I wish DD didn't feel the need to embrassingly court a Hot 100 audience, but how have DD survived over 20 years without a major international hit?? That's right by working with people like the Tims and Lohan
Totally disagree. For every album that the band have wasted all their money and time recording with people like the names you mention (and let's face it - they WERE a complete waste of money and time. NOT ONE album did Duran Duran sell well because of the people they worked with. The only album of theirs that has sold in the past 20 years, well make that 21 years, is The Wedding Album. And that was simply because of the quality of Ordinary World and Come Undone; the band didn't need fancy producers and cool kids to work with back then and look how well it did for them) they could have instead spent it on actually making good music that the public would love.
The names you mention don't come cheap - they do this for money, not love. Timbaland charges $300,000 a song, and Timberlake and Nate Hills charge outrageous amounts as well. I doubt that the Lohans are working with the band out of the goodness of their own hearts, especially considering the band allegedly 'NEED' them to attract a younger audience and sell records. How much money did the band make on their outlay with the Tims? What was their return on investment?
I'll give you a hint - they made a massive net loss. Probably still paying it off. Instead they should have forgotten those bums and rung either of Andy or Warren and said "Do you mind if we borrow your studio for a week or two?" Or better still if John Frusciante has just been emailing his guitar parts back to Duran don't you think they also could just buy the required equipment needed to record music and use that instead? It would be a lot cheaper than hiring ridiculous producers or names to speak on the album, and let's face it - the music they make that way couldn't be any worse than what we got with those superstars who were supposed to save Duran's bacon.
to ensure publicity both for the album and more importantly, the tour their bread and butter.
Totally agree, you nailed it in one. The only reason Duran have survived the last 20 years is NOT because they have worked with cool, talentless, hack producers, or celebrities who are more famous for their private life rather than their professional life, but because of touring.
The band have not sold much at all in the past 20 years. The only reason they can still tour is because of their name - the name they made for themselves in the early 80s. People still pay to see Duran Duran because they loved Girls On Film, Hungry Like The Wolf, The Reflex, and The Wild Boys, not because they just have to hear Nite Runner, Skin Divers, Tempted, and Bedroom Toys.
If them wanting to work with young artists to try and appeal to a younger demographic is enough to make you drop them you shouldn't call yourself a fan at all.
Oh my God, my hypocrisy meter just started steaming up, turned red, and then exploded into one thousand fiery pieces. For the past 8 months you have been a member here you have been crying post after post how you are only young and have just recently become a Duran Duran fan, and that 'some members' here have implied you're not a real fan as a result.
You have cried black and blue how it's not fair that you have been judged this way, and how the fanbase sucks etc etc. Very rarely do you actually discuss the topic at hand, but just post denigrating the regulars here. You remind me very much of somebody who was banned from this and other Duran forums as a result, but I digress. More often than not you appear as a complaining, whining, petulant school-girl, and I have a feeling that is not too far removed in real life.
Now, after feeling you have been treated like this and complained about it every step of the way, you have the audacity to say to other people, regular posters here who actually post about Duran Duran and not about its fanbase, that maybe "you shouldn't call yourself a fan at all"!!!
I can't believe this. You can dish it out but not take it (and for the record I have never called anybody on these boards "not a real fan", as anybody who takes the time to frequent here and post is obviously a real Duran Duran fan).
So thanks for the laugh, it was really interesting reading your victimised posts and then see you doing the exact same thing you have been campaigning against ever since you have been here.
Anyway back on topic, and that is not who is the biggest and best and most lovely Duran Duran sheep, I mean fan, on these boards, but Duran Duran working with 'cool' names to attract a younger fanbase.
To the people who think its great that Duran do this, let me ask you this. And be honest. If you're at a party, and you see a 56 year old male who is wearing the latest most hip clothes, with his cap on backwards and showing half of his undies which barely conceal half of his butt-crack, what do you think? And keep in mind this guy isn't just mucking around or taking the piss, he is genuinely ignoring many of his old friends and instead hanging out only with teenagers in an effort to attract brand new younger friends who are 40 years his junior. Seriously what do you think? What do you think most of the people in the room think?
Now I'm not saying we grab the guy and take him out the back and stone him, but everybody in that room is going to think he is at least a little weird, and many people are going to think he's an absolute nutcase. Even the people who don't like to judge and think "wow, that's different" are going to still raise an eyebrow when they first see his behaviour.
And how do you think the young kids are going to feel when he comes over and tries to attract them? Are they going to take him seriously? Or is the minute he turns his back to empty his 56 year old bladder they are all going to laugh and take the piss out of him unmercilessly?
Think back to when you were a kid. I don't know one person my age who thought somebody approaching 60 was cool when they tried to act young or do things to appear cool to young people. It's impossible.
I'm not saying it's impossible for old people to be cool. Far from it. Heaps of young kids today have embraced The Beatles, Rolling Stones etc. Those old guys command respect from people of all ages. But they are cool for the amazing music they made over many years, music that was true to them, and not stuff that just fell off the latest bandwagon.
Guess what Duran? Do you think the Rolling Stones would have been held in such high regard if in the 90s they made a hardcore grunge album, then in the noughties they made a hard-core hip-hop album with Timbaland and Timberlake, and we hear next year they are teaming up with One Direction to make a feel-good pop album?
It wouldn't happen. The Rolling Stones aren't desperate. They have musical class, and care about their musical legacy. They wouldn't want to jeopardise all they have achieved by flip-flopping with each new genre that has its 15 minutes of fame and work with kids who don't even have 1/100th of their talent.
If they did they would go from being legends of Rock 'N Roll to the laughing stocks of Rock 'N Roll. And if it is true that Duran Duran approached the Lohans purely to attract young kids (and I'm still not convinced this is the case, surely they wouldn't admit to such an embarrassing situation) then it appears that rather than heading towards the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame, they instead have veered onto the Rock N Roll laughing stock highway.
PS: I still hope the album is amazing, just as I always hope before every Duran album. I loved All You Need Is Now. But in my experience the cooler that Duran Duran try to act, and the more they try to appeal to young kids, the worse the music generally turns out to be.
Please let this be the exception to the rule oh music Gods, but I certainly won't be holding my breath.