A lot of that article is bullshit. A good song is a good song regardless of whether guest stars are involved or not.
John is trying so hard to justify collaborations; to make it look like Duran Duran are not so much desperate for a hit, but simply giving the kids what they want (It's not for us - it's for them
) Appeasing the market as it were. I don't know if it is because he and the band have brainwashed themselves into believing this, or if they just don't want to come out and say the truth. And the truth is Duran Duran ARE desperate for a hit (I mean that's what "when you want to stay in the game" and "stay relevant" really means right?) and have realised their best chance is through the use of a popular artist's name.
There is nothing wrong with wanting a hit, or wanting to get paid well for your work. We all want that as humans. But why don't they just say it? Something like "Listen we love how Bruno Mars helped Mark Ronson get to number one everywhere with Uptown Funk, and totally hope he does the same for us" or "We really think Pressure Off is good and we want to move millions of units, so hope that name dropping Janelle Monae will give it some recognition and promotion, and even allow us to be taken more seriously by the music press".
I mean that would be honest right? Why bring up stuff like hip-hop and electronic dance music needing a novelty to be heard (you mightn't want to say "novelty" John, but that is exactly what you mean so say it loud and proud brother).
What is this 'a song NEEDS something about it to be heard' bullshit all of a sudden. How often have you heard a song on the radio and thought "Wow, this is great, but it really needs additional vocal personalities going back and forth"? When you first heard Ordinary World did you think "Wow, pretty song, but having only Simon sing it is boring. We really need a rapper to do his thing during a middle-eight; without Dr. Dre this song hasn't got it". Or did you hear New Religion and think "Hmm, not bad, but having Simon doing all the vocals is a bit lame. They should have gotten Boy George to do all the 'Don't know why this evil bothers me' bits in the background instead".
No. Collaborations only come about for one reason - money. Whenever bands or artists actively seek another artist to worth with, for them to appear together on the same track, then that is because they feel they will be more successful using them then by themselves. In every collaboration there is always going to be an artist more popular than the other. In every collaboration the least-popular act (which in this case is Duran Duran) wants to appear with a more popular act so that they will get more recognition and sell more copies as a result. You can make the greatest song in the history of the world, but if nobody buys it then it's completely wasted right?
Collaboration with a larger name act theoretically gives a song greater promotion, and the more people that hear a song, the greater the chance that more people are going to buy the song. And then hopefully the album. And then hopefully the concert ticket.
So it's a win for the lesser act (yes that's Duran). What about the larger name? What do they get out of it?
First of all - money, again, the stuff that makes the world go around. They get paid well for it. Do you think Timbaland would have worked with Duran Duran for nothing except a happy, warm fuzzy feeling knowing he was helping four other human beings?
Secondly they get promotion. The music world is extremely fickle; once you're out of the public eye, it is sometimes hard to get back in. Duran themselves found this out after they split in '86. So Bruno Mars is happy for Mark Ronson to come to him with a great song idea; all he has to do is turn up and sing. It keeps Bruno in the public eye, and makes him a decent bit of coin as well while he isn't recording himself or touring (ah, there's the 'money' word again).
Both acts have to get something out of a collaboration to agree with it in the first place. There aren't too many acts around who do something for NO personal gain out of the goodness of their very large hearts.
I'd love for Duran Duran to be totally honest, it would be very refreshing in this day and age. No more politically correct answers, political correctness went out years ago. Call a spade a spade and believe in what you say.
If you think something is a novelty, call it a novelty.
If you think you need to work with lots of names to sell more records, then own up to it. Don't just say it's because the kids have gotten used to it, and use ridiculous phrases like "a couple of vocal personalities going back and forth".
And of course we're left with the obligatory "interesting journey" quote at the end as well.
If Duran Duran need to work with other artists to keep going, then by all means work with other artists. If they never record another song with only John, Simon, Roger, and Nick with Dom on guitar again, but they keep making music, then so be it. I just want great Duran Duran music, so if that means more guests then put them on a conveyor belt as far as I'm concerned and keep them coming.
The boys have been together for almost 40 years since John and Nick got together to start a rock band. Maybe the marriage has finally gotten stale and they need to swing with other acts to keep it alive. If so then cool, but be honest that this is the case and be proud of it.
Own your deeds Duran, own your deeds.