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Duran Duran

Simon Le Bon and Nick Rhodes in conversation

Length: 10 min, 56 s // Recorded: 1983

Duran Duran was formed in Birmingham in 1978. There greatest success was in the 1980s partly because they were a leading band in the MTV-driven “Second British Invasion” of the US. Since the 1980s, they have placed 14 singles in the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart and 21 in the Billboard Hot 100, and have sold over 70 million records.

While they were generally considered part of the New Romantic scene, along with bands such as Spandau Ballet, when they first emerged, the band later shed this image. The band worked with fashion designers to build a sharp and elegant image. The band has won a number of awards throughout their career: two Brit Awards including the 2004 award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, two Grammy Awards, and an MTV Video Music Award for Lifetime Achievement. They were also awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In this interview from December 1983 the band’s keyboard player Nick Rhodes and lead singer Simon Le Bon talk about success, playing “down under” in Australia and their new album at the time, Seven and the Ragged Tiger, including the late 1983 hit “Union of the Snake” along with “Hungry Like the Wolf”, “Rio”, “Save a Prayer” and “Is There Something I Should Know?”

Duran Duran now had five US Top Twenty hits from three different albums in a single year. The band made music headlines by deciding to release the “Union of the Snake” video to MTV a full week before the single was released to radio at a time when the industry feared video really might kill the radio star. They followed up with “New Moon on Monday“, which reached Number 9 in the UK. Their next single “The Reflex“, taken from Seven and the Ragged Tiger and given a significant remix overhaul by Nile Rodgers of Chic fame, became their first number one hit in the United States. “The Reflex” was also their second and final UK number one and was successful in numerous other countries around the world.

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Duran Duran was formed in Birmingham in 1978. There greatest success was in the 1980s partly because they were a leading band in the MTV-driven “Second British Invasion” of the US. Since the 1980s, they have placed 14 singles in the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart and 21 in the Billboard Hot 100, and have sold over 70 million records.

While they were generally considered part of the New Romantic scene, along with bands such as Spandau Ballet, when they first emerged, the band later shed this image. The band worked with fashion designers to build a sharp and elegant image. The band has won a number of awards throughout their career: two Brit Awards including the 2004 award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, two Grammy Awards, and an MTV Video Music Award for Lifetime Achievement. They were also awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In this interview from December 1983 the band’s keyboard player Nick Rhodes and lead singer Simon Le Bon talk about success, playing “down under” in Australia and their new album at the time, Seven and the Ragged Tiger, including the late 1983 hit “Union of the Snake” along with “Hungry Like the Wolf”, “Rio”, “Save a Prayer” and “Is There Something I Should Know?”

Duran Duran now had five US Top Twenty hits from three different albums in a single year. The band made music headlines by deciding to release the “Union of the Snake” video to MTV a full week before the single was released to radio at a time when the industry feared video really might kill the radio star. They followed up with “New Moon on Monday“, which reached Number 9 in the UK. Their next single “The Reflex“, taken from Seven and the Ragged Tiger and given a significant remix overhaul by Nile Rodgers of Chic fame, became their first number one hit in the United States. “The Reflex” was also their second and final UK number one and was successful in numerous other countries around the world.

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