For a band that has accomplished so much and has pretty much marched on the beat of their own drum since 1985 musically and creatively, and working with a variety of producers since then, “Duran Duran (The Wedding Album)” from 1993 is no doubt an amazing highlight in the band’s oeuvre.
Click here to purchase “Duran Duran’s “Duran Duran (The Wedding Album)” on Amazon
BAND: Duran Duran
ALBUM: Duran Duran (The Wedding Album)
DURATION: 13 Songs (1 hr. and 3 minutes)
LABEL: Parlophone
ALBUM RELEASE DATE: February 11, 1993
1 Too Much Information
2 Ordinary World
3 Love Voodoo
4 Drowning Man
5 Shotgun
6 Come Undone
7 Breath After Breath
8 U.M.F.
9 Femme Fatale
10 None of the Above
11 Shelter
12 To Whom It May Concern
13 Sin of the City
If there is one artist or band that made a big impact in my life, it would be Duran Duran.
Every song, every album, signifies memories of my past that I look fondly.
And while I guess one can call me a fan a.k.a. “Duranie”, the band was a big influence in my life, instilled confidence in me, may it visually and me being a wannabe musician during my teenage years of wanting to be as cool as Simon Lebon, Nick Rhodes, John Taylor, Andy Taylor and Roger Taylor, in the early years, thanks to MTV.
Yes, I even took part in a talent show pretending to be Duran Duran and I think it’s pretty cool that decades later since the band debuted in 1978, they are a band that still continues to produce music and are willing to experiment and try different things, to the chagrin of the band members and to fans.
I look at Duran Duran’s music, specifically their albums like wine or even coffee. A variety of flavors that one will enjoy subjectively, in the case of Duran Duran’s music, everyone is going to appreciate each song differently.
But let’s first fast forward to 1986. A few members have left leaving vocalist Simon Le Bon, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist John Taylor as the only original members.
The band followed up with “Big Thing” in 1988 and “Liberty” in 1990, but while both albums debuted on the UK Charts and Billboard charts, media and people were already dismissing the band as a new wave band trying to exist in a music industry constantly shifting.
Heading to the ’90s, let’s face it, a lot of the rock bands we loved in the ’80s, were going through changes in the ’90s of a music listener’s era of Seattle Grunge and UK’s Britpop.
My favorite bands, Duran Duran, INXS and Depeche Mode were trying to find that spark to attract fans and finding a new sound. Having found tremendous success in the ’80s, trying to maintain that popularity is difficult. But one thing remained consistent, their die hard bands would continue buying and would continue listening and supporting these bands. INXS went to a direction of trying sound more raw with sitars and orchestras for their 1992 album “Welcome to Wherever Yo Are”, while Depeche Mode known for their electronic synth music started to incorporate electric guitars and live drums to their music for their 1992 album “Songs of Faith and Devotion”.
But Duran Duran, they have always been a band that experimented with sound, to the chagrin of those who wish they stuck to their early ’80s sound. But I do believe with the creative break that the band members had in 1985, with Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes and Roger Taylor experimenting with a different sound with their band Arcadia, and John Taylor and Andy Taylor with The Power Station alongside vocalist Robert Palmer and Chic’s drummer Tony Thompson and Bernard Thompson. This gave the members newfound freedom to try something new.
And this synergy led to a collaboration with Chic co-founder turned producer Nile Rodgers with their funk-pop musical direction with their fourth album “Notorious” in 1986.
But the musical direction throughout the mid-to-late ’80s was different but also gave a perception that the band was slowly fading to obscurity.
In fact, at the time of the early ’90s, Duran Duran manager Tommy Manzi told “HitQuarters” that the industry were enthusiastic about the return of the band rather than the music consumer. That the Industry laughed at Duran Duran’s new management company, Left Bank, for trying to revive the band’s careers and felt they would be best focusing on the next hip band versus old acts.
With the odds against them, Duran Duran did something that I was unexpected and that was to release the ballad “Ordinary World” (their 23rd single) a week before Christmas of 1992.
The song reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Mainstream Top 40 charts, No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 6 on the UK Charts.
The song was written by Simon Le Bon “trying to get over the death of a best friend” but saying “that everyone could hear the lyrics and apply it to something in their life, but for a different reason”.
