Original subtitles

Welcome back to "Behind the Music."

-Hello. -Hello, Simon.

Nick, welcome back to "Behind the Music."

-Good morning to you. -Hello.

Hello..."Behind the Music."

♪♪♪

Are we ready to dance, ladies and gentlemen?

-That's extra, you know. -[laughter]

Promise to tell the whole truth.

Ready...action.

♪♪♪

Here's Duran Duran.

["Hungry Like the Wolf" playing, audience cheering]

NARRATOR: They were the Fab Five of '80s New Wave

who made their mark with a unique blend

of rock, funk, and futuristic pop.

♪ Do-do-do, do-do ♪

And the superstardom they achieved

was beyond their imaginations.

♪ In touch with the ground, I'm on the hunt ♪

Nothing we'd ever thought or came close

to the reality of it.

♪ Like a wolf ♪

♪♪♪

Duran Duran became the British masters of style,

who seduced the world with glamour, groove,

and good looks.

♪ Her name is Rio, and she dances on the sand ♪

You know, the love that they showered on you

from the moment you step off the plane

to the moment that you leave, it was powerful, man.

[screaming]

It was going somewhere that you couldn't have foreseen.

I love you!

♪ Wild boys ♪

Their unique musical styles made them famous,

but it was also tearing them apart.

Musically, we were always pulling in different directions.

♪ The wild boys are calling ♪

It's a hell of a fight sometimes.

We're very, "No, I think it should be like this."

We're very assertive and opinionated.

Everybody still wants to be heard.

They're playing in a way that they're like,

"Hey, I'm in this."

There's so much publicity on Duran Duran.

Are there ego problems in the band?

It took something that you really loved,

and, like, okay, we're gonna

take half of it here and take half of it here.

♪ Time ♪

As the '80s came to a close, they were left for dead.

We weren't the shit anymore.

We were like, "Oh, the shit's over there."

Damn, you know?

But Duran Duran dug deep and scored their biggest hit.

Simon wrote probably the best lyric of his lifetime.

♪♪♪

♪ But I won't cry for yesterday ♪

♪ There's an ordinary world ♪

♪ Somehow I have to find ♪

♪♪♪

Now, over 20 years since Duran Duran's original episode

of "Behind the Music" aired...

♪ Notorious ♪

...they're reflecting on key moments of their lives...

When Andy's trying to kill me during the video...

♪ I don't believe it, that's why I've done it again ♪

...that was about as close as you'd get to reality.

♪ Lipstick cherry all over ♪

...giving new insights on the past...

It was done because our managers thought

it would get us a lot of attention.

♪ Girls on film ♪

They were right about that.

♪ Girls on film ♪

...and celebrating the present.

It's really exciting to know that you can still do it.

The concept of what Duran Duran can do

is more important than any of our own personal egos.

[laughter]

This is "Duran Duran: The Story Behind the Music."

[cheering]

♪♪♪

[cheers and applause]

In the spring of 2021, Duran Duran was finishing work

on their 15th album, "Future Past."

♪ Discouraged by the noise ♪

The record marks the continued evolution

and artistic innovation of Simon Le Bon,

John Taylor, Roger Taylor, and Nick Rhodes.

There's plenty of scope in that for melodies.

Well, why don't we see?

What's always driven us to move forward is curiosity,

intrigue, excitement about what's next.

What can we do? How far can we push it?

Why can't we do that? Let's try it.

♪♪♪

You have to keep on moving.

If we'd have stopped at "Rio,"

I don't think we'd ever got very far.

♪ Living without choice ♪

Anybody that gets to do what we do for this length of time

needs to justify themselves.

♪ No one hears a word ♪

Roger, Nick, myself, and Simon--

we all can still impress each other, you know?

We bring something new to it, so it's exciting.

♪ When the air turns red ♪

♪ With their loaded hesitation ♪

We really believe in what we're doing.

We really believe in the music we're making.

We believe in Duran Duran.

♪♪♪

[laughter, indistinct conversations]

♪♪♪

Duran Duran's artistic journey began in the late '70s

in Birmingham, England.

The images of the Beatles going around the world, you know,

as a 4 or 5-year-old kid were pretty indelible.

I'm thinking, "I like the idea of doing that, you know?

Now what do I have to do?"

John I met when I was about 10 years old.

We hit it off pretty much straightaway.

We're both only children. We're both Geminis.

We're both super creative.

We were always interested in art and cinema.

We had a keen interest in photography.

We got into all sorts of things together.

But we also had a shared love of music--particular music.

♪♪♪

John and I came from a sort of glam rock.

♪ You're dirty and sweet, clad in black, don't look back ♪

T. Rex, David Bowie, Roxy Music, Sparks.

♪ Get it on ♪

♪ Bang a gong, get it on ♪

And then we went through disco.

Unlike other people, we kinda liked disco,

especially Chic.

♪ Aw, freak out ♪

♪ Le freak, c'est chic, freak out ♪

We also loved electronic music...

