{"id":1261,"date":"2018-05-05T06:42:41","date_gmt":"2018-05-05T14:42:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/?p=1261"},"modified":"2023-03-05T06:17:32","modified_gmt":"2023-03-05T14:17:32","slug":"duran-duran-all-you-need-is-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/duran-duran-all-you-need-is-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Duranalysis: All You Need Is Now"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cAnd we sway in the moon, the way we did when we were younger..<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The video for Duran Duran\u2019s \u201cAll You Need Is Now,\u201d the title track and first single off their 2011 album, was directed by Nick Egan, who\u2019d previously worked with the band on the videos for \u201cCome Undone<\/a>,\u201d \u201cOrdinary World<\/a>,\u201d and \u201cToo Much Information<\/a>\u201d; more recently, he directed the videos for \u201cPressure Off<\/a>\u201d and, in combination with the Snorri Brothers, \u201cLast Night in the City,\u201d both off of the Paper Gods<\/em> album. Egan does consistently nice work, though he gravitates toward videos consisting mostly or entirely of performance footage, whereas I will always prefer even Duran\u2019s cheesiest narrative-driven video\u2014hello there, \u201cCareless Memories<\/a>,\u201d I was just talking about you!\u2014to videos without a plot. So while I feel a bit lukewarm overall on the content of \u201cAll You Need Is Now,\u201d I think it\u2019s a lovely song, and the video has some beautiful images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The band members, all dressed elegantly in black, perform in a room with terrible foil-lined walls. Oh, look, here\u2019s Simon Le Bon, smack in the middle of his controversial bearded phase, which afflicted him throughout the All You Need Is Now<\/em> era. I\u2019m not complaining, honestly; while I miss the unobstructed view of his pretty face, the man looks good in a beard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bearded<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My edition of the All You Need Is Now<\/em> CD came with a bonus DVD featuring some nifty behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the Durans, in which they yammer on agreeably about the album. In one interview, Simon describes \u201cAll You Need Is Now\u201d as \u201c\u2026a message from us to us, and to the fans,\u201d then goes on to call it \u201c\u2026a strong philosophical statement about where we\u2019re at.\u201d \u201cStrong philosophical statement\u201d might be a bit grand, but I\u2019ll allow it: \u201cAll You Need Is Now\u201d is a surprisingly poignant and self-reflective song, featuring lyrics that look back on the days when Duran Duran was on top of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s what John Taylor has to say about the song: \u201cIt speaks to a certain person, and when they hear it, they know who they are.\u201d I can identify myself as one of those people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"John<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Roger weighs in on the song, calling it \u201c\u2026a very ironic look at where we were when we were kids, basically. Kind of how shallow we were, in a way, because everything was just about that moment, all about who we were.\u201d Whoa, there, Roger! I\u2019m not sure I\u2019m mentally prepared for this calmly introspective and self-aware version of Duran Duran. Where are the yachts, the bottles of champagne, the swimsuit-clad women pretending to be sexy cats? Where are the pillow-fighting topless models, for crying out loud?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Roger<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Frequently throughout the video, the four Durans will pose in front of the tinfoil-covered wall with the screen divided into squares, mugging for the camera like they\u2019re starring in a slinky and stylish reboot of the Brady Bunch<\/em>. Just in case you were wondering, Simon is Greg, John is Marcia, Roger is Peter, Nick is Cindy, and\u2026 well, look, guitarist Dom Brown, who has toured and recorded with Duran Duran since Andy\u2019s (second) departure and who has a more-prominent-than-usual role in this video, seems like a sterling chap, and I like him too much to ever dub him the Cousin Oliver of Duran Duran, so we\u2019ll just leave him out of this comparison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"All<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That foil-wrapped set drives me batty. It provokes such a visceral negative response that I have a hard time looking at it. Adding to the visual chaos, the set is cluttered with a haphazard amalgam of equipment\u2014instruments, speakers, monitors\u2014and tangled extension cords; every time I watch this video, I grow increasingly worried that someone\u2019s going to spill a beer and electrocute a gaggle of Durans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nick<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Never one to skimp on equipment, Nick appears to be running an unlicensed pop-up Radio Shack out of his corner of the set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nick<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This video contains a few scenes of non-Duran-related narrative content, in which a trio of beautiful young things with great hair and fancy outfits exchange texts before meeting up at the Frolic Room in Hollywood. They\u2019re all very cute and appealing, and I appreciate the way their new wave-inspired haircuts and their frilly New Romantic-lite outfits evoke the earliest days of Duran\u2014very fitting for a song about wistful 1980s nostalgia\u2014but on the long list of things I look forward to seeing in Duran Duran videos, \u201ccool millennials\u201d comes in very close to the bottom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"All<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The band continues to perform in their tinfoil-saturated prison. Simon, bless his big hammy heart, makes eyelash-batting hand gestures during the part where he sings \u201cbat your lashes, let it shin<\/em>e.