{"id":1036,"date":"2016-01-29T08:12:24","date_gmt":"2016-01-29T16:12:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/?p=1036"},"modified":"2023-03-05T14:24:15","modified_gmt":"2023-03-05T22:24:15","slug":"duranalysis-andrew-golubs-beautiful-colors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/duranalysis-andrew-golubs-beautiful-colors\/","title":{"rendered":"Duranalysis: Andrew Golub’s Beautiful Colors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last month I received an email from Andrew Golub, wondering if I\u2019d consider Duranalyzing his book, Beautiful Colors: The Posters of Duran Duran.<\/em> This was the best idea I\u2019d heard in a very long time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andy\u2014well-known in Duran fandom by the irresistible portmanteau \u201cDurandy\u201d<\/a>\u2014is the world\u2019s leading archivist of Duran Duran memorabilia: posters, photos, books, magazines, press materials, you name it. Much has been written about his collection in publications like\u00a0The Stranger<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0The Examiner<\/em>; I don\u2019t really have a good way to wrap my head around the vastness of his personal archive, but from what I understand, a storage locker is involved. Durandy collects Duran Duran memorabilia the way Nick Rhodes collects art, or Simon Le Bon collects fine wine, or Andy Taylor collects grudges. In other words, it\u2019s a serious business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beautiful Colors<\/em> made waves upon its release in late 2013 for obvious reasons: It\u2019s gorgeous<\/em>. It\u2019s a heavy, glossy, 260-page hardcover book, impeccably designed and filled with hundreds of full-color images. It\u2019s my new favorite thing in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yes, the band members are fans, as well they should be:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Andy<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

(As an aside, Durandy\u2014seen below supervising the production of Beautiful Colors<\/em> at the printing press\u2014is a delightful and charming human being. Not only is he one of the foremost Duran experts out there, he\u2019s also funny, generous, and kind. In short, Durandy rocks. I\u2019m a fan.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Andy<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Beautiful Colors<\/em> is structured chronologically, beginning with the band\u2019s earliest gigs at Birmingham Polytechnic in 1979 where John Taylor was enrolled as an art major and continuing all the way through 2012\u2019s All You Need Is Now<\/em> tour. The images are interspersed with useful snippets of information, which means the book pulls double duty: It\u2019s a comprehensive portfolio of Duran Duran\u2019s visual library, and it\u2019s also a de facto biography of the band.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m going to take a quick look at a few of the images found in\u00a0Beautiful Colors<\/em>, reprinted here by kind permission of Durandy. First up is this Japanese promotional poster from 1981. Note the silhouetted figures at the bottom, which provide the steps for learning the bizarre New Romantic dance featured in the \u201cPlanet Earth\u201d video. 1981 was a crucial year for the band, both for how it burst onto the public stage in a big way (Duran Duran\u2019s self-titled debut album, which spawned two big hits with \u201cPlanet Earth\u201d and \u201cGirls on Film\u201d, was released in June) and for the way the band members began to develop and refine their soon-to-be iconic personal style. As you can see from this poster, they\u2019re not\u00a0quite<\/em>\u00a0there yet\u2014they\u2019re still dressing like cast members in Birmingham Community Theatre\u2019s production of\u00a0The Pirates of Penzance<\/em>\u2014but they\u2019re already moving toward the polished, glamorous image they\u2019d perfect by the following year.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Andy<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

There are two utterly bizarre things going on in the above photo:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1.  It\u2019s difficult to tell Andy and Nick apart.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2.  Andy\u2019s hairstyle is more flattering and stylish than Nick\u2019s.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    After 1981, neither of these statements will ever be true again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Here\u2019s a Malcolm Garrett-designed 1982 poster promoting the\u00a0Rio<\/em>\u00a0tour, which features a snippet from the Patrick Nagel painting featured on the\u00a0Rio<\/em>\u00a0album cover. The current whereabouts of that very famous painting, by the way, are unknown\u2014or, more to the point, they\u2019re known only to Simon, Nick, John, and Roger. The painting used to hang in the office of the band\u2019s then-manager, Paul Berrow, until the band members absconded with it. Andy Taylor ruminated on the topic\u00a0in his memoir: \u201cI haven\u2019t got a clue where it is at the moment, although I wish I knew because as a piece of pop art it must be worth millions\u2014and I still own one-fifth of it.\u201d Let me don my amateur detective hat right now and clear that mystery up for you, Andy: Nick has it.\u00a0Obviously<\/em>\u00a0Nick has it. I mean, I don\u2019t know that for a concrete fact, but he\u2019s far and away the likeliest culprit: He\u2019s the owner of a world-class art collection, and as the band\u2019s resident control freak, he\u2019d make sure that painting was securely in his dainty and well-moisturized hands. There\u2019s nowhere else it could be.<\/p>\n\n\n

    \n
    \"Andy<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

    Shameless corporate promotion! In 1984, the boys shilled for Whisky Q from Japan\u2019s Suntory distillery. In addition to print ads, the band\u2019s Whisky Q campaign also included some deliriously entertaining and surreal commercials; you should probably stop whatever you\u2019re doing and watch them, right now. Click\u00a0here\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

