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Post by giannis on Apr 3, 2024 15:58:55 GMT -5
Skin trade as a comeback single after A view to A kill would be a disaster. Skin trade's chorus is almost non existent. it would flop badly esp in the US. Notorious at least had a very powerful and catchy chorus reminiscent of good old Duran. Anyways the major problem at that time is they came back a trio. Nothing could save the downfall.
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Post by elpresidente on Apr 3, 2024 16:50:19 GMT -5
Great question. Personally I think ASWI as a brilliant single. Referring to it as 'rave' feels a bit of an insult, as it still sounds great today. Dance tracks can date badly over time (Paper Gods album anyone?) but ASWI could be a hit today. I personally think its crazy it isn't a regular in their setlist. It was a proper top 10 hit in the UK. I hold by Skin Trade. Its very Prince and its very 1986 but at that time it was perfect. If you watch the Songbook interview you can hear the absolute joy in their voices talking about writing it. John, Simon and Nick still claim its the best song on the album. It was Meet El Presidente that was the wrong turn. I think it should have been Skin Trade as the comeback single, Notorious would have been the follow up and then Hold Me or American Science. The whole Big Thing era is a bit perplexing to me as its a really strong album. EMI again dropped the ball, and I think this was the period where John started clocking out a bit for multiple reasons. The promotion was all done wrong. Skin Trade is my favourite DD song. I used to listen to it all the time. I still do, but I used to too. *badum-tss*
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Post by theprocess on Apr 3, 2024 17:29:26 GMT -5
Skin trade as a comeback single after A view to A kill would be a disaster. Skin trade's chorus is almost non existent. it would flop badly esp in the US. Notorious at least had a very powerful and catchy chorus reminiscent of good old Duran. Anyways the major problem at that time is they came back a trio. Nothing could save the downfall. I agree that coming back as a trio was always going to result in a major downturn. It was also the length of time it took to come back as well. AVTAK was in May 85. Nearly 18 months had passed before Notorious came out. The musical landscape had changed drastically in that time. It was post Live Aid. For the first half of the 80s you had new wave bands like Thompson Twins, Culture Club, Spandau, Human League, OMD, ABC, FGTH, etc all having big hits on both sides of the atlantic. That all changed after Live Aid. Pop music got very sophisticated around 86 / 87. Prince's stripped back Parade album was the benchmark. Soul and r'n'b production ideas permieated pop music ever more. Grooves were in. The Human League had a hit with Jam & Lewis. George Michael's Faith album was around the corner as was Terence Trent D'Arby. In that context Skin Trade would have been first and a real 'statement' comeback single. 'In exploaitations name, we must be working for the skin trade' is a fantastic line and defines the 80s era so well. It sounds like the kind of lyric the Pet Shop Boys would write. That combined with the horn riff just takes it somewhere special. I think it's one of the finest things they ever recorded. Back to All She Wants Is. I think it should have been the first single from Big Thing. It would have done better than IDWYL and would have been a bona fide hit in their catlogue and constant in the live set. Nowadays the whole Big Thing era has been banished from the live set.
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Post by astronaut42 on Apr 3, 2024 18:24:47 GMT -5
Big Thing era is not necessarily "banished". They rotate songs in and out and IDWYL was in the setlist in 2008 and also as recently as 2019. For example, they went years without playing Union of the Snake (2012) but brought it back ten years later for FP tour. The main problem is the band now caters setlist to casual fans. "Duranies" are the minority of concert goers. My observation is that the vast majority are old fans and really just want to hear the most well known hits and couldn't care less about any new music or obscure tracks. Fortunately they do occasional changes i.e. NASA show and Halloween Show that allow an excuse for more variations. If I was their manager I would NOW encourage them to do what many bands to and do longer residencies (no arenas) in Vegas, London, etc. IMO DD didn't have "major downturn" until 1990 Liberty mis-fire. The album had very little commercial appeal (no hits) even though I still like it. A few short years later they had massive hits again and were back to playing filled arenas. www.setlist.fm/stats/average-setlist/duran-duran-73d6ba3d.html?year=2019
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Post by La Princess on Apr 3, 2024 22:31:04 GMT -5
Grunge wasn't big when either Notorious or IDWYL so not sure what you mean. IDWYL was released when especially horrible music was out (New Kids, Milli Vanilli, Vanilla Ice and crowd of idiots). My bad ..u are correct..Tiffany, Pet Shop boys, u2 Phil Collins ruled the UK charts during this time in 1988.. In the US it was Milli Vanilli, New Kids, Paula Abdul, etc.
