Duran Duran Debut Album Analysis

Originally recorded in 2017. Edited and re-released for 2025.

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Intro

Welcome back to New Wave Beat. I'm your host, Jason D'Orazio. Coming soon is a track-by-track analysis of Duran Duran's debut album. But first, let's start by me giving a little background on them. After its members being in a couple of short-lived bands, Duran Duran formed, comprised of vocalist Steve Duffy, bassist John Taylor, and keyboardist Nick Rhodes. Duran Duran named themselves after the villain in the 1968 cult sci-fi film Barbarella. Duran Duran owe a large part of their visuals and fashion to David Bowie🔖✔ and Japan🔖✔, who wowed with eye-catching outfits.

Sonically, Roxy Music was a large influence, with their prominent keyboardist and sax player. Also, the disco and R&B stylings of Chic can be heard in Duran Duran's albums, even before frontman Nile Rodgers became their ace in the hole. Of course, synth pioneer Kraftwerk gets credit🔖✔, whose moody instrumentals are echoed in Nick Rhodes' synths. Finally, there’s the pop-leanings of Blondie🔖✔. As far as similar bands are concerned, A-Ha🔖✔ and Alphaville🔖✔ come to mind, though they started out when Duran Duran were already megastars. Spandau Ballet are also fellow New Romantics, though I find Duran Duran to be more energetic. Jump to the 90s and beyond, Duran Duran would also incorporate elements of Britpop, adult contemporary, and even hip-hop.

When I was a young child in the '80s, I caught Duran Duran on the radio and found it pretty catchy, alongside other latter new wave hits. And then in college in the late '90s I had a new wave renaissance thanks to the Napster gods, finding its music better than most of what the '90s had to offer. Given that, I really got into Duran Duran, buying their entire catalog in while at Univeristy of Buffalo. The gateway drug was their greatest hits album Decade, and eventually working my way to lesser-known albums like Liberty. I've seen them regularly on tour since 1999. I'll be talking about their '80s albums in the coming weeks. You'll get a taste of the atmosphere musically and specific to Duran Duran around the time of the albums, along with a track-by-track analysis. Enjoy!

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Available in the Vault

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Starting Out

After guitarist and vocalist changes, Duran Duran released their eponymous debut album in 1981. This classic incarnation of Duran Duran included singer Simon LeBon, keyboardist Nick Rhodes, lead guitarist Andy Taylor, bass guitarist John Taylor (no relation), and drummer Roger Taylor (also no relation). 1981🔖✔ was a time where punk had already given in to more melodic new wave and post-punk🔖✔. Synthesizers were more prominent in music, usually having a usually cold, eerie quality adapted from Kraftwerk. Gary Numan and early Human League🔖✔ were examples of this style. Meanwhile, fashion in the music industry became more eclectic, taking cues from pirates, the military🔖✔, and more. In their debut, Duran Duran played these synths, but grafted them onto dance beats. The result: an innovative and infectious set of songs, along with four associated videos.

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Planet Earth

Duran Duran's lead single Planet Earth is a great start for them as it incorporates disco and dance grooves and foreshadows an optimism and energy found in their classic era. In fact, in Planet Earth, the band even references the new romantic style that they were spearheading ("Like some new romantic looking for the TV sound"). There are many interpretations of Planet Earth's meaning, whether it be apocalypse, space travel, or new romantic itself. The accompanying video has the band performing and dancing atop a tall crystal-like platform. Interestingly enough, Simon jumps off the platform at the end of the video, into a bottomless abyss. This began a long series of music videos for the band. While low-budget compared to their later videos, it showed that Duran Duran can captivate with imagery as well as music. When touring to support their 2015 album Paper Gods, Duran Duran segued the song into a cover of Bowie's Space Oddity to poignant effect.

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Careless Memories

Careless Memories was the followup single off their debut. It rocks the hardest of the nine songs, allowing Andy Taylor to flex his guitar muscles. Also important though is the catchy intro synth. The angry repeating of the song title shows Duran Duran's punk roots. The lyrics, appropriate to the angry, frenetic melody, represent the angry and nihilistic phases of being abandoned. For example, the line "On the table, signs of love lies scattered." Its video has a similar narrative, interspersed with the band playing. Flowers that wilt throughout represent a dying love. LeBon is having a lot of fun with this video as he pantomimes shooting a gun and blowing its smoke not one, but three times. It was edited upon its re-release in 1983, with the supposed cornier bits removed. But watch the original, I say.