    \n
    \"Andy<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

    Your life is better for having watched those, right? Yep. Mine, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Beautiful Colors<\/em>\u00a0also features other endorsement efforts, such as an ad for Korg keyboards starring Nick (tagline:\u00a0The Greatest Artist Plays the Best<\/em>!), and John and Nick looking totally jazzed about that Yamaha music sequencer in the image below. Over the past three and half decades, the band\u2019s been pretty choosy about the products linked to its name and reputation. A\u00a0minor kerfuffle<\/a>\u00a0arose in 2014 after the band members discovered \u201cHungry Like the Wolf\u201d had been licensed without their permission for use in a Yoplait commercial; some cried hypocrisy about the band\u2019s firm anti-yogurt stance\u2014after all, at the same time, Duran Duran songs were being used in commercials for both Dior Addict (\u201cAll You Need is Now\u201d) and Michael Kors (\u201cGirls On Film\u201d)\u2014but I\u2019m totally Team Duran on this one. Maintaining a consistent brand identity is an important thing, and Duran Duran is\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0a mass-market yogurt kind of band. $35-per-tube high-end lipstick? Sure. Yogurt? Not so much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ah, now we have a jewelry-bedecked Nick, looking stern and glacially beautiful in an Italian poster for the 1987\u00a0Strange Behaviour<\/em>\u00a0tour. It\u2019s a familiar image; I\u2019m pretty sure that photo is featured somewhere in the pages of my collection of era-appropriate issues of\u00a0Bop!<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Tiger Beat<\/em>. Which reminds me: Durandy\u2019s website features hundreds of images from his archive. Need an awesome way to kill some time? Click through\u00a0his gallery of vintage teen-magazine pinups<\/a>\u00a0of the boys, which run the gamut from gorgeous to\u00a0hilarious<\/em>. Sometimes you want to see Duran Duran looking their dreamy, well-coiffed best, and sometimes you want to see them looking like a\u00a0gaggle\u00a0of\u00a0dorks.<\/p>\n\n\n

    \n
    \"Andy<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

    So in 1988, while touring to promote the Big Thing<\/em> album, Duran Duran played a surprise show in London, hiding the Duran Duran name and billing themselves as the Krush Brothers to, as Durandy puts it, \u201c\u2026maintain initial anonymity and allow people to sample the new material with an objective ear.\u201d This is a cool idea!<\/p>\n\n\n

    \n
    \"Andy<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

    Er\u2026 was the above \u201cKrush Brothers\u201d poster\u2014you know, the one featuring the very beautiful, very famous, very recognizable<\/em><\/strong> faces of John, Nick, and Simon\u2014actually used to advertise the concert? Because if so\u2026 you all see where I\u2019m going with this, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Here\u2019s a poster promoting a televised musical festival in Argentina. This was part of the Astronaut<\/em> tour, which featured Duran Duran\u2019s full original lineup\u2014hi, Roger and Andy!\u2014reunited at last. It\u2019s a really beautiful image: great color, great composition, and the Durans all look gorgeous and glamorous and appropriately decadent.<\/p>\n\n\n

    \n
    \"Andy<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

    Only\u2026 let\u2019s look a little closer at the boys:<\/p>\n\n\n

    \n
    \"Andy<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

    Ah. Yeah. It\u2019s the ongoing Astronaut<\/em> problem, the gloomy sunglasses-wearing elephant in the room. Serious question: Has anyone, anywhere, at any time, seen an official Astronaut<\/em>-era photo or poster or flyer where Andy doesn\u2019t<\/em> look like he\u2019s waiting to stand before a firing squad? This poster is from 2005; Andy quit the band for the second and presumably final time in 2006, and honestly, I\u2019m surprised he lasted that long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This is a poster from the 2007\u00a0Red Carpet Massacre<\/em>\u00a0tour, and that\u2019s Paris Hilton, which: Sigh. This is\u00a0exactly<\/em>\u00a0the same sort of impulse that led Duran Duran to invite Lindsay Lohan to perform on \u201cDanceophobia\u201d on the\u00a0Paper Gods<\/em>\u00a0album. I get it: The boys have a soft spot for attractive pop-culture train wrecks, and while I don\u2019t share their Hilton-Lohan fascination, I suppose it stems from the same place that leads me to binge-watch seasons of\u00a0America\u2019s Next Top Model<\/em>. Therefore, I won\u2019t judge. (I\u00a0will<\/em>\u00a0point out, though, that \u201cDanceophobia\u201d would be a vastly improved song minus the weird Lohan spoken-word contribution. That\u2019s just a fact.)<\/p>\n\n\n

    \n
    \"Andy<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

    As I alluded to above, the band members are supporters of Durandy\u2019s work. Here\u2019s a photo of John, Simon and Roger looking over\u00a0Beautiful Colors<\/em>\u00a0backstage after a concert (Simon always has the\u00a0best<\/em>\u00a0t-shirts). Fun fact: Shortly after this photo was taken, the guys all joined in to help Durandy propose to his partner, photographer Christine\u00a0 Born, who photographed all the images from Durandy\u2019s archives that were included in the book.\u00a0There\u2019s a video of the proposal at his website<\/a>. It\u2019s all very surreal and wonderful, with Simon stepping forward to hand over the ring, and it sets the bar for this sort of thing very high; in the event anyone ever proposes to me, I want to have Nick Rhodes hovering right there at my elbow, looking sleek and posh and\u00a0terribly invested<\/em>\u00a0in whether I\u2019m going to say yes.<\/p>\n\n\n

    \n
    \"Andy<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

    Beautiful Colors\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>available at Amazon<\/em><\/a>\u00a0from various third-party sellers, including Andy Golub himself, who is selling new copies for $75.00. Or you can buy a used copy from an ambitious seller for, ahem, $724.72, but $75.00 seems like the better deal.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Last month I received an email from Andrew Golub, wondering if I\u2019d consider Duranalyzing his book, Beautiful Colors: The Posters of Duran Duran. This was the best idea I\u2019d heard […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1041,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-duran-duran"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1036"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1036\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1531,"href":"https:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1036\/revisions\/1531"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}