Sorry... I've got to play devil's advocate again.
Don't apologise, I enjoy devil's advocates
Ignore current and cool young genres? Sorry, but without them DD probably still wouldn't be making albums...and that's reality. Duran worked with Kelis on TMWSAL and that is one of their most beautiful songs ever. On the same said song, Nina Hossain did the spoken part that wrapped it all up perfectly. On
Unstaged, Beth Ditto ROCKED "Notorious" and Gerard Way did the same with "Planet Earth." I liked Justin Timberlake's contribution on RCM as well as Timbaland. They've worked with many, many artists over the decades, younger and older and have made awesome music!
Out of all the songs you mention above there is only ONE current and cool young genre, and that was the Timberlake and Timbaland stuff. Sadly the vast majority of that album was woeful.
TMWSAL was definitely not cool; it sounds like it could sit comfortably as the last song on Rio instead of The Chauffeur and nobody would bat an eyelid. One of Duran's finest tracks since the reunion, but it hardly classifies as a current sound or cutting edge. Give me vintage Duran Duran sound over tuneless hip-hop beats any day of the week please, and twice on Sundays.
Notorious is a funk song, which once again was hardly cutting edge in the mid-80s. In fact Notorious lost Duran Duran a lot of fans from the early 80s because it was such a departure from their established sound, but it was, as the band put it, "the funk album they had always wanted to make". I applaud Duran Duran for not pandering to the masses and making an album in a genre that wasn't cool. I really love they were brave enough to do this. I guess they sadly have lost a lot of bravado in the last 28 years
Planet Earth was a great pop/rock song. It was a young band making music they were comfortable with - Chic meets the Sex Pistols (let's admit it, they were a lot more Chic than they were Sex Pistols though!).
Groups from the 80s thru today have played DD songs in their own concerts and that makes them not only remembered and "elders" of 80s music but it makes them relevant...because they are still around and never stopped making music. Duran Duran aren't chart toppers now and most likely they won't ever again...but that hasn't (and won't) stop the fans from still loving them.
No argument here, and in fact it backs up my point. It should be the young kids coming to Duran Duran for help and inspiration, NOT the other way around.
Everyone seems to be judging them before the album is even out.
Of course we are, it is easily the most interesting thing to talk about while we twiddle our thumbs for at least another six months!
Of course if people don't like this, or don't find this interesting, then they can always start threads about Duran's best album, Duran's best song, or which member is your favourite. It's been at least 10 minutes since we dedicated a thread to topics along those lines
Mr. Hudson may have helped Duran in the most spectacular way. IF THE RUMOR MILL IS TRUE, the Lohan's contribution might be a really great song.
Of course I hope the album is amazing. But I'm basing my trepidation on hearing a handful of Mr Hudson's music, the vast majority of which was awful. He wrote one track with a pretty tune worthy of Duran Duran, but most of his music sounded like RCM-rejects complete with overdone layers of keyboards, so that's telling you how awful it was.
That doesn't mean he can't help Duran Duran, what I'm saying is if they make music that is influenced by a lot of Mr Hudson's songs then they will be awful. Hope they're not though!
And as for the Lohan's once again I hope their contribution is fantastic. I hope that every song on the record is strong enough to release as a single. But as I mentioned many times it's not just the fact that Duran Duran have chosen to work with an actress who is more known for her private life, it's the fact that they FEEL they HAVE to do this to "attract a younger demographic".
Seriously men who are approaching 60, the LAST thing they should be thinking of is trying to attract a younger demographic by making music that the younger generation like or by riding on the coat-tails of artists the younger generation like. It cannot be understated how embarrassing it is for old artists who do this. Great artists like Duran Duran should be forgetting about demographics and chart positions, and just make great music deserved of men who have over 30 years experience as instrumentalists and songwriters. As I said previously, young kids today love the Beatles and the Rolling Stones for their amazing back-catalogue, not because they were desperate and tried to appear young as they got older.
Duran Duran making young music and working with young artists to attract that demographic is just stupendously stupid, and shows they are completely out of touch with reality. ie - the reality is no increase in record sales whatsoever, but a tremendous increase in bad publicity and Duran being laughing stocks of the music industry. You think the reviews for Thank You were bad - wait until journalists (well the ones who could be bothered even writing about Duran Duran) get a whiff that the lads are working with Lindsay Lohan to attract a younger demographic. Add Mr Hudson and his hip beats and, as Darth Vader casually mentioned when alluding to Obi Wan Kenobi, "their failure is complete".
Nile and Mark aren't the only "real" musicians in the world.
Of course they're not. There are hundreds of talented musicians and producers in the world who have the experience and attitude to inspire Duran Duran to make music worthy of their great name. John Frusciante is one of them. Lindsay Lohan is not.
Like I've said before, either way, DD's fanbase will always support them whether or not they like the album.
Of course we will. I bought the deluxe version of RCM even though I thought every track previewed besides Boxful 'O Honey was pants, and had no intention of watching the accompanying DVD (it's still in the box untouched). It's $30 I will never get back, but I was hoping there were other songs on the album that might have swayed me otherwise. There weren't.
I hope DD14 is a great album. I hope it sells beyond the band's wildest dreams. I hope the Lohan and Hudson tracks are incredible. I hope it puts the band back in the public eye (if that's really what the band wants, and it appears that way from what we have heard).
Just because I detest old men trying to appear cool, and the same old men working with people well below them in terms of talent and experience, doesn't mean I want them to fail. Just like I wanted RCM to be a roaring success, I also want DD14 to also be a roaring success.