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Girls on Film

The Godley & Creme-produced video for Girls On Film was originally banned from TV because of nudity and sexual suggestion, though an edited version was later released. Girls On Film is about either a model or pornography shoot. It's a little fuzzy which, which, with lyrics like "Lipstick cherry all over the lens as she's falling". The video features sumo wrestlers, mud wrestling, and ice on nipples. Girls On Film reminds me of Roxy Music's Love Is The Drug, with the disco leanings and similar rhythm. Flashbulb sounds start off the song, so someone playing the Beat Shazam could mistake J. Geils Band's Freeze Frame for it, and then suffer the wrath of host Jamie Foxx. The drumming and guitar are both intense in the right spots, so it's a joy to listen to. The fervor over the video, along with it just being very catchy, helped Girls on Film climb to five in the UK charts.

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Album Tracks

Though Duran Duran's debut had really strong singles, their album tracks hold up too. While Careless Memories is about anger regarding a lost love, Anyone Out There is a prelude that captures the surprise, head-scratching, and sadness of someone who just got ghosted. This is the only song that didn't really resonate with me, as the melody meandered and didn't advance as well as the other tracks. Duran Duran the album was re-released in 1983 in the US, with the new single Is There Something I Should Know replacing To The Shore, so I'd not heard To The Shore as much as the others. This song features a high-pitched cold synth, and the lyrics are a bit dark, creating an awesome, moody song. The exact topic of the song eludes me, so please chime in if you have an idea.

The second side to Duran Duran's debut is slower and darker, but it grew on me with repeated listens. Nightboat is arty and eerie in a good way🔖✔, what with Nick's ominous synths and LeBon's haunting vocals. A video was made for Nightboat when Duran Duran shot to fame during the Rio era🔖✔. While not as slick as other Rio-era videos, it's an entertaining watch. There's a bit of dialogue during the long intro, along with zombies and a possessed Simon LeBon. Sound of Thunder has a disco-tinged intro that hooks you in instantly. But there's also a great guitar hook before the choruses. The vigorous drumming of Roger Taylor is the bridge's highlight, so one of the best team efforts on the album. Lyrically, LeBon sings about being out of control. Friends Of Mine continues the brooding of Nightboat, adding a menacing tone. For example, commanding the listener to close the door and being sick of your alibis. The song is either about having toxic friends and/or criminal Georgie Davis being released from prison due to a lot of public pressure from his friends and admirers. The album closes with a mostly instrumental Tel Aviv, which appropriately incorporates a bit of Middle Eastern motif, punctuated by LeBon's wails. In their early touring, they would open with this number to set the mood for the concert. I would say Planet Earth is the highlight of the album, with Anyone Out There being my least favorite.

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Supporting the Album

Duran Duran was starting to get big in the UK, with all three singles hitting the top 40 there. But they weren't quite stars yet in the United States, with no charting singles there. In the UK, they were playing increasingly larger venues. Upon their first album's release, they had never toured in North America before. Soon they had several tour dates in the US, including at the Eastside Club in Philadelphia, which was in the basement of a flophouse. By the way, Depeche Mode🔖✔ and several other new wave acts played at the Eastside Club at the time. How I would have loved to be there at the turn of the '80s to see Duran Duran and other bands before they struck it real big. Though I couldn't since I was a mere toddler at the time. Duran also played at The Roxy, which has a capacity of 500. Not quite the 20,000 of Madison Square Garden, but you got to start somewhere. In addition to US and UK, Duran Duran also visited a few countries in continental Europe. John Taylor has a blow-by-blow account of their rise to fame in the early '80s in his book, In The Pleasure Groove, if you're interested. A nearly complete concert list spanning Duran Duran's career is available on their official website, which is pretty neat. The self-titled album and accompanying videos are thus a great glimpse into Duran Duran before the full-blown Duranmania.

Thanks for listening today to New Wave Beat. And until next time, this is Jason D'Orazio. Bye!

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