DONNA SUMMER: ♪ Ooh, it's so good, it's so good ♪

...and punk rock.

[punk riff playing]

The energy of punk rock, the Sex Pistols, The Damned,

Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Clash--

we had inspiration all around us.

♪♪♪

By their late teens, John and Nick

were devoted scholars of innovative sound and vision.

♪♪♪

We'd ride home after these gigs,

and we'd say, well, did you like the projections?

And that opening song was cool, right?

The way that they did that thing with the synth,

and what was that synth?

♪♪♪

The two friends began to learn the craft

and devised an artistic mission to create their own brand

of cutting edge music and take on the world.

We wanted to take rock music onto the dance floor.

We wanted the sound we made to become a sound

that everybody liked.

If John and I want to make something work,

if we agree, it usually happens.

It's making your own opportunities.

It's seizing those opportunities.

Uh, people don't get lucky. People maketheir luck.

♪♪♪

After a year of playing with local musicians

who couldn't match their creative ambitions,

John and Nick recruited drummer Roger Taylor,

who was immediately struck by their intense focus

and shared sensibilities.

I mean, those two were just on the same page from day one.

They had this connection between them.

They were like brothers.

It was a huge moment in my life to find these people

that "A," had the same influences,

"B," they're kinda dressed like me,

and "C," they were just totally committed

to what we wanted to do.

Duran Duran became the house band

at the Rum Runner club in Birmingham,

where they befriended club owners Paul and Michael Berrow,

who started to manage the band.

For a bunch of teenage kids like ourselves, you know,

they had--they were able to give us all jobs in the club,

and they brought me an amp

and, um, gave us somewhere to rehearse.

John and Roger used to collect glasses and wash up.

Nick was the DJ. Great DJ, Nick was.

We had a goal,

and everybody did everything they could day and night

in order to achieve it.

When Nick and John placed a want ad

in the music trade magazine "Melody Maker,"

it caught the eye of guitarist Andy Taylor.

You know, they had this whole scene--

the rehearsal room off this club, offices above.

The managers and the club--

I thought, well, this is all right.

I thought, do we get a tab at the bar, you know?

Oh, yeah, yeah. [laughs]

And one of our barmaids at the Rum Runner said,

"Oh, you should--I'll get my boyfriend to come down."

And Simon walked into the kitchen one day,

and that was it.

♪♪♪

I found the Rum Runner down a little alleyway,

and I said, "Is this where I will find Duran Duran?"

♪♪♪

As soon as I saw Simon, I thought,

yeah, he's got that swagger. He's got the confidence.

He's got the cockiness that it takes to be a singer.

I was a drama student since I was 5 years old,

and I guess I was used to being onstage,

and when I walked down that alleyway,

I was onstage.

Roger, John, Andy, and Nick were immediately struck

by Simon's charisma.

They just hoped he had the voice to match.

I thought, please, please, just let him be able to sing.

As long as he can sing in tune, we can--

we can get around it, I'm sure.

Then we went into this little triangular room

called the Tritec room,

and they started playing their music.

♪♪♪

And Simon was like, "Ah, hang on a second," you know?

And he had this-- I mean, this is mythology

in the Duran Duran story--

had this book with lyrics in it, you know?

We were like, "Ooh."

Then I said, "I think-- I think I can, um,

I've got something that would work with that."

♪♪♪

♪ I've been in this grass here ♪

♪ For the last 10 hours ♪

As soon as he started to sing, it was just the right tonality.

♪ My clothes are dirty, but my mouth isn't dry ♪

I knew as soon as he opened his mouth, it was gonna work.

♪ How does it happen? ♪

We had these glances around the room,

essentially saying, "This is-- This is the guy. We've got him."

♪ Oh, I gave up asking days away ♪

It just felt right. He was one of us.

♪ And now I'm lying here waiting for the sound of thunder ♪

♪♪♪

The new bandmates began writing songs together

and gigging around England,

where their hard-edged dance grooves

quickly grabbed the British music scene.

♪ On the table ♪

♪ Signs of love lies scattered ♪

Roger and John wanted to be in Chic, you know,

and then Andy comes from Newcastle.

It's like a tougher place. He's got a bit more

of this, like, heavy rock background.

And Nick just built this sonic architecture

out of all these synths.

♪ Oh, I walk out into the sun ♪

Simon just brings these, like, arty, weird, abstract lyrics,

so, like, they were this Voltron.

♪ Screams in my eyes ♪

We had a chemistry between us, and when we started playing,

something happened.

A fuse caused the electricity to fire all around the room.

♪ With a careless memory ♪

We all appreciated that together,

we were capable of achieving something great.

Like, I may be really kind of different to this guy,

but if I get really close to him,

maybe we can really do something.

♪ Look out, look out, look out, look out ♪

♪♪♪

[cheers and applause]

♪ I said close the door ♪

♪ I've told you twice before ♪

In 1980, the five members of Duran Duran

each brought their different musical backgrounds

to form a collective vision.

