficult in the beginning,” she says. “It took every inch of creativity I had in my brain to figure out the best way to get the press’s attention. The press [couldn’t have] cared less about Duran Duran.” Even some likely suspects, such as the teen glossy 16 Magazine, didn’t bite, even though the band was popular in the UK teen magazine Jackie.

Her persistence and ingenuity paid off, however. For example, D’Agostino had been pitching the band, to no avail, to the editor of Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine. Separately, however, when Duran Duran arrived in the United States in September 1981 for their first American tour, Nick Rhodes made two requests: to go up the Empire State Building and meet Andy Warhol. Sensing an opportunity, D’Agostino called Interview and boldly asked to speak to Warhol directly. The artist actually picked up the phone and listened as she pitched Duran Duran and asked if the band could come and meet him—and he said yes.

“At that point, I didn’t even have much of a budget to ask for taxi money, honestly,” D’Agostino says. “But somebody gave us a ride down to the Interview office. We walked in and asked for Andy Warhol, and he came out with his little camera and said, ‘Oh, look, everyone—rock stars!’” D’Agostino had a copy of Duran Duran’s early videos with her, and a conference room viewing party ensued. The Cash Box issue dated Halloween 1981 features a photo of War...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Series
• Dedication
• Title
• Contents
• 1 The Road to Rio
• 2 Writing and Recording Rio
• 3 Why Rio Matters
• 4 Duran Duran, Video Pioneers
• 5 Winning Over US Radio
• 6 1983: The Year of Duran Duran
• 7 Rio’s Impact and Resonance
• Acknowledgments
• Works Cited / Source Material
• Index
• Copyright