When a new decade starts, it seems that it doesn’t really begin to take off on its own until a little bit of time has gone by, those first couple of years still tying back to the ten that preceded them. It’s true in art, fashion, and culture, the prevailing styles still clinging to life for a couple of last run throughs. That’s why when the 90’s started, we were still getting new records from the likes of Depeche Mode, Motley Crue, and more pushed and promoted on mainstream channels and airwaves. Even with the veritable pop music seachange reverberating through the industry, the first waves of grunge, gangsta rap, shoegaze, Britpop, and IDM changing the sonic landscape, those old guards and money-makers were still part of the zeitgeist, albeit ever so slowly fading.
And so we come to 80’s mainstay Duran Duran’s 1993 self-titled record, often referred to as The Wedding Album, and the dynamic second single “Come Undone.” Once the kings of flashy, exotic synth pop, by the time the band’s seventh album was complete, pop star ageism and changing tastes and sounds had relegated them to adult contemporary and soft rock status. But they worked it anyway. “Come Undone” is all slinky guitar, R&B-tinged female backing vocals, cooing synths, and sex. Maybe it’s an adult contemporary pop song, but it’s a goddamn sexy adult contemporary pop song. Simon Le Bon practically oozes it here. And it killed when it came out, even slung among its grunge rock radio peers, a sexy little escapist number amid a roaring ocean of crunchy, insightful howling and snarling.
It still kills 30 years later.
So listen to “Come Undone” again. It’s perfect for stormy, tumultuous nights, rain sliding down the windows, murking what lies on the other side…OR cue it up for that posh and elegant pool party, sunglasses and cocaine aplenty, steam rising, waiting for your move.
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