♪ Rocky Picture has lost his... ♪

And through their songs,

John, Nick, Andy, Roger, and Simon became inseparable.

It was really the music that made the personalities gel.

♪ Georgie Davies is coming out ♪

We went everywhere together and did everything together.

We were very, very close.

♪ I'm not waiting anymore, hey, hey ♪

-Great like that. Hold there. -[camera shutter clicks]

♪♪♪

Duran Duran carefully designed an innovative aesthetic

that went way beyond music,

meticulously building their image through photography,

art, hairstyle, and fashion.

♪♪♪

I definitely loved the visual of the band,

and I went to get my hair cut when I was 11,

and I remember taking this picture,

like, folded up from, like, some fan magazine of John Taylor,

like, in my back pocket, and I, like, literally,

like, reached in my back pocket. I'm like, "So, this, please."

And I remember leaving, and my mom's like,

"What's wrong with you? Like, I wasn't crying,

but I was, like, really upset, and I was like,

"He cut my hair like Nick Rhodes and I showed him John Taylor."

By 1981, Duran Duran became the leaders

of the New Romantic music revolution

and signed a deal with EMI Records.

♪ Only came outside to watch the nightfall with the rain ♪

With the release of their self-titled debut album,

they took full advantage

of an exciting, new record marketing tool--

the music video.

♪ Can you hear me now? ♪

♪ This is Planet Earth ♪

♪ Planet Earth ♪

It became very, very important

the way that we could manifest ourselves all over the world.

♪ Girls on film ♪

♪ Girls on film ♪

Duran's risqué video for "Girls on Film"

earned the dubious honor of being banned

by both the BBC and MTV.

I think that song was actually like the number 1

video jukebox song for about three years running.

It was quite incredible, really,

what a little bit of ice cube on the nipple will do for you.

♪ Lipstick cherry all over the lens as she's falling ♪

It was done because our managers thought

it would get us a lot of attention.

And they were right about that. It was an eye opener.

♪ Girls on film ♪

Duran Duran's controversial video

helped their debut reach number 3 on the UK albums chart.

♪ Girls on film ♪

After a 10-month tour,

they worked quickly to record a follow-up.

♪♪♪

One Saturday morning, Simon and Nick

dragged themselves into the studio

after a night of heavy drinking.

That morning, I don't know why I agreed

to go into the studio on a Saturday.

I had a shocking hangover.

I didn't really want to go into the studio at all,

but I had a relatively new synthesizer at that time,

and, um, I wanted to play around with it.

♪♪♪

Simon came in, heard it, and said, "Wait a minute.

Okay, do that again."

And suddenly, we had something going.

♪ Darken the city, night is a wire ♪

♪ Steam in the subway, earth is afire ♪

The rest of the band came in, and they just loved it.

Andy brought, I think, probably one of the greatest rock riffs

of the 1980s down.

[guitar playing "Hungry Like a Wolf" riff]

There was something about it that just sounded right.

♪♪♪

In just under two hours,

Duran Duran had created "Hungry Like the Wolf."

♪ And I'm hungry like the wolf ♪

The band was creatively firing on all cylinders,

and as the sessions progressed for their second album, "Rio,"

Duran Duran knew they were making a masterpiece.

I don't recall there being any self-doubt with that record.

It was just everything flowed.

When Rio was released in May of 1982,

Duran Duran formulated a plan for a new music video.

We had this idea to make a video that was kind of based

on "Raiders of the Lost Ark," um, hence the hat.

♪ Burning the ground, I break from the crowd ♪

You know, it was a quest, and it wouldn't have worked

if our singer hadn't have had some experience in acting.

♪ And I'm hungry like the wolf ♪

[explosion]

♪♪♪

You're watching MTV Music Television,

the world's music video channel in stereo.

I'm Simon Le Bon.

And I'm Nick Rhodes from Duran Duran,

and for the next hour, we're taking over MTV.

Duran Duran premiered "Hungry Like the Wolf" on MTV

in February of 1983, while the fledgling network

was still working to find a wider audience.

It was interesting, because MTV was only in about

three or four cities at that time.

And we could see that the people that were seeing MTV,

there was a spike in our radio play.

It was going up because people were calling in

to the radio station, saying, "I want my Duran Duran."

MTV most definitely had an effect.

♪♪♪

As MTV's viewership grew, so did Duran Duran's fanbase.

♪♪♪

The band arrived in America,

where the media hyped them as the new Beatles

and dubbed them the "Fab Five."

[screaming]

♪ Moving on the floor now, babe, you're a bird of paradise ♪

They soon found it wasn't safe to travel the streets alone.

Adoring teenage fans pursued them everywhere.

[screaming]

-This is ridiculous. -Absolutely. Totally ridiculous.

♪ Her name is Rio, and she dances on the sand ♪

We're really enjoying the success

'cause this is a bunch of guys that have gone

into the music business for the affirmation,

and we wanted people to like us.

