On this date in 1982, five young British lads who’d grown up listening to equal parts Roxy Music, Chic and David Bowie released the album that would change their lives. And the lives of their passionate fan base. Forever.
Forerunners of the music video age, Duran Duran had gotten a taste of airplay and record sales in their native England and in Japan but success hadn’t come in the States…yet. The band’s sophomore album, with a brightly colored Patrick Nagel portrait adorning its front cover, wasn’t an instant smash in the U.S. Its climb was slow and arduous…that is until MTV got a hold of the music videos the band had filmed to accompany the record’s intended singles and launched them all into super-heavy rotation within a few months of album’s release.
And, like that, success spread like wildfire “from mountains in the north down to the Rio Grande…”. The album that, for so many, epitomizes growing up in the 1980s turns 35 today. For many, “Hungry Like The Wolf” was the first music video they fell in love with….or “Rio” was the first that jetted them off to a faraway, exotic location across the seas and “Save A Prayer” was the first they slow danced to or made out to. The record, the songs, the images and the band were instantly woven into the fabric of our lives, our livelihood, our look, our perspective, our thoughts, our souls.
An album that defined a generation. An album that is a deep part of so many of us. An album that proved that music can be fun, thoughtful, introspective, flashy, funky, danceable and life-changing all at once.
That is Rio.
An album that seamlessly blended elements of disco, funk, new wave, glam rock, and pure rock ‘n roll to create a truly indescribable sound.
To best sum up the magic the band created in their infancy and on this masterful record is to deconstruct it first to truly realize how unlikely yet how flawlessly it flowed together. Take Nick Rhodes’s swirly, icy, avant keyboard work and meld it with John Taylor’s funky bass lines, Andy Taylor’s screaming guitar, Roger Taylor’s conventional and unconventional electronic drums and mash them up with Simon LeBon’s cryptic poetic expression and you have the superb concoction we’d come to know as Duran Duran.
How on earth did all these elements work together? We’re still contemplating that but, somehow, some way, it worked. Brilliantly.
Today we salute 35 years of the magic, the energy, the joy and the elation Rio has brought us. And many of us will continue to hold this special album near and dear to our hearts for many, many more years to come.
On this date in 1969, Led Zeppelin's first chart appearance was made. The band's self-titled debut album first appeared on the UK album charts and charted at no. 6 and went on to spend 71 weeks on that chart. It entered the U.S. chart the following week at no. 10. This was the first of many more chart appearances that would follow as all the rest of the band's releases would chart highly all around the globe for the duration of their reign as the top hard rock group of the 1970's.
On this date in 1986, UK synth pop duo Pet Shop Boys scored their first no. 1 hit single in the U.S. with their debut single, "West End Girls". The song was also the first of many #1 singles the pair would score in their native UK.
Born on this date in 1957 in Lewisham, London, England: John Simon Ritchie who'd soon become known as punk rock figurehead and focal point, Sid Vicious. The perfect vehicle for tabloid fodder and for keeping the band he'd join, Sex Pistols, in the headlines, Vicious and his antics and lifestyle fueled the debauchery and the outrageous nature punk rock had become associated with. Sadly, these incidents caught up with him and Sid passed away at the young age of 21 in 1979.
Born on this date in 1960 in Dublin, Ireland: Paul David Hewson better known to the music world first as Bono Vox and then later just as Bono. The U2 front man, singer, songwriter, activist and entrepreneur turns 57 today. The band plays Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida on June 14 — more information is available here.
