Duran Duran are all image and no content Nick Rhodes: “Because we came over with a certain fl amboyancyin the initial stages, a lot of people thought we were irresponsible
and naive and didn’t deserve the success we seemed to be having.
“However, what they fail to realise is that John and I had been working on the idea of crossing Chic and the Sex Pistols two and half years before Duran Duran. We wanted to be striking like
I remember Roxy Music were the fi rst time they were on the OldGrey Whistle Test. I was what? Ten or 11, and everybody at school the next day was talking about them. That’s the
way we wanted it to be, bright and powerful.
“I see no difference between us and Edwyn Collins of Orange Juice wearing a pair Oxford bags with braces – it’s all image. Take young Kevin Rowland – what a master of image he is! Just because he wears an anorak and boxingboots instead of a frilly shirt and a pair of leather trousers,he’s a genius to certain political sectors of the music press.”Andy Taylor: “How fuckin’ thick of the press to base their whole concept of a band on image and not on music.”
Duran Duran are a sickly confectionery
John Taylor: “The sort of people we sell to do not question our relevance to society and, until they feel we’re giving them a raw deal, I don’t think we have to answer to anybody.
I don’t see why we should have to satisfy what I consider to be petty semi-graduate university thinking.”
Nick Rhodes: “We never intended to be uncompromising.We never intended on to be on Factory Records. We aren’t looking for pity, we’re looking for hit songs. If we and all the other bands weren’t there, it would be so drab. I think we’re a catalyst for good environmental karma.”
Andy Taylor: “I don’t even know what catalyst means but that
sounds exactly perfect.”
Simon Le Bon: “I don’t see it that way at all. We have got something to offer people – an ideology that comes over in the songs. I’m trying to pick on something positive, give over a positive attitude rather than a negative one.”

Duran Duran are self-obsessed careerists
Nick Rhodes: “I don’t think it’s a crime for a band to comprise five very ambitious people who take a lot of care over their artistic values and work hard to get through to as many people as possible.”John Taylor: “We are careerists. I see music as my career, but it’s also my dream and what I do best so I’m very lucky in that respect. We have had to plan and too many people equate that with being a calculating concern and not with being professionals and perfectionists… or, at least, trying to be.”
Simon Le Bon: “What’s wrong with being a careerist? On the other hand,I agree with what Pete Townshend said, that if you haven’t got an axe to grind, then you should be in the cabaret. We have got something to say – just because it’s not screaming in agony doesn’t mean it’s not a statement.”
Duran Duran are too damn perfect
Andy Taylor: “I forgot to send my dad a copy of ‘Rio’ when it came out, I haven’t had enough time to house-train my dog properly so it shits on the carpet…”
Nick Rhodes: “I lost my wallet the other day, I lost a camera a month before and I lost a bag two months before that…”
Simon Le Bon: “Mistakes? I don’t talk about mistakes, I learn from them.”

Duran Duran are arrogant little oiks
Nick Rhodes: “It’s not arrogance, it’s confi dence!”
John Taylor: “As long as the fi ve of us keep it together mentally, there’s nobody to move where we can move. The Human League may sell a lot of records, but they’ll never play Madison SquareGarden. I think we will…”
Simon Le Bon: “I don’t know. I’m not a prophet, I’m a singer.”
John Taylor: “If you look at most of our interviews, one after another is a justifi cation of our own existence. We’ve always had to leap to our defence.”

Duran Duran say pop shouldn’t have to be anything at all and,therefore, can be anything. I recognised this conclusion too late to tackle them on their terms. That comes next time. But it’s not too late for you to go back, tear off your blinkers, lay your preconceptions aside and listen to Duran Duran for what they are not for what your puritanical expectations demand they should be.