That's Duran Duran. Say hello, will ya?

[applause]

Somewhere in our DNA, there's something that said

that we wanna be applauded.

♪ Oh, Rio, Rio, dance across the Rio Grande ♪

♪♪♪

The success that we had out of the gate,

and the kind of success it was--

I mean, we didn't see it coming.

Oh, my God!

[screaming]

♪ Please, please tell me now ♪

♪ Is there something I should know? ♪

We'd get onstage, and we'd play our songs,

which a lot of them were sexual,

and we'd have this wave of sexual energy

sort of come towards us.

♪ 'Cause you don't let it show ♪

For us, the world had changed, and we were these icons.

♪ Please, please tell me now ♪

[cheering]

Suddenly, we were rock stars.

♪♪♪

["Save a Prayer" playing]

♪♪♪

It was sort of thrilling.

We'd seen the footage of the Beatles

and the Doors and the Rolling Stones,

and nobody had expected to see that again,

and somehow it was us.

♪ Don't say a prayer for me now ♪

♪ Save it till the morning after ♪

♪ No, don't say a prayer for me now ♪

♪ Save it till the morning after ♪

With their conquest of America,

Duran Duran became international cover boys.

They were besieged by fans seeking the ultimate autograph.

It was a babe fest backstage.

For all the security, somehow, the girls would get through,

and it didn't hurt that they all were the supermodel type.

If you could be the girlfriend of one of them--

-John Taylor. -[all shouting at once]

I definitely felt a rivalry with John for attention--

for female attention, and John won that battle, completely,

and ultimately, he won it.

[fans screaming]

-I love you! -I love you!

There's so much publicity on Duran Duran.

Everywhere you turn, there's something about you guys,

and that makes each member a celebrity in their own right.

Are there ego problems in the band?

Um...

I think we probably did at one time.

There was like a sort of, uh, competition.

You know, people sort of trying to claw

to get more magazine space sort of thing.

♪♪♪

I mean, there was a competitiveness

between the band.

You almost couldn't help it.

You know, when they started doing, like, individual T-shirts

and individual poster sets, and somebody had mentioned

how many I sold and how many Andy sold,

and I think that they were the seeds of dissent.

♪♪♪

We all started to get girlfriends.

That changes the dynamic completely,

because you're not just a gang of five young guys

running around, doing stuff together.

You get separated out, and suddenly,

one of the partners will say,

"I don't know. I don't think you should be doing that,"

or "Why isn't there more of you in that video?"

When we started, it was a bunch of guys that would hang out

and spend 24/7 together.

But I think as the pressure built up,

everybody kind of retreated a little bit.

It just begins to fragment.

As with anything you build, the cracks start to show.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

In 1983, despite an emerging divide within Duran Duran,

excitement continued to follow the band on tour,

as their concerts became sold-out teenage scream fests.

♪ Wider, baby, smile, and you've just made a million ♪

With that much fun going on at the shows

where everybody, 20,000, 30,000 people,

having that much fun,

you couldn't just unplug everything.

♪♪♪

♪ Girls on film ♪

♪ Two minutes later ♪

♪ Girls on film ♪

We're having fun.

We are definitely having fun. Uh, I mean, I was.

♪ Girls on film ♪

I noticed that Roger wasn't feeling the same way about it

as I was.

He didn't really like that kind of attention,

and he didn't feel safe.

♪♪♪

[crowd cheering]

-[fans screaming] -That's him! That's him!

♪♪♪

Roger Taylor's growing discomfort with the hysteria

that stalked Duran Duran

came to a head one night in Manchester, England.

We played a show,

and the theater was kind of on its own block,

and the crowd had surrounded the entire block,

and we couldn't get out.

[screaming]

And the noise around--you could just hear these people

screaming and shouting and singing and chanting.

It was loud and it was intense.

You couldn't-- you could not escape from it.

And I looked at Roger, and he had this look on his face.

It was like-- And I said to him,

I said, "Are you okay?" He said, this is--

how are we gonna get out of here?

How are we gonna get out of here?"

♪♪♪

A little bit of fear crept in because it was going somewhere

that you couldn't have foreseen.

I didn't know we were gonna be like the next Beatles,

but suddenly I felt my life kind of closing in a bit.

Roger stuck it out at the time,

but it was clear the band's success

was turning into something they had never anticipated.

♪ Wild boys never lose it ♪

♪ Wild boys ♪

We were celebrating, really, what we'd achieved,

and no one was there to stop us.

♪ Wild boys, wild boys ♪

And sometimes it would get way out of hand.

♪ Wild boys always shine ♪

Right here. Hey, guys, over here.

While each member of Duran Duran

dealt with fame in their own way,

for John Taylor, the party was getting out of control.

My drug of choice was coke.

I was able to be this pin-up guy, you know,

24 hours a day, you know?

And especially after midnight. It was really useful then.

[knock on door]

You know, drugs and alcohol

are about numbing emotions and feelings.

