The videos on the tape are still amazing, over 35 years later. Their hits are included, of course: “Rio,” “Hungry Like the Wolf,” “Girls on Film,” “Save a Prayer,” “Planet Earth” and the aforementioned “Is There Something I Should Know?” but also the less well-known videos like “Lonely In Your Nightmare,” “Careless Memories,” “My Own Way,” “Nightboat” and “The Chauffeur” (you’ll need to turn off parental controls to view that one).

And in case you need reminding of how amazing Simon LeBon looked in “Hungry Like the Wolf,” here are some stills I shot while watching it today.

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Duran Duran “The Reflex” picture disk, 1984. Today, June 20th, is John Taylor’s birthday (b. Nigel John Taylor, 1960) and June 23rd marks the 33rd anniversary of when “The Reflex” hit #1 in the US, the band’s first time to do so; it remained there for two weeks (and kept Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” from claiming the top spot – heh). Side A has “The Reflex (Dance Mix)” which was remixed by Nile Rogers and Side B has the single version plus “Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)” performed live at Hammersmith Odean in London in 1982. “Make Me Smile” was originally performed by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel in 1975; Steve Harley joined Duran Duran at the Hammersmith performance of the song.

The summer of ‘84 was ALL about “The Reflex.” Sometime in late June or July, I went to Girl Scout camp in northern Wisconsin and we went on a 3 or 4 day canoe trip down the Menomonee River. To my delight, another Duranie was on the trip, Allyson (we met on that trip in ‘84 and we’re still friends!), and we sang “The Reflex” over and over and over and over and over. Another friend on the river was a huge Prince fan. Prince’s “When Dove’s Cry” knocked “The Reflex” out of the number one position on July 7th, 1984, so we heard a lot of that song as well. Singing was a big deal at camp but typically the camp song repertoire was limited to lots singing in the round (think “Row Row Your Boat” but fancier), cadence songs for hiking (i.e. “left, left, left right left, I left my wife and 24 kids without any gingerbread in the cupboard and thought I did right, right, right left right…”) and paddle songs (i.e. “Land of the Silver Birch”). Our camp counselors weren’t really that much older than us, college students working for the summer, so I have a feeling they secretly appreciated some pop infusion into the usual camp fare, though they did seem irritated with us a lot of the time (I’m pretty sure one of them was a Dead Head). Here is a classic 80′s-posed picture from the last day of that canoe trip. I’m in the lower left corner, rocking my Simon LeBon inspired hair.

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Today is my birthday and to celebrate we’re heading to Minneapolis/St. Paul to see Duran Duran play Saturday night on their Paper Gods tour. I am meeting up with my Duranie friend, Allyson; this will be our third time together seeing D2 play live and I’m really hoping Nick will be back on the tour to play keyboards. However, even if he’s not there I will dance and sing and maybe shriek a bit to see Simon shake his ass, Roger hit the skins and John play that fucking bass.

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The transcript is embarrassing to say the least, a glimpse into the minds of two 13 and 14 year old girls, consumed with infatuation for Simon and John and fascinated with sexuality. If you are not willing to read through the entire thing, basically the story is that there is a woman (Blue Silver) that both Simon and John want. She is a virgin and engaged to John (who Simon thinks will hurt her) so Simon has a big internal argument with himself (“strong ego” and “weak ego”) over his friendship vs desire. Desire wins. They do “it” (again, hahahaha, we couldn’t even write the word “sex”). John and Blue Silver get married anyway, Simon gives her hats and scarves for a wedding present to keep her cold heart warm. The story line plays out in the lyrics from the Rio era and each numbered line on the stunningly insightful transcript corresponds to the number on the lyrics sheets: Lonely in Your Nightmare, New Religion (this is Simon’s big internal ego argument), Last Chance on the Stairway, Save a Prayer, Like an Angel (b-side to “My Own Way”) and “The Chauffeur.”

We literally stayed up all night working on this project back in ‘84, searching deep into hidden messages communicated only to us through Simon’s poetry. One of these days I will try to recreate the awesomeness of the mix tape and wrap it with the Duran bumper sticker I saved from 1984.

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There are 13 (!!) different remixes of the “Rio” single: this UK 12″ has Part 1 and Part 2, both longer than the Single version. It reached #9 in the UK, #14 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and #5 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. The B-side on this release is “My Own Way;” the mix, by David Kershenbaum, was the same as the version on the Carnival EP, it just faded out a few seconds earlier. In my heady early teen Duranie days, we would imagine that the band stayed in a hotel in New York, called out in the lyrics: “I’m on 45, between 6th & Broadway, 7UP, between 6th & Broadway” – they boys were obviously in a room on the 7th floor so we just had to get there somehow to hang out with them. (I also always misheard the next line in the song: instead of “Hmm…busy, this is how I like it” I heard “Mmmm…fizzy! Just how I like it” – Simon is drinking soda! Or champagne!)

In the US the B-side of “Rio” was “Hold Back the Rain” – and if you need a some light in your day today, check out this video of Duran’s performance from ‘82: Simon’s white jazz shoes! Nick in a white jumpsuit!  Terry-cloth sweat wrist bands! The audience’s awkward 80′s dancing?

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Funky rock-n-roll with a disparate group of musicians: Duran Duran’s John Taylor plays that fuckin’ bass, likely giddy with pleasure working with Chic’s drummer Tony Thompson, D2′s Andy Taylor finally gets to shred on guitar (you can hear the rockin’ glee during solos like on “Murderess”), and ultra-suave blue-eyed soulman Robert Palmer cooly singing above it all (his breathiness style particularly prevalent on “Lonely Tonight”). The released singles did well on the charts: “Some Like It Hot” made it to #6 in the US and #14 in the UK and “Get It On (Bang a Gong),” a T.Rex cover, hit #9 in the US and #22 in the UK. “Communication” faired a bit less successful, making it to #34 in the US and #75 in the UK.

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“New Moon on Monday” hit #9 in the UK and #10 in the US. While members of D2 do not agree with me about the video (Andy Taylor wrote, “Everybody hates it, particularly the dreadful scene at the end where we all dance together. Even today, I cringe and leave the room if anyone plays it.“), I love it. (Nick dances!) There are several versions, ranging from a 17 minute mini film to a MTV-single length clocking in at just under 4 minutes.

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The last two scans are the list of Allyson’s Duran vinyl collection as of September 4th, 1985. Impressive! I was hardcore jealous of her albums, especially the 12″ singles.

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