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Post by theprocess on Apr 4, 2024 5:23:54 GMT -5
Big Thing era is not necessarily "banished". They rotate songs in and out and IDWYL was in the setlist in 2008 and also as recently as 2019. For example, they went years without playing Union of the Snake (2012) but brought it back ten years later for FP tour. The main problem is the band now caters setlist to casual fans. "Duranies" are the minority of concert goers. My observation is that the vast majority are old fans and really just want to hear the most well known hits and couldn't care less about any new music or obscure tracks. Fortunately they do occasional changes i.e. NASA show and Halloween Show that allow an excuse for more variations. If I was their manager I would NOW encourage them to do what many bands to and do longer residencies (no arenas) in Vegas, London, etc. IMO DD didn't have "major downturn" until 1990 Liberty mis-fire. The album had very little commercial appeal (no hits) even though I still like it. A few short years later they had massive hits again and were back to playing filled arenas. www.setlist.fm/stats/average-setlist/duran-duran-73d6ba3d.html?year=2019I have to agree. There is an element of me wondering why they are playing so many USA dates to what seem more like 'casual fans' as you nicely put it. Obviously its well paid but I also think that this might be last time around before they settle into their mature years. Surely residencies, more documentaries, anthologies as well as new music will be the default for them as they become late 60s.
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Post by andre005 on Apr 4, 2024 6:22:42 GMT -5
Big Thing era is not necessarily "banished". They rotate songs in and out and IDWYL was in the setlist in 2008 and also as recently as 2019. For example, they went years without playing Union of the Snake (2012) but brought it back ten years later for FP tour. The main problem is the band now caters setlist to casual fans. "Duranies" are the minority of concert goers. My observation is that the vast majority are old fans and really just want to hear the most well known hits and couldn't care less about any new music or obscure tracks. Fortunately they do occasional changes i.e. NASA show and Halloween Show that allow an excuse for more variations. If I was their manager I would NOW encourage them to do what many bands to and do longer residencies (no arenas) in Vegas, London, etc. IMO DD didn't have "major downturn" until 1990 Liberty mis-fire. The album had very little commercial appeal (no hits) even though I still like it. A few short years later they had massive hits again and were back to playing filled arenas. www.setlist.fm/stats/average-setlist/duran-duran-73d6ba3d.html?year=2019I have to agree. There is an element of me wondering why they are playing so many USA dates to what seem more like 'casual fans' as you nicely put it. Obviously its well paid but I also think that this might be last time around before they settle into their mature years. Surely residencies, more documentaries, anthologies as well as new music will be the default for them as they become late 60s. They are adding shows around Cruel fest to rehearse and make $$$..no big secret there..what bugs me is they are not trying to do shows in South America or Australia or anywhere else not USA...
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Post by astronaut42 on Apr 4, 2024 9:52:34 GMT -5
People ask (ad nauseum) about "why not play here or here or here?", but don't understand the music business. The band and management are working with booking agents to play shows where they can make money. They also have to have a promoter who will pay the band relative to cost/logistics. If the money doesn't work out there's no show.
Second. The band is NOT obligated to just play every country in the world.
It's really that simple.
I'm just fortunate that I'm in proximity to Phoenix and Vegas where they are able to do shows and make money.
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Post by theprocess on Apr 4, 2024 10:40:38 GMT -5
People ask (ad nauseum) about "why not play here or here or here?", but don't understand the music business. The band and management are working with booking agents to play shows where they can make money. They also have to have a promoter who will pay the band relative to cost/logistics. If the money doesn't work out there's no show. Second. The band is NOT obligated to just play every country in the world. It's really that simple. I'm just fortunate that I'm in proximity to Phoenix and Vegas where they are able to do shows and make money. Yeah. Touring outside USA and UK will be extremely limited or non existant moving forward.
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Post by americanscientist on Apr 4, 2024 11:18:47 GMT -5
ASWI is one of the most progressive pop songs of the latter half of the 1980s: chanting instead of proper singing, a massive, hip hop-indebted, throbbing beat and industrial synths. It's actually a minor miracle this batsh!t song had so much traction on US MTV in early 1989 and charted so high in the US (#22 is pretty good) and the UK.
The popular musical landscape was putrid at the time: hair metal still being the primary rock music played on MTV and radio, New Kids, Paula Abdul. Lots of kitschy fun but nothing substantial. And here comes DD on the downslope of fame with an absolutely insane techo song with no proper chorus but loads of energy and attitude.
Based on Too Late Marlene's decent showing on Spotify's streaming numbers, I revisited Big Thing as a whole. It's always been a top 5 DD album for me, but I hold it in even higher regard now. Had they just jettisoned Drug and included I Believe, I might rank it right alongside Rio IMHO. The production is incredible, the songwriting is top flight and the dichotomy of the bold dance tracks against the ethereal ballads is brilliant in hindsight.
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