Duran Duran: A Hollywood High

A lad that were growing up in Birmingham where sunshine

was in real short supply and palm trees definitely were.

When I first arrived in LA, I thought I had arrived in paradise.

Los Angeles for me has always been about Sunset Strip.

I remember the first time we arrived here,

we were staying on Sunset, at a hotel that was then called the Hyatt.

It was known as "The Riot House".

I had first read about it in

Ian Hunter's book Diaries of a Rock 'n' Roll Star.

And I was determined that we stayed there one day,

and we did.

It was fun while it lasted, but

remarkably we managed to get ourselves thrown out for bad behavior

which I guess was like having a badge of honor at the time

It's rock 'n' roll! You know, New York was punk,

LA is rock 'n' roll and always has been.

I did like Sunset, and I liked the energy around the Strip.

It's those endless, wide boulevards

with the palm trees and the beautiful light

that characterizes Los Angeles for me.

And I feel like I'm in a film noir

when I'm travelling in a car, and there's someone next to me

talking about a dame with a gun in a handbag.

We did an in-store at the Licorice Pizza,

and, you know, just being in the back of a limousine

you know, on the freeway system here

it's just, it's a very uplifting place to be.

I remember the very first time

that we entered the city of Los Angeles.

We drove in and I remember seeing these

huge oil extraction machines

They reminded me of this duck thing that my grandfather used to have

which used to pull its nose down, fill up with water

and then go "glug glug glug"

And I'd never seen so much commercial advertising

It was a huge visual input

as we drove up the hill, and in the background

is the Hollywood sign.

Playing in Los Angeles, on Sunset at the Roxy...

it was one of those landmarks for us.

It was a terrific learning experience.

I mean I think that whole first American tour actually

was probably one of the most fun things I ever did

We seemed to be flavour of the moment when we first came to LA.

We were being played on KROQ, being played in the clubs...

so that we were known

in a kind of... quite an underground way.

We would do a gig. We would meet some fans after the show

and they'd invite us back to their place to have a party

and we'd go and hang.

Our first show... incredible.

We were really, really hot.

You know, I really did enjoy those early tours in America,

It hadn't reached that kind of level of intensity.

We had such an exciting time,

and probably one of the last times that we could actually walk around on the streets.

We had two shows, we had a matinee

and an evening show,

and management to taking upon themselves to invite people,

and they actually invited Nina Simone.

And Nina didn't come, but she sent a little card,

and I guess because I am the frontman and lead singer

she addressed it to me. It said,

"Dear Simon, I'm terribly sorry I can't make it.

Have a great show. Nina"

and it was this lovely card, like a birthday card

with balloons on it, full of balloons. It's beautiful, I still got it.

Well it's a treasured possession, it really is.

We played these two shows, and we were magnificent.

I got so much inspiration from the scene

that it just made its way into the music.

Well, the song that springs to mind is the song "Rio".

The lyric and the melody were both written

after our first trip to America.

"From mountains in the North down to the Rio Grande",

that's this part of the world I'm talking about.

The cultural history for me has always been about

the whole town being based upon the movie industry.

Of course there is a complete obsession with fame,

and star culture. Fame, fame, fame.

Liquor stores that always seem to be amplified by neon.

Liquor store!

I had never been anywhere like it before, you know.

We had been to New York and you feel,

"Ah ok, this is what America is like". It's not!

LA is just so different. It's like a different country

Another time when we were here, very early on,

we went into the studio with our producer David Kershenbaum

to remix the Rio album.

FM radio here was a big, compressed sound,

and when you got into a car it just hit you like a wave.

And certainly the single "Hungry Like a Wolf"

which is what broke us in America,

that was the mix that we did with David, not the original version.

I think the fact that you come from an A&R background as well

- you recognize the songs. - Correct.

because I think that was a lot of the thing

with some of the people that we were dealing with in America,

it was, they'd take it to radio and they just go

"I don't know. The sound isn't fitting for us."

But you knew what it was to make it like that.

And, honestly, those sessions that we did together,

was first for the Carnival EP which were the longer remixes

and then you also remixed a whole side of the album.

I think so, yeah.

We did, as I remember we did "Hungry Like the Wolf" first,

and it started to get reaction.

And they said "Why don't you go back and do some more?"

And I think we did. I think we did "Save a Prayer",

- I don't remember. - Yeah

We did "Save a Prayer", we definitely did "Hold Back the Rain"

"Hold Back the Rain".

There's at least like 5 or 6 of those tracks

But I really do feel genuinely

that you lit the touchpaper that ignited...

Wow

- ...America for the band - Oh wow!

- So I am very grateful for that! - Oh, I am grateful too! Thank you!

Grateful sitting here today, you know, looking back with those great memories.

Because it was a magical time, you know. It was a magical time.

Yeah, it really was!

We were doing a tour, in '83 I guess,

and we did the press conference at Magic Castle.

When did you learn an instrument?

I learned to use my instrument...

- ...when I was five, actually, - and most successfully, I'd add.

but it was plastic at the time.

I was what you call a late developer,

I didn't pick up mine until I was about 16.