Duran Duran

Duran Duran emerged from Birmingham's New Romantic scene in 1978, transforming MTV-era pop with a synthesis of Chic-inspired funk, Roxy Music gloss, and new wave urgency. The classic lineup of Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes, John Taylor, Roger Taylor, and Andy Taylor achieved global dominance through visually arresting videos for "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Rio" (both 1982), which positioned them as simultaneously art school sophisticates and pin-up idols. Their self-titled debut (1981) and Rio (1982) established a template: Rhodes' icy synths, John Taylor's melodic bass lines, and Le Bon's theatrical baritone coalescing into something both decadent and danceable.

The band's 1984 arena rock pivot with "The Reflex" and the Bond theme "A View to a Kill" demonstrated commercial adaptability, though internal tensions fractured the lineup by 1986. A late-career resurgence arrived with 1993's "Ordinary World", proving their melodic instincts transcended fashion cycles. Duran Duran remain emblematic of 1980s excess and aspiration, their legacy residing in how they made consumerist spectacle feel like genuine artistic expression.