You know, and I think that were just so many feelings going on

the entire experience of the band's career,

it was just, like, too much.

John! [shouting indistinctly]

Every place you go, there are screaming, screaming people.

What goes through your mind when you hear that?

I was just waking up every morning thinking,

have I got what I need to get myself through the day?

The drugs and alcohol were kind of running me.

And it wasn't about do I want to?

It was like, I have to.

[cheering]

Despite the toll their success was taking on the band,

Duran Duran retreated to the south of France

to write their highly demanded follow-up,

"Seven and the Ragged Tiger."

♪ Telegram force ♪

Recording sessions lasted a grueling six months,

and unlike their previous albums,

the divided band was no longer seeing eye to eye artistically.

♪ I knew this was a big mistake ♪

The third album was a grind.

You know, and it's amazing that any of us

were still speaking to each other

by the time we finished that album.

♪ To break ♪

You know, Andy would wanna bring it in this direction.

Nick would maybe wanna bring it over to that direction.

Andy's also got a very forceful character.

In a way, he's like me like that,

in that when he decides he wants to do something,

that's what he wants to do.

They were never particularly suited to each other,

and if they weren't in a band together,

they would have never been friends.

As we started getting further and further and further apart,

I think the elastic broke.

The band was forced to keep it together

to support the release

of "Seven and the Ragged Tiger" in 1984.

But by the end of the tour,

Andy was on the verge of quitting Duran Duran.

Andy was like, "I'm not doing this again.

This isn't working for me," and, uh,

you know, I didn't wanna lose him.

["Some Like It Hot" playing]

In late '84, John and Andy decided to form

The Power Station, a side project

with hard-hitting, guitar-driven rock.

♪ We want to multiply ♪

♪ Are you gonna do it? ♪

It was a clear and intentional departure from Duran Duran.

It was like, come on, let's just go and do something

where you can play as loudly as you like.

There'll be lots of room for solos.

They can be as long as you want them to be.

♪♪♪

One of Andy's driving forces to make The Power Station

was to get away from Nick.

♪ Feel the heat ♪

♪ Pushing you to decide ♪

♪ Some like it hot ♪

♪ But you can't tell how hot till you try ♪

The album was a hit,

and John and Andy started to realize

they might be able to have careers beyond the Fab Five.

You know, it started to seem like,

well, maybe this is something more than a one-off.

♪ Some like it hot ♪

For Simon, Nick, and Roger,

it was clear that the musical differences

that once brought Duran Duran together

were now tearing them apart.

Musically, we were always

pulling in two different directions,

and the tension between what I do

and what Andy was doing was one of the great things

about the dynamic in early Duran Duran records.

When Andy decided he wanted to go a bit further

and a bit more rock, that-- that's just too much for me.

I-I-I have no interest in that.

Nick and I were interested in something different.

♪♪♪

We wanted to be more experimental.

♪ Wild kind of look to the day ♪

♪ Opening eyes impale neon flickers ♪

In the summer of '85, Simon, Nick, and Roger

formed Arcadia and recorded an album

with several high-profile guest stars.

What an amazing time we had. Incredible.

It was a good lineup.

You know, Dave Gilmour, Sting, Grace Jones.

I mean, it was an amazing lineup.

♪ Byroads and backroads ♪

All the groove and the guitar and the heaviness

seemed to go to Power Station, and then

all the kind of synth and clever,

weird alternativeness went to Arcadia.

♪ I pull my shirt off and pray ♪

It kind of, like, took something that you really loved

and, like, okay, we're gonna take half of it here,

and take half of it here, so it sounded a bit like that.

♪ Coming up on re-election day ♪

On opposite ends of the creative spectrum,

Arcadia and Power Station created a schism

within Duran Duran.

Of course, you got competition coming into play.

I didn't want Power Station to be any more successful.

You know, we've got to make a better album

than they're making.

John and Andy were doing this project here.

Simon and Nick were doing this project here.

And I was putting one foot in each project,

and, uh, these kind of two ships

were sailing apart from each other,

and I was kind of in the middle of it, you know,

trying to hang on to both, thinking,

are we gonna like each other when we get back together?

After six months apart,

the band honored a commitment to shoot the music video

for their new James Bond theme, "A View to a Kill"...

♪♪♪

♪ Meeting you ♪

♪ With a view to a kill ♪

...in a true case of art imitating life,

as the tensions amongst the band were practically lethal.

♪ Feel the chill ♪

I remember it as being pretty toxic.

There was an air of resentment.

We weren't getting along at all.

♪ Nightfall covers me ♪

Andy locked himself in his trailer.

He wouldn't come out to do his filming.

We're not really playing well with each other.

♪ A week is why ♪

♪ Until we dance into the fire ♪

I think you can see when Andy is trying to actually kill me

during the video, um, yeah, that was about as close

as you'd get to, uh, to reality.

♪ A view to a kill ♪

I hate that video, and I don't think anybody looks good in it.

