Thursday, September 27, 2007

Once A Groupie, Always A Duranie

I saw the moon the other night and started to hum one of my favorite 80’s tunes. My Fab Five for the longest time were Simon, John, Nick, Roger and Andy. No, they were not ex-boyfriends---though for awhile I was convinced that John Taylor just had to be mine.

They are Duran Duran.

They epitomized style with breakthrough music videos directed by Russell Mulcahy in very exotic places like Sri Lanka and Antigua. A very unheard of thing at the time when MTV was just starting out.
The band had the look, the sound, the girls and the hats.
Duran Duran - New Moon On Monday

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Living in Manila where the Tiger Beats were 6 months delayed, it was hard to be a groupie. But that did not stop me from obsessing. I traded videos with other fans around the world and collected articles sent to me by either family or friends from Europe and America. When I finally migrated to the U.S., I more than made up for the drought by lining up for autograph signings, waiting for them to go in and out of back doors en route to The David Letterman Show, and then camping at hotel lobbies, meeting other Duranies eager to share their stories.

I was too busy swooning over J.T. to have paid real close attention to his bass guitar skills. After the height of their popularity and before they branched out into The Power Station and Arcadia, I did finally realize that there was actually more to them than just eye candy.

The original five has since disbanded, partially reunited, and fully reunited again. Throughout their ups and downs, I was right there with them, and them with me.

I read somewhere that we meet certain people, some fleeting, some for a longer time, and we go through phases that we might be moved forward in our lives. That these people and situations are actually brought to our lives for a particular purpose. During that period of time, Duran Duran was my reprieve as my parents' marriage ended.

They’re still putting out albums and doing gigs worldwide. Only now they have haggard faces and their leather pants much too snug. What has not changed however is their ability to rouse the audience with great live performances. Such catchy lyrics like, “please, please tell me now” afterall, is just too damn hard to shake off your system.
Duran Duran-Is there Something I Should Know? For Myspace

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love 80s...haha

♥food ♥sweets said...

wah haha...

i m J.T. also!!!

ah zhou 亞周 said...

Are you kidding me, camping at hotel lobbies to see Duran Duran?
The wild boy MTV was always in my mind at 80's. I love to know their MTVs were shot in exotic places.
Hey, do you think the name of Duran Duran is inspired by the Durian Fruit which are found in tropical area? I always think there should be some relationship between two.