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Post by sueb1863 on Apr 20, 2008 11:26:27 GMT -5
Have you heard Reportage, policia?
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Post by Tin on Apr 20, 2008 12:24:25 GMT -5
I agree; the irony as I see it is, DD never *wanted* to be a band that appealed to 14-year-old girls; they were aiming for the same audience David Bowie, Spandau Ballet and Adam Ant had. And they probably wouldn't have broken out the way they did if it wasn't for MTV and the fact they were all outrageously good-looking, fashion-conscious, and sexually nonthreatening to early-teenage girls who thought John and Co. were "cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute." The medium overtook the message, and if Duran Duran commited any sin it might have been that they decided to play into the hype; instead of backing off and saying, "We don't want this kind of fame; we don't want to play to arenas full of shrieking 13-year-old girls. We'll be aloof and keep our music mature, thanks", they went full-tilt boogie into the whole teen hysteria melee, doing Tiger Beat and Teen Beat and posing for pouty pictures that played up their glam vacuous pretty-boys image. They had a choice whether to leave the "Teen Sensation" ball alone or run with it, and they ran with it, choosing 15 minutes of white-hot fame over 20+years of smoldering fame, such as what U2, Springsteen and other bands got. Apparently nobody told them the downside of Teenybop fame: it's got a short life span, and after it's over nobody takes your music seriously again, ever. Ask Shaun Cassidy, Leif Garrett, New Kids on the Block, Bay City Rollers, and any other band/artist who's snagged that teenager demographic, then tried to make 'grown-up' music only to find nobody wants to listen to it. I have to add that this sort of ties in with that article the other day, that called 'Duran Duran' thier most mature album, 'Rio' a little less so, and 'Seven and the Ragged Tiger' teenybop dreck. Not sure I agree with that, but I've always felt DD sells themselves short, esp. lately, by trying to pursue a huge global audience when they really want to be an small experimental band, happiest at creating their own sound without worrying about record sales. That's who they were when they made their first album; and that's the band I think will make the best albums in the future. I was part of the their 'target' market in the '80s; but to start with I didn't have a clue as to who they were. A friend of mine asked me to pick up 'Rio' for him. I had a listen to it to make sure it wasn't scratched (the bane of vinyl) and ended up keeping the record because I loved the music so much. For me, the magazines were just 'accessories' to the music and got me the brief little bits of info I craved. There was no internet back then.
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Post by sarahb1863 on Apr 20, 2008 16:35:55 GMT -5
You might thnk differently after hearing reportage. Plus how the band chooses to evolve is up to them, whether it's cool, or a complete disaster. 1. Maybe; but whether 'Reportage' is good or bad isn't the point. I wasn't addressing the quality of 'Reportage', merely clearing up the difference between evolution (you make the music YOU want to make) and genetic engineering (somebody else tells you what kind of music to make). To me, there's a distinct difference. 2. It's "up to them"? Not when Sony tells them what kind of music to put on their album, it isn't. "Up to them" is when they record an album and release it as it was originally conceived, regardless of whether or not there are "first singles" on it. However, I will concede that it's up to them whether to agree to let the suits tell them what to put on their album, or tell them to eff off and accept the consequences. How about a REVolution? ;-)
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Post by nightboat13 on Apr 21, 2008 15:21:21 GMT -5
Thank you, Sarah B !!
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Post by hamsammich on Apr 22, 2008 20:21:58 GMT -5
I've always felt DD sells themselves short, esp. lately, by trying to pursue a huge global audience when they really want to be an small experimental band, happiest at creating their own sound without worrying about record sales. That's who they were when they made their first album; and that's the band I think will make the best albums in the future. Print this in big letters and mail it to the band!
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