And then we just went our separate ways

and didn't come together again until Philadelphia

in the Live Aid.

♪♪♪

In July of 1985, Duran Duran was given an offer

they couldn't refuse,

when their friend Bob Geldof organized Live Aid.

This is the ultimate that pop music can do.

Quite literally is the ultimate.

You can't do anything more after this.

A global fundraising event for African famine relief

that featured performances

from the biggest names in music.

I'm Mark Goodman. Right behind me,

a recording studio called The Warehouse in Philadelphia.

Just a few moments ago,

all of the members of Duran Duran arrived here

to rehearse for what will be their first live performance

in nearly a year.

♪♪♪

Yes, there was shit going down, but what are you gonna do?

Pull out of the Live Aid show because it's not quite right?

No, you just gotta get on with it.

You've gotta pull off a big gig here.

You've gotta go and play in front of

I don't know how many billion people.

So you had the pressure

of doing the biggest show that's ever been put on the earth.

[cheering]

Before Duran Duran would take the stage that evening,

John and Andy insisted on performing with Power Station.

[cheering]

The fact that John and Andy had already been onstage

with Power Station says something about the whole day.

♪♪♪

A few hours after Power Station left the stage,

Duran Duran was about to play their first show

in nearly a year in front of the entire world.

I was totally committed.

I think Nick was totally committed as well.

I think Roger was feeling very anxious,

and I think John and Andy were thinking,

"Ugh, I'm not sure I like this as much as being onstage

with Power Station."

[crowd cheering]

Live Aid was a bit of a disaster.

And when we got onstage, we got no monitors.

I couldn't even hear myself.

And it's quite terrifying.

I was having to sort of turn around and look at Roger,

thinking, okay, this is being broadcast to billions of people.

I cannot actually hear what I'm playing.

[crowd cheering]

I remember just being more impressed with Led Zeppelin

than anything we were doing.

We were woefully under-rehearsed, really.

When I watch it, I can feel that it's, uh,

you know, we're not having a good time.

It was just trying to hang on to a very thin piece of string.

We'd really played all our chips,

put 'em all on the table at that point.

It was the end of a relationship.

After Duran Duran's difficult performance at Live Aid,

John and Andy Taylor returned to touring with Power Station.

And Roger decided he was ready

to take himself out of the limelight.

It was a very odd time for us, because we thought

we were gonna have a 5-piece band back together again.

But Roger had actually had enough of the music business,

and he didn't wanna come back.

I think he was just exhausted, quite honestly.

There's only so much attention and so many glaring lights

that some people can take.

And you know, you do take on a besieged mentality.

Roger Taylor left the band and withdrew from public life.

He didn't wanna have anything to do with it anymore.

I don't think a lot of people really understood

what I was going through at the time,

and I think people tended to, you know, label it

with different things,

and I don't think I was emotionally prepared

for the height of fame that we achieved.

I didn't have the tools to deal with that.

It sounds like a cliché,

but it was like I need to find the real me. Who am I?

When I look back at myself, in those early days,

I'm like, who is that?

And when I left, I just kind of found myself.

Losing Roger was a stunning blow to the band.

It was time for Duran Duran to regroup.

But Andy Taylor ignored requests to return to the fold.

It blows your confidence a little bit when people leave.

When Roger and Andy left, I think the band

kind of lost a little bit of its innocence then,

and it's never--it was never gonna be the same.

But by 1986, John Taylor was ready to rejoin Simon and Nick.

They set aside their creative differences

to try and keep Duran Duran alive.

The three of us had so bonded.

We just felt we were on the right path.

We clung on to each other and to the idea of Duran Duran.

We learned very much to, uh, make our egos, uh,

subservient to the band.

Of course, it felt very different not having

two members there that we'd spent every day with

for five years, but at the same time,

it was a new adventure, and in the spirit of Duran Duran,

we embraced change.

♪ No, no, notorious ♪

♪♪♪

The trio entered the studio to record

Duran Duran's fifth album, "Notorious,"

with one of their biggest influences as producer--

Chic's Nile Rodgers.

When I showed up to do the album "Notorious,"

and there was no Andy and there was no Roger,

I wasn't quite sure that it would feel like

I was working with Duran,

but the thing is, is that the spirit of Duran

is sort of bigger than the individual players,

and it felt really like Duran.

♪ Lies come hard in disguise ♪

♪ They need to fight it out, not wild about it ♪

We've never been as funky as "Notorious"

before or since Nile Rodgers.

Nile's got the funk.

♪ You own the money, you control the witness ♪

The more you heard what you were doing,

the more you had belief in it.

Nile Rodgers is the person who rescued Duran Duran.

♪ Notorious ♪

It was this new evolution.

It sounded like they'd been holed up

in some very expensive New York recording studio.

Like, some of those records from that era just sound like

cocaine and money, and I feel like that's one of them.

