26 Facts About Duran Duran

Duran Duran are an English new wave band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by keyboardist Nick Rhodes and bassist John Taylor.

When Duran Duran emerged they were generally considered part of the New Romantic scene.

Innovators of the music video, Duran Duran was catapulted into the mainstream with the introduction of the 24-hour music channel MTV.

Duran Duran has sold over 100 million records, making them one of the world's best-selling music artists.

The members of Duran Duran had noticed that Betty Page was writing about a new movement called New romantic that would fit the band perfectly and invited her to meet them at the Rum Runner.

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In June 1982, Duran Duran appeared for the first time on American television, performing "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Rio" on Dancin' On Air, the forerunner to the national hit show Dance Party USA.

Duran Duran was among the earliest bands to work on their own remixes.

Duran Duran played on only a few songs on the next album, including A Matter of Feeling, whilst the disagreements were being settled.

Subsequently, Duran Duran struggled to escape the teen idol image and gain respect among critics with more complex music.

Whatever the reason, Duran Duran switched managers frequently and undertook periods of self-management in the later stages of their career.

In 1993, the band released a second self-titled album: this Duran Duran album is known as The Wedding Album to distinguish it from the 1981 release, and was produced and recorded with John Jones.

Duran Duran's departure reduced the band to two long time members and Cuccurullo, who decided to continue recording under the name Duran Duran.

Cuccurullo then announced on his website that he was leaving Duran Duran to resume work with his 1980s band Missing Persons.

Duran Duran then celebrated their homecoming to the UK with fourteen stadium dates in April 2004, including five sold-out nights at Wembley Arena.

Duran Duran brought along band Goldfrapp and the Scissor Sisters as alternating opening acts for this tour.

On 25 February 2011, while in Milan, Duran Duran received a Style Icons of the 20th Century Award and a key to the city, presented by the city's mayor Letizia Moratti.

On 17 April 2011, Duran Duran performed at the Coachella Music Festival located at Empire Polo Grounds, in Indio, California.

On 27 July 2012, Duran Duran headlined the London Summer Olympics 2012 Opening Ceremony celebration in Hyde Park.

In 2019, Duran Duran was working on a new album with Ronson, Erol Alkan, and Giorgio Moroder handling production duties, and Graham Coxon and Lykke Li being confirmed as collaborators.

In July 2022, Duran Duran returned to the city of their origin, Birmingham to headline the opening ceremony of Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games playing to a capacity Alexander Stadium.

Duran Duran were getting zero radio airplay at the time, and MTV wanted to try to break new music.

Videos were obviously headed in this direction already, but Duran Duran led the trend with a style, featuring quick editing, arresting graphic design, and surreal-to-nonsensical image inserts, that drew attention from commentators and spawned a wealth of imitators.

Duran Duran were among the first bands to have their videos shot with a professional movie camera on 35mm film, rather than on videotape, making them look superior to many of the quickly shot videos which had been MTV staples until then.

Duran Duran have always sought out innovative directors and techniques, even in their later years when MTV gave them little airplay.

In 1984, Duran Duran introduced video technology into their live stadium shows by being among the first acts to provide video screens above the stage.

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John Taylor once remarked that the band was "like a box of Quality Street [chocolates]; everyone is someone's favourite" Duran Duran later came to regret this early pin-up exposure, but at the time it helped attract national attention.