{"id":949,"date":"2015-12-03T10:22:46","date_gmt":"2015-12-03T18:22:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/?p=949"},"modified":"2023-03-05T16:12:46","modified_gmt":"2023-03-06T00:12:46","slug":"duran-duran-red-carpet-massacre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/duran-duran-red-carpet-massacre\/","title":{"rendered":"Duranalysis: Red Carpet Massacre"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We\u2019re so busted, done and dusted\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Misfortune plagued Duran Duran\u2019s 2007\u00a0Red Carpet Massacre<\/em>\u00a0album from the beginning: Andy left the band for the second (and presumably final) time under acrimonious circumstances during the recording sessions, while the remaining band members were pushed by their label, Sony Music, into working with a slew of different producers, including Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, and Nate \u201cDanja\u201d Hills, to give the album a more contemporary R&B\u00a0feel. Interesting idea, but it didn’t quite work; upon release, the album was a critical and commercial failure. Shortly thereafter, Sony dropped Duran Duran from the label. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of that glum backstory makes its way into the relentlessly cheery behind-the-scenes featurette<\/a> that was included with some deluxe editions of the album, which shadows the band throughout the recording sessions, the filming of the \u201cFalling Down\u201d video, and all the pre-launch festivities. Andy does not appear anywhere in this, nor is his name ever mentioned. Any reservations the remaining band members might\u2019ve had about the direction their label was taking the album are left unspoken, at least while cameras are rolling. What we\u2019ve got here are forty minutes of Simon, John, Nick, and Roger yammering on about the super awesome time they all had while making this album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The album was recorded over the course of multiple sessions with multiple producers in multiple locations, though this featurette makes no real attempt to differentiate between them. Doesn\u2019t matter. Much of what we see is the usual promotional stuff, and much of it isn\u2019t especially fresh or interesting, but it\u2019s still nice seeing candid footage of the\u00a0Durans\u00a0looking like they\u2019re having a whale of a good time hanging out with each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

And occasionally looking like they\u2019re getting a wee bit tired of hanging out with each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

There are also plenty of shots of various band members strumming acoustic guitars while looking focused and industrious:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Everyone\u2019s in good spirits. Here\u2019s Justin Timberlake, airing his mind about collaborating with Duran Duran: \u201cWhat\u2019s it been like working with Mr. Le Bon? Absolute fucking hell.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Upon overhearing this, an indignant Simon charges up to Justin, squawking in protest. \u201cHe asked me a question, man!\u201d Justin says in his defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Nick consults with Timbaland: \u201cNo, but is the track skinny or fat? That\u2019s what I need to know.\u201d Timbaland stares at Nick incredulously for a moment before replying, \u201cOh, it\u2019s fat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

I have no idea what this exchange means. I\u2019m not altogether convinced Nick and Timbaland know, either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roger gives viewers a concise rundown of the band\u2019s approach to recording an album. He\u2019s very polite and unassuming, as is his\u00a0wont, though he does use the word \u201cabrasive\u201d\u00a0twice\u00a0while describing the working relationships amongst the band members. Would it surprise anyone to hear they squabble a lot? No? Roger continues: \u201cAnd then we all go out for a drink together, and it\u2019s fine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Oh, god, now we\u2019ve reached this section where Nick talks for about eight years about the\u00a0Red Carpet Massacre<\/em>\u00a0album art, which features his photographs.\u00a0To followers of these\u00a0Duranalyses, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s any secret that Nick is my favorite Duran; I find him dazzling and fascinating and brilliant and ridiculous in the best possible ways. Even still, that doesn\u2019t mean my eyes don\u2019t glaze over when he gets to talking about his Art. I\u2019m only human. Anyway, Nick launches into a\u00a0very long<\/em>\u00a0explanation about how he and John considered and discarded various approaches to the album design, and how he then he ended up staying in a lavish mansion in Cannes with four friends and their beautiful Russian girlfriends, and how he ended up running out and buying a red carpet and photographing the girlfriends for the album cover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