♪ I heard you promise, but I don't believe it ♪

♪ That's why I've done it again ♪

When "Notorious" was released in November of '86,

it reached number 12 on the U.S. album charts.

♪ Notorious ♪

♪♪♪

But as Duran Duran closed out the '80s,

their follow-up albums, "Big Thing" and "Liberty,"

failed to make a mark.

As they entered a new decade,

Duran Duran were deemed a relic of the past.

The landscape had changed.

We'd been pretty successful through the '80s,

and I think a lot of people thought we were synonymous

with that period,

and when they locked the door behind the 1980s,

some people were determined that we were gonna be

on the other side of the door,

and they were taking the key with them.

And that's kind of when you realized that

that moment had passed.

We weren't the shit anymore.

We were like, "Oh, the shit's over there. Damn."

You know, can we-- maybe if we paddle faster,

we can catch it up, but it's hard.

In 1992, the band went to work on their seventh album,

writing with guitarist Warren Cuccurullo,

who broadened their sound.

As the sessions progressed,

one track emerged as particularly promising.

["Ordinary World" playing]

And Simon Le Bon channeled his emotions

about a recent tragedy into the lyrics.

♪♪♪

I wrote about the death of a very, very dear friend of mine

who died tragically very, very, very young.

And when he died, I dedicated a part of myself to him.

♪ I turned on the lights, the TV, and the radio ♪

♪ Still I can't escape the ghost of you ♪

I was finding it very difficult to let go of the sadness

and to move into the next chapter of my life,

and I had to free myself.

I wanted to say goodbye, and that's why I said,

"But I won't cry for yesterday. There's an ordinary world..."

that I want to live in now, and I will--I will carry on,

and I will survive.

♪ But I won't cry for yesterday ♪

♪ There's an ordinary world ♪

♪ Somehow I have to find ♪

♪♪♪

♪ And as I try to make my way ♪

♪ To the ordinary world ♪

♪ I will learn to survive ♪

♪♪♪

That really was my way of burying my friend

instead of trying to keep him alive in my own heart,

but with sadness and loss.

♪ Every world ♪

Simon's tribute to his late friend

connected to millions across the globe.

Released as a single in December of '92,

"Ordinary World" became the biggest hit

of Duran Duran's career.

♪ Any world ♪

To have your biggest hit, what, 13 years

after your first hit or your breakthrough,

like, that just doesn't happen in music.

Like, that means that you have a true place

in people's hearts, and you have a truly special song.

♪ Any world ♪

"Ordinary World" propelled "The Wedding Album"

to the top 10.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Duran Duran had once again

returned to the mainstream.

♪ Destroyed by MTV ♪

♪ I hate to bite the hand that feeds me ♪

♪ So much information ♪

We're back, and we're in the '90s. [laughs]

♪ That you don't need ♪

And that, for me, was one of the most significant moments

in our career.

♪ For me ♪

They continued to record

and tour over the next four years.

♪♪♪

But in 1997, the band suffered an unexpected blow.

John Taylor decided to leave Duran Duran.

It was hard because, you know, I'd been a member

of this band my entire adult life,

since I was 17.

It was almost like for once in my life,

I had to invest in my personal life.

It wasn't easy, but it was necessary.

John moved to Los Angeles, got married,

and checked into a rehab facility

to finally get his substance abuse issues in order.

Getting sober was a big one for me. Maybe the biggest.

You know, it was an incredible rebirth.

I mean, it was good to know at least in the way

that I understood my recovery, that--that it wasn't my fault.

You know? That I had like a faulty--

faulty brain when it came to, you know, alcohol and drugs,

that it wasn't just that I was making bad choices

or that I was lacking in discipline.

♪♪♪

With John tending to his personal life,

only Simon and Nick remained from the original Fab Five.

John leaving was a monumental blow.

I felt deserted when John left the group.

For the next three years,

they carried on recording and touring,

but it was becoming apparent that inspiration was fading.

I really questioned whether I wanted

to carry on at that point.

To me, it didn't feel like Duran Duran anymore.

I think there was a couple of options.

One was to just stop...

or look at going all the way back to the beginning again

and putting the original lineup together.

I called up John. Nick and Simon and I had lunch.

He was ready, really excited,

and he said, "Right, let's call Roger."

He said, "I'm here by the pool with Simon and Nick.

We're thinking about getting

the original band together again."

At that point, I kinda nearly fell to the floor.

So I'm thinking, you know what? I'm gonna really embrace this.

So I called him back, and I said, "Yeah, okay, I'm in."

So then there was only Andy, uh,

and it was a case of finding him.

♪♪♪

Andy had moved to the Spanish island of Ibiza.

After a phone call with Roger, he was on board.

♪♪♪

The five original members of Duran Duran

got together in a studio in France

to see if they could recapture the old magic.

Horrible. [laughs]

-[laughs] Oh, boy. -[laughs]

I mean, it was hard.

♪♪♪

Everybody had the same dynamic.

Andy and I still didn't really get on.

