Tag: Duran Duran

It Was Our “Woodstock”

It Was Our “Woodstock”

by MichelleMcHatton

In celebration of the 40th anniversary of “Live Aid”–pics at the end are from my “Live Aid” book, which I’m glad to say I still have.

July 13, 1985.  Forty years and many musical memories ago.  I’m so glad I was alive to be a part of that event.

No, I wasn’t there in Philly.  Nor in England.  I didn’t get to ride the Concorde with Phil Collins.  But I had dragged my 14-year-old ass out of bed at 5:30 a.m. on a summer weekend so I could tune into the concert of the decade.  Maybe even the century.

It started around noon UK time, which put us at 6-ish.  They were broadcasting the entire thing on the radio so I had my cassettes and tape recorder ready to go.

Then there was JFK Stadium in Philadelphia.  To be there must’ve been something else.  I longed to see Powerstation and Madonna.  Waiting to see Duran Duran perform that evening was like torture.  I remember getting to see the last few hours of the show broadcast on TV.  Another thing to thank Dick Clark for.

Forty years later I still have some of the cassettes that I recorded.  I have the “Live Aid” book.  I’ll have to scan through that later and continue with my walk down memory lane.

Such nostalgia for such an innocent time in my life…

The 80’s Revisited

The 80’s Revisited

by MichelleMcHatton

I always knew it would happen one day.  Or at least hoped.  The day my child said she wished she had been around in the 80’s so she could’ve experienced the music.

My thirteen-year-old recently came across the Jennifer Garner flick “13 Going on 30” on Netflix and was immediately taken in by the 80’s theme of the film.  Especially the music.  “Head Over Heels”, “Jessie’s Girl” and particularly “Thriller”.

“Why couldn’t I have been around in the 80’s?” she whined.

“Just because you weren’t doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy that music now,” I reminded her.

The other day we were returning from running errands and sat in the car listening to the last strains of Wham!’s  “Careless Whisper”.

“I love this song,” she said.  “Who sings it?”

“George Michael,” I told her.

“Who?”

“Wham!  George Michael.  You know, ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go’.  You know that song,” I reminded her.

“Oh yeah.”

We continued talking about Wham! and 80’s music as we entered the house.  I relayed my teen love for Duran Duran to her.

“You know, the group who sings ‘Hungry Like the Wolf’.”

“Oh, yeah.  I like that song.”

“Yeah.  You know what the lead singer’s name is?”

“What?”

“Simon.  Want to know what his last name is?”

“What?”

“LeBon.”

She laughed.  “What a funny name!”

I smiled.  “Yeah, that’s what the rest of the band thought too when they first met him.”

I went on to tell her how there were three members in the band with the last name of Taylor but they weren’t related.

“Really?  How can they not be related?”  my daughter asked.

“Because in England the surname Taylor is like the surname Smith in America.”

She also thought it was cool that John’s real name was Nigel, because that’s the first name of one of The Muppets.  Which is another thing from the 80’s that she loves.

But that’s another 80’s story for another time.

Wild about “Wild Boy”

Wild about “Wild Boy”

by MichelleMcHatton

I hate to use this blog as a place to post my reviews of books, movies or music I’ve enjoyed or hated, but I felt after I finished this one particular read, it deserved some attention here.  Maybe this will be the start of an on-going thing.  Who knows?

The book I’m referring to is “Wild Boy” by Andy Taylor.  For those of you who are thinking “the sherrif from Mayberry wrote a book?  ‘Wild Boy’?  Was that about Barney?”, the answer is no.  This Andy Taylor is/was the guitarist for the phenonemal 80’s pop group Duran Duran.  If you are reading this and are/were a DD fan, I need not explain any further.  You may have already read the book yourself.  If you were not a DD fan, read on.

At one time in my life (say around 14, 15, 16) I was the ultimate Duran Duran junkie.  I slept, ate and breathed Duran Duran.  I will not go into the crazy details here.  They will make your head spin.  When I think about some of my crazy antics (none of which had to actually do with the band, mind you), I shake my head.  But reading this book really took me down memory lane.  And it also opened my eyes to what I would never have guessed (or dared to have thought) about the five guys I so admired.

First of all, I was highly impressed with Andy’s writing.  He comes off being very well schooled and quite intelligent.  Trust me.  I’ve read books by other rock stars (written by the rock star themself) and it was not as well written as this book.  Very well done.

Andy’s story takes us from Duran Duran’s beginnings, their ups and downs, highs (literally) and lows, illnesses (his own and his wife’s) to the end when Andy said “enough–let me off this crazy roller coaster”.  In reading all the tales, I find it hard to believe John Taylor is still alive today.  Out of all the members, I never thought he would’ve been the worst as far as drug problems went.  I always thought it would’ve been Simon.  Just goes to show you how much of a “real” fan I was, huh? haha.

I know Andy’s story is just his side of it.  It’s from his view.  I’m sure if the other four members wrote their own tales, some of what Andy wrote about would come out differently.  For instance, maybe Nick would be pointing the finger at Andy for bringing up problems with the lyrics instead of Andy pointing the finger at Nick for doing that.  Andy referred to Nick as the “Lyric Police” for his nitpicking Simon’s lyrics.  I’ll admit some of Simon’s lyrics are quite odd.  I’m still trying to figure out what a “lizard mixture” is and what the hell is “The Reflex” anyway?

The conclusion of the book at least clarified in my mind what I had originally thought back in 2005 when they were touring again:  they needed the cash.  I was right about that one.  Yet Andy and Roger were only going to be seeing a portion of the profits due to the fact that they had not worked with the band during the 90’s.  So I guess by this time Duran Duran really were not Duran Duran any longer.  They were just five individuals who needed some money and the only way they could get it was to go on tour again.

If they’re all still alive twenty years from now and need the cash, maybe they’ll tour for their 40th anniversary.  They’ll all be pushing 70.  Hey, if the Stones can do it, why not Duran Duran?

Still, this was a very entertaining read.  As a Duran Duran fan, I also followed them during their solo ventures and this book led me to drag out Andy’s solo album.  I forgot how much I used to love listening to “Thunder”.  It’s too bad he didn’t really reflect much on his solo career in the book.  I thought it was pretty good music.

I’m sure we won’t be hearing Andy any time soon on a new Duran Duran CD (unless they can talk him into that 40th anniversary tour); but I hope he does do his own thing musically and continues to do what he loves most.