Review:

on 2011-03-18 CharlesMartel Said:

OK, I've heard this album many times in the 80's and recently re-listened to it to see if my opinion of it had changed. It had, but not significantly. I have tried to put aside my disdain for a musical genre, New Romanticism, which at the time seemed to me to be a bastardised, watered-down version of post-punk; a style of music which owed as much to the A&R men of the major record labels as anything more "artistic". However, that is too difficult for it requires me to disrobe myself of entire substrata of my psyche, my emotional/intellectual being. It cannot be done.

Let's get that out of the way first. The early eighties in the UK were a time of massive upheaval. Thatcher's "revolution" was tearing apart the very fabric of British society, and with it was creating a huge underclass of hopelessness and despair. Now while I may have had either the education or the intellect or both to escape, my emergence out of education and into employment co-incided with the worst effects of Thatcher's policies: mass unemployment; social dislocation; societal disintegration and personal (introspective) trauma.

What has all this to do with music? Well, quite a lot, it must be said. The post-punks evolved into the state of near perfection around this time, and their message was largely one which mirrored the times - dislocation, dissatisfaction, disengagement, and disorientation. In short, a continuation of the punks' attitude but without the aggressive and needlessly confrontational 'in-your-face-attitude' that characterised them. But the post-punks never got the acclaim they deserved. No, the record companies (the establishment?) didn't want a musical genre triumphant which preached gloom and doom for society, a style of music which would possibly arouse the drones from their stupor and put them, and society with them, on a path to confrontation and rebellion against the forces which were dismantling the society in which they lived. No, the drones had to be distracted, had to be kept happy, and if not happy, at least hopeful, envious, desirous of something better. That would buy sufficient time for the destruction of British society, and its reconstruction into something awful, modern, greedy, selfish and inconsiderate, to take place.

And that is where Duran Duran came in. To be fair, it wasn't just them, but they were the standard bearers who took up the mantle after others had blazed the trail. They were the ones the A&R men found and to whom were uttered those immortal words - "boy, I'm gonna make you a star". Duran Duran offered what the record companies (establishment?) wanted the drones to see, a world of beauty, a world of wonder, a world of scantily clad beautiful girls, in exotic locations just waiting to be swept off their feet by handsome pop stars and rogered silly. It was a dream, but an infectious dream. Like all opiates, it offered plenty but delivered little. It got you hooked on an image, a dream (the dream they wanted you to believe in), and once it had hooked you, it was able to divert your attention from what they were really doing behind your back, destroying the values, the basis, the fabric of the society of which you had been brought up in, of which you had a role, and silently confining you to the scrap heap of outcast. And you didn't notice because you were too busy watching Duran Duran videos.

To be honest, if you take the songs out of context and listen to them one by one (as I did recently before reviewing this album), there are some catchy little pop hooks in there. But I am blighted. I always review music subjectively. I cannot see the point in reviewing an album objectively ("I rate it five stars because it marks an important shift in the socio-cultural development of music in the consciousness of Middle America - but personally I find it boring as hell".) No, I rate subjectively, and proudly subjectively! And I cannot separate Duran Duran from the time, the milieu and the forces which spawned them. Every time I listen to this I feel revulsion. I feel revolted at what it represents and what it stood for. I feel revulsion that the Duran Duranains were so living the lifestyle they had been fobbed off with that they ignored (or worse, chose to ignore) the consequences of what they were doing.

No, catchy hooks or not, I despise this. I despise this with a passion. This screams all that was wrong with the eighties. This represents why I turned my back on my country, why I hated where I came from and what it represented. Duran Duran will forever in my mind be associated with the actions of Thatcher for without her they would not have been needed, and without them (and others like them) she would have had the rougher ride she deserved and maybe my country would have emerged a better, more compassionate, more caring place for it.
Rating: 1/10