It has been a week since the death of David Bowie, and tributes to the musical icon keep pouring in. So I thought I would add mine to the mix, filtered through the eyes of a Duran Duran fan.
Duran Duran would not exist without Bowie. Nick Rhodes himself said it last week.
Duran would cover Bowie numerous times over the years: "Fame," "Diamond Dogs," "Rebel Rebel," "Boys Keep Swinging," "Starman" (above) and "TVC 15" (at the end of the video below). Duran, already a well-established musical act at that time, even opened for Bowie on the 1987 Glass Spider tour.
Bowie, along with Roxy Music, is one of Duran's cited idols whose influence can be heard strongly in the music. Duran always name drops the Sex Pistols and Chic. Nile Rodgers of Chic would produce and even tour with Duran over the years, and he produced Bowie, as well. But aside from the Sex Pistols' punk aesthetic of picking up an instrument and playing it even without formal training or Chic's four-on-the-floor rhythm section, there aren't as many similarities among Duran and the two bands.
There are shades of Bowie on the first Duran album ("Fame" was a B-side to "Careless Memories"), in Simon Le Bon's sublime vocal on "New Moon On Monday" and in lyrics on Duran releases up to "Paper Gods."
Bowie's focus on image and reinvention is a big part of Duran's legacy as well. While Duran's changes haven't been as spectacular as Bowie's, the band's musical styles have shifted from New Romantic to new wave to funk to electronic and more over the years.
Bowie's influence was echoed this week by superfans Rhodes and John Taylor. As the band gets ready for a North American tour with Chic (who performed "Let's Dance" during the 2015 U.S. shows), fans already are anticipating a Duran/Rodgers tribute to Bowie during the next round of concerts. It would be a fitting goodbye from Duranies.
