This day is a special birthday for a special man in my life. For none other than Nick Rhodes is fifty years old today! [Oh. My. God.]
In his day Mr Rhodes was, in my opinion, one of the coolest men on the planet. His radical manipulation of his own appearance kept him as the focus of my attention despite the obvious media interest in the pretty Duran Duran "frontmen" Simon Le Bon and John Taylor. In those pioneering days of New Romantic synth-pop, whoever ruled the keyboard ruled the music - and Nick Rhodes was in charge there. And as stylish trend-setters of that type in the early 80s go, his only serious rivals were the likes of Steve Strange, David Sylvian and Pete Murphy.
As I said in my blog for Simon Le Bon's birthday in 2011:
Often unkindly regarded as the "uncool" end of the New Romantic explosion (in my opinion merely because they hailed from Birmingham rather than trendy London, Manchester or Liverpool), Duran Duran are nonetheless one of the most successful of the bands who emerged from the dressing-up era of the early 80s, selling more than 100 million records to date.Certainly, it was this video for the Durannies debut Planet Earth that sent me scuttling off to the charity shops all those years ago to buy frills, bows, baggy shirts and headbands (and hairspray!). This was my "look" for quite a while (I still haven't properly grown out of it!) - and yes, we did dance like those two cool kids in the background...
Furthermore, unlike their contemporaries (rivals?) Spandau Ballet the band has survived (in several incarnations, admittedly) as a unit ever since their foundation, and certainly never crossed over into the Phil Collins/Lionel Ritchie/"adult contemporary" music market like Spandau did with the execrable True...
I have always had a soft spot for the Durannies, all the way from from Planet Earth right through to All You Need is Now. I saw them live at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff on the "Careless Memories" tour back in 1981, and had I the money (and had Simon's vocal chords not collapsed after a virus halfway through) I would have loved to see them again on their recent tour.
Only came outside to watch night fall with the rain
I heard you making patterns rhyme like
Some new romantic looking for the TV sound
I'll see you're right some other time love
Look now look all around there's no sign of life
Voices, another sound, can you hear me now? This is Planet Earth
You're looking at Planet Earth
Bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop this is Planet Earth
My head is stuck on something precious let me know
If you're coming down to land, is there
Anybody out there trying to get through
My eyes so cloudy I can't see you
Look now look all around there's no sign of life
Voices, another sound, can you hear me now? This is Planet Earth
You're looking at Planet Earth
Bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop this is Planet Earth
Look now look all around there's no sign of life
Voices, another sound, can you hear me now? This is Planet Earth
You're looking at Planet Earth
Bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop this is Planet Earth
Bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop calling Planet Earth
Bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop looking at Planet Earth
Bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop this is Planet Earth
Nick Rhodes, we salute you!
Happy Birthday indeed.
Duran Duran official website
I saw Duran Duran at Lovebox about 3 years ago this week (or there abouts) they were much better than I was expecting and I knew/liked more of their songs than I realised …
ReplyDeleteMy favourite Duran was always Nick Rhodes - I think it was because I assumed (wrongly) that he might be gay.
Boy George's Duran joke … what do you call a man who steals pavements?
Nick Rhodes of course.
x
I'm certain The Boy has a joke for all his contemporaries...
DeleteI, too, mistook the lovely Mr Rhodes' enthusiasm for embracing his feminine side for signs that he might be "like me". However, despite all the rumours about John T and Peter Powell, as far as I am aware none of the Durannies ever came out. Shame. Jx
Haha! For just a moment I thought that was an old pic of David Sylvian!
ReplyDeleteAs I said, Mr Rhodes and Mr Sylvian were among THE trend-setters for the New Romantics. We all wanted to look like that (not many could ever manage it...) Jx
DeleteOh, Nick. My (male) childhood hero (OK, along with Morten Harket, Boy George, Billy Idol and Nik Kershaw).
ReplyDeleteNick looked SO good - ALWAYS! He had the style for sure. And to me, nobody came close. Had I been old enough at the time, I would have lived in charity shops and peoples basements to try and create a new romantic look for myself. I still love it...
I was a huge DD fan when I was a kid and I still am to this day. I finally saw them live in 2004 (the whole original lineup) on their Astronaut tour. They were fantastic - I went crazy when they did "Careless Memories"!
A massive (although a bit late) happy birthday to a true pioneer!!!
Ah... had you been old enough, I am sure you and I would have flounced, frilled and feathered our way through that scene in a parallel style... Jx
Delete*Sigh* what a missed opportunity! We would have ruled the scene and completely overshadowed Boy and Marilyn, me thinks!
ReplyDelete