These five people had not spent any time together

in a room in what was it? 18 years or something?

We had some real personality issues.

How do we relate artistically? Can we still be Duran Duran?

It was really hard.

♪♪♪

Despite the clashing in the studio,

the band managed to write new material

for a reunion album.

But when they shopped their songs to record labels,

to their surprise, there was little interest.

I think we thought that just by getting together,

we'll take a Polaroid, and then it'll be a blank check,

and it wasn't.

The industry was like, well, we don't know.

I mean, what's the interest level?

The band recruited former Aerosmith manager Wendy Laister

to help right the ship.

Her idea--get the boys out of the studio

and back onstage.

I felt that we needed to create a demand

rather than going knocking on doors.

I wanted people knocking on their door.

So we put shows on sale. We said, let's do something.

And sold out in some crazy amount of time,

I mean, so much quicker than we had even thought of.

♪♪♪

On July 7, 2003, Duran Duran was set to play their first show

as the Fab Five in 18 years

with band tensions at an all-time high.

I remember the night before the first show,

I thought, I'm gonna kill somebody.

The interpersonal differences were so, you know, on fire.

And I mean, I'm sure I was making people crazy as well.

In my back of my head, I just thought,

we've just got to get to the stage.

[crowd cheering]

We could hear the crowd, the anticipation out there.

It was terrifying.

It was one of those moments where you had to walk through.

You just had to walk through the fear.

[cheering continues]

The weight of it. It was a big deal.

[cheering continues]

["Hungry Like the Wolf" playing]

♪♪♪

♪ Darken the city, the night is a wire ♪

♪ Steam in the subway, the earth is afire ♪

♪ Do, do-do-do, do-do-do, do-do-do, do-do-do, do-do ♪

The crowd went absolutely bananas.

♪ Woman, you want me, give me a sign ♪

Once we were in front of the audience,

it becomes so obvious that it's so much bigger than we are.

It's an entirely different calculation. It's like,

"Oh, shit, it's me and them. It's us and them."

♪ I'm lost and I'm found ♪

♪ And I'm hungry like the wolf ♪

We managed to find our way back to the chemistry that we had.

♪ After you ♪

♪ Mouth is alive, I'm running inside ♪

It just sent chills down the spine,

you know, that moment of, uh, of realizing

that actually, this is gonna work,

and the world is gonna love Duran Duran again.

[crowd cheering]

We knew that there were areas that we would disagree,

but I think we were all prepared to put those aside

in order to create something special as Duran Duran.

♪ Please, please tell me now ♪

Simon, John, Nick, Roger, and Andy

continued touring for the next two years,

playing some of their biggest shows ever.

♪♪♪

Critics began to praise their return

as they released their comeback album, "Astronaut."

♪♪♪

But the reunion would be short-lived for Andy Taylor,

who once again bowed out in 2005.

Andy had been becoming more difficult to work with.

Everybody in the band felt that we weren't all going

in the same direction. That was clear.

I can't say I missed Andy terribly.

I know how creative he is, and I would never, ever

take that away from him.

But personality-wise,

Andy never really fit in with the rest of us.

♪♪♪

To fill the space of their departed guitarist,

Duran Duran embraced the idea of the band as a collective...

♪ It's all up to you now ♪

...with a ride range of producers and collaborators

to add fresh elements to their magical sound.

It's come to be, you know, the empty chair,

you know, which is like the "X" factor.

So it's actually a way of injecting energy

and creativity into the situation.

We have found that it's good to have another person in the room.

Having different people and different energy

changes the way you work.

I think it's really made the four of us

really kind of open our minds and our imaginations,

and it's broadened our perspectives.

And the riff comes in.

♪♪♪

In 2021, Duran Duran expanded their artistic scope once again,

as they wrapped up work on their 15th album, "Future Past,"

working with producers Erol Alkan...

-Yeah! -...and Giorgio Moroder...

The section should be the same as the--as the intro.

...while collaborating with Blur guitarist Graham Coxon

and Mark Ronson.

Their influence on me is basically indelible,

because they were my first favorite band.

I get to have this little

very personal relationship with everybody.

♪♪♪

It's really exciting to know that you can still do it,

you know, after all this time.

As soon as you start hearing that sound coming back,

I mean, it's a real moment.

You never tire of that moment when you hear it

coming back through the speakers.

♪ When you don't hear a word ♪

♪ I say ♪

We're making an album that we're all very excited about.

It's cutting edge in some aspects,

but it still sounds like Duran Duran,

and that puts us all in a very good frame of mind.

♪ When the air ♪

I was an only child.

I magicked into the world brothers,

and I have brothers.

We were all kind of equal shareholders in the dream.

♪ Has the memory gone? Are you feeling numb? ♪

♪ Have we all become invisible? ♪

There's no other band I'd wanna be in.

♪ Can you say my name? ♪

♪ Has the memory gone? ♪

♪ Are you feeling numb? ♪

♪ Or have I become invisible? ♪