\u201d Few things are more ridiculously endearing than Simon pantomiming his way through a song. To return briefly to the terrible \u201cCareless Memories\u201d video, remember the way he\u2019d point his fingers into guns during the \u201cfear hangs a plane of gun smoke<\/em>\u201d lyric? I saw Duran Duran in concert during the Paper Gods<\/em> tour, and when Simon reached the part in \u201cLast Night in the City\u201d that goes \u201cI\u2019ve been traveling around now\/big world with my brothers<\/em>,\u201d he made a grand sweeping gesture around the stage with both arms to indicate that his bandmates are his brothers, and it was so corny and sweet it made my shriveled and bitter heart soften a bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Simon<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While the bulk of the video takes place inside the aluminum hellscape, we\u2019re treated to brief moments in which we see the Durans out and about in their natural habitat. Here we see Nick, dressed in an exquisitely tailored three-piece suit and an overcoat, glamorously lurking among the tombs in a cemetery. It could be a somber statement about the losses that come with age and the creeping awareness of mortality, themes which are an unspoken undercurrent throughout the song; it\u2019s equally likely the shot was included because Nick knows he cuts a dashing gothic figure among the tombstones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nick<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

(Last month, Nick threw a gloriously over-the-top birthday extravaganza for his girlfriend at a grand palazzo in Venice, complete with a multilayered all-black birthday cake and an assemblage of well-heeled guests, his bandmates included, dressed head-to-toe in full-tilt Goth-inspired fashions. Nick showed up in a fancy ruffled shirt and a long black feather-trimmed coat; the resulting photos from the party might be the most wonderful sight I\u2019ve seen all year. In this oft-dismal and gray world of ours, it\u2019s a comfort to know that, somewhere out there, Nick Rhodes is swanning around palaces in black feathers and ruffles.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roger, meanwhile, is buying records in a shop. I like the slice-of-Duran-life aspect of this video: In their free time, Roger shops for records, while Nick elegantly lurks in graveyards. All this seems very plausible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Roger<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re treated to rapid-fire blipverts of the Durans from their glamorous past (Simon: \u201cWe were young and beautiful and stupid\u201d) and their glamorous present, both of which are filled with screaming fans and sold-out arenas. Nick nuzzles with slender blonde ladies at cocktail parties and models sleek and stylish suits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nick<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And somewhere in the blue heavens, a beard-free Simon pilots a fighter jet, which is the sort of thing that should strike terror in everyone\u2019s hearts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Simon<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You know that scene in Help!<\/em> in which the Beatles return to their adjoining flats while their sweet elderly neighbors comment on how natural and unaffected the boys have managed to remain throughout their global superstardom? And then John, Paul, George, and Ringo enter what turns out to be one gigantic flat through four separate doors, and we see that it\u2019s a surreal and decadent paradise: Ringo has his own bank of vending machines, George\u2019s floor is covered with growing grass, and John retires to his sunken bed, which is lined with bookcases filled with copies of his own books of poetry. Despite its well-earned and accurate reputation for monstrous silliness, Help!<\/em> is a masterpiece, and I will listen to no argument to the contrary. Point being, the Beatles looked essentially sane on the outside, but seethed with weird and hilarious glamour on the inside. Ditto for Duran Duran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Durans, Dom included, pose for photographs on the banks of the Thames, shivering in the cold night air while clad in a variety of stylish outerwear\u2014attractive overcoats, quirky hats, colorful scarves. Nick is wearing a frilly cravat, because Nick always goes the extra mile for fashion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Duran<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a sweetly cute video, right? Sway in the moon all you want, Duran Duran, the way you did when you were younger; I\u2019ll sway right along with you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAnd we sway in the moon, the way we did when we were younger…\u201d The video for Duran Duran\u2019s \u201cAll You Need Is Now,\u201d the title track and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1276,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-duran-duran"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1261"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1515,"href":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1261\/revisions\/1515"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}