I mean, it\u2019s a cool cover. He should feel justly proud of it. But by the time he starts gabbing about graphic overlays and font selection and logo placement, I\u2019m exhausted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then John tells a shorter, funnier version of the same story: \u201cI called Nick one day and said, why don\u2019t you just do it? \u2026 And he\u2019s like, \u2018That\u2019s great, because I happen to be in the South of France in this big house with these four beautiful Russian girls.\u2019 You know, typical.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

We then jump ahead to the filming of the \u201cFalling Down\u201d video, which took place at the creepy Linda Vista hospital in Los Angeles in late 2007.\u00a0I\u2019ve already Duranalyzed the video itself<\/a>, but the behind-the-scenes footage is fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simon arrives on the video set at six in the morning. He\u2019s whipped up his own tasty breakfast from the craft services truck: porridge with chili sauce, soy sauce, and rice wine vinegar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Roger stumbles around the set, looking groggy and glum: \u201cIt\u2019s now seven AM. \u2026 I\u2019m sure we\u2019re not going to be doing anything for several hours, but they like to get you here at seven AM.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Filming gets underway, with the band members posing as singularly unconvincing doctors treating a gaggle of mental patients, all of whom are played by beautiful models. Between shots, the Durans chat with the very young models, who uniformly seem sharp-witted and fun and game for anything. Still, though, there\u2019s a faint awkwardness to the lightly flirtatious banter between the band members\u2014all of whom are fathers to teen or twentysomething daughters\u2014and the models. You can almost see the cogs in Simon\u2019s brain spinning as he struggles to strike the right balance between rakish and paternal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

And then there\u2019s Nick, who\u2019s hanging out with a pair of models, engaging them in a heavy-hitting discussion about their fancy shoes. He asks them what time they arrived on the set; both have been there since before six.\u00a0Off-screen, someone pointedly asks Nick what time\u00a0he<\/em>\u00a0arrived on the set, whereupon he stammers his way through excuses while the models burst into delighted giggles. So if the other band members arrived for filming at around six or seven in the morning, what\u2019s our guess as to when Nick finally deigned to show up? I\u2019m going to go with\u2026 two in the afternoon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Update from an increasingly morose Roger: \u201cIt\u2019s now 12:15 AM. We\u2019ve been here for eighteen hours.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Back in New York, the band members attend a big gala to celebrate the launch of the album. The drinks list features Duran Duran-themed cocktails; it\u2019s hard to read it, but the drinks seem very sensible and tasty (the Night Runner, for example, consists of rum, passion fruit, and lime).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

This is all very nice, but come on! If you\u2019re going to base cocktails off of Duran Duran, make them glamorous and ludicrous and inaccessible! Like so:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The remainder of the featurette follows the guys through a bunch of photoshoots and interviews with various media outlets like Details<\/em> and Nylon<\/em>. The Nylon<\/em> spread is shot by Japanese photographer Mari Sarai, who explains that she was expecting the band to behave like rock stars. Instead, she says, they were \u201cvery nice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

We see Sarai directing the boys through a surprisingly rambunctious photoshoot\u2014lots of running up and down staircases\u2014while instructing them to be \u201cmore sexy.\u201d \u201cMore<\/em> sexy?\u201d Simon asks, unable to fathom such a thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The featurette wraps up with more footage of the Durans gushing about how fantastic the album is going to be. They’ve always been consummate self-promoters, so they look like they mean it, mostly, though there are slight signs of strain beneath the surface. Of Red Carpet Massacre<\/em>, John would grouse in an interview<\/a> a few years later, “That whole project was a fucking nightmare.” The Durans are putting a good face on it here, but even so, John’s ultimate verdict comes as no major surprise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re so busted, done and dusted\u2026 Misfortune plagued Duran Duran\u2019s 2007\u00a0Red Carpet Massacre\u00a0album from the beginning: Andy left the band for the second (and presumably final) time under […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":950,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-949","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\/949","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=949"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1539,"href":"https:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949\/revisions\/1539"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}