For me, as a Duran Duran fan, I remember going out and buying the single and me and my girlfriend at the time (who was even more of a Duranie) felt that the song was amazing. The melody, the lyrics and yes, even that cool music video, was like watching a “grand slam” in the playoffs, a hail mary turned touchdown in the final seconds of a football game or that last second shot in a basketball game leading to an amazing win.
That was how victorious I felt for Duran Duran with “Ordinary World”, a song that I felt the naysayers can “shut their F***en mouths” because I felt Duran Duran is back. They found a new sound that would appeal to old and new fans.
To this very day, the song remains the second most streamed Duran Duran song in the UK.
Sure, while Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes, John Taylor were still the trio that remained with the group, the addition of Warren Cuccurullo (of another new wave band that I enjoyed, Missing Persons) was an important person to the band as he filled that hole with the band not knowing what they would do with their tense relationship with former bandmember, guitarist Andy Taylor, which began with “Notorious”.
Duran Duran’s seventh album titled “Duran Duran” (their second album eponymous titled but called by fans as “The Wedding Album” because of the photos on the album cover) was released in February 1993 and the album reached No. 4 on the UK Albums Chart, becoming the band’s highest charting album since their 1983 album “Seven and the Ragged Tiger”.
Three of the songs on “Duran Duran (The Wedding Album)” would chart in the UK, while four songs would chart in the US.
The second single from the album titled “Come Undone” (their 24th single) followed up with a strong showing in the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 7 and No. 13 in the UK. The song was added to the album last minute as Simon Le Bon wrote the song as a gift for his wife, Yasmin. The instrumentation was developed by Cuccurullo and while developing the song with Nick Rhodes, their plan was to use it for a project with Bush vocalist, Gavin Rossdale. But plans changed with Le Bon loved it and came up with the lyrics on the spot.
The album also had strong songs such as “Too Much Information” which would become the third single from the album. This was very interesting because it is about the commercialization of the music industry. With lyrics such as:
And of course, the band was among those who benefited from MTV’s popularity with music videos becoming an extension of a music group, aside from TV live performances on “Top of the Pops” and the music itself, the music video changed everything back in the early ’80s and made bands known only in their country, popular worldwide.
I truly believe that the success of “Ordinary World” and “Come Undone”, aside being two awesome songs, were also helped during a time when MTV was still playing music videos. As the two music videos were memorable, and yes, “Come Undone” was also featured on an episode of the hugely popular MTV animated show “Beavis and Butt-Head”.
For those who like the beats of “Come Undone”, will no doubt enjoy another beat-driven song “Love Voodoo”.
The band’s four track “Drowning Man” was a very interesting song when I first heard it because I know Simon Le Bon and INXS vocalist Michael Hutchence were good friends and this song reminded me of an INXS style song.
Another favorite of mine is the cover of the Velvet Underground & Nico song “Femme Fatale”. I actually enjoyed the cover as it’s well-done. Considering I have listened to the Velvet Underground & Nico version so many times, it was a surreal version to hear a cover on a Duran Duran album. There is actually another short cover (less than a minute long) on this album and that is “Shotgun”, a cover of the 1965 single by Jr. Walker and the All Stars.
But this song was no doubt a foreshadow of the band’s next album, a cover album titled “Thank You”.
The band would also have the song “None of the Above” which was released as a single in Japan and another catchy track with its mesmerizing dance beats.
Also, a collaboration with Brazilian singer-songwriter Bituca (Milton Nascimento), for the song “Breathless” and another song that I was also surprised to see in terms of lyrically, is “Sin of the City” about the Happy Land arson fire of 1990.
You get a little of that experimentation with Nick Rhodes written song “To Whom It May Concern” and a “Notorious” era like funk/rock track “U.M.F.”.
If anything, the “Duran Duran (The Wedding Album)” is one of my favorite albums from Duran Duran and as I have put it on my playlist this week to listen and write about it, my feelings towards the album has not wavered. This is an awesome album that brought Duran Duran back to the forefront, and showing the band that the ball was on their court. Needless to say, the follow-up album “Thank You” was not what was expected.
But for a band that has accomplished so much and has pretty much marched on the beat of their own drum since 1985 musically and creatively, and working with a variety of producers since then, “Duran Duran (The Wedding Album)” from 1993 is no doubt an amazing highlight in the band’s oeuvre.
Click here to purchase “Duran Duran’s “Duran Duran (The Wedding Album)” on Amazon
