I have posted in the past about songs that are kind of embarrassing to admit that you like, foregoing the generally accepted colloquialism of "guilty pleasures," and instead considering them to be something more shameful. But i think i may be revising that sentiment just a little bit. I don't want to be embarrassed or ashamed about the songs that i enjoy, and i don't want anyone else to be either. So instead, let's take these guilty, shameful tunes and call them what the are: cheese. This week, we're all about cheese. And who doesn't like cheese?
In 1995, '80s new wave pop superstars Duran Duran released a covers album called "Thank You," touching on songs from everyone from Bob Dylan to Lou Reed to Iggy Pop to Sly and The Family Stone. It's a mixed bag, but it gets a tad cringe (as my boys would tell me) when Simon Lebon and crew take on some hip-hop. Which brings us to today's cheese. Opening the album is the band's cover of Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel's "White Lines." It's one of those things that just feels like a bad idea from the get go (much like the band's version of Public Enemy's "911 Is a Joke" that's also on the album), but at the same time, it's catchy and infectious, and i kind of love it. Anyway, check it out below, our cheesy Daily Jam.
One of the first bands i can remember liking and paying attention to when i was a little kid was Duran Duran. I'm sure the fact that they provided a theme song to a Bond movie didn't hurt. Anyhoo, i was a sucker for songs like "The Reflex" from the band's third album "Seven and the Ragged Tiger." Here's another cut from that record. Listen to "Union of the Snake" below, our Daily Jam.
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.
There are plenty of bands and artists out there who, for some reason or another, just don’t seem to get the love, credit, or ink they deserve, whether it’s because of some kind of manufactured or real infamy, too small (or too large) a body of work, cultural and popular perceptions about what said band or artist represents, or just general lack of lasting power. In the case of Duran Duran, it’s as if the band so fully embodies a particular moment in time (the 1980’s), that it becomes hard to hear or place the band outside of that setting or context. And sure, the glossy new wave melodies paired with exotic sounds all swirled together in synthy, warm neons paint a perfect picture of that decade’s excess and polish, one that the band has never really been able to shake, or escape, or have been allowed to veer too far away from, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t write and record some truly magnificent, transcendent material. So we have “The Chauffeur” from 1982’s Rio.
A slow and building synthesizer line begins to hum, and then Simon Le Bon starts to croon, and then piece by piece the rest of the band join the melee, a sleek and sexy slice of pop perfection. The song evokes images of cars, servitude, longing, and touches of regret in a spooky melody that throbs and sways before culminating in a world music infused breakdown of synth beats and pan flute. You can practically feel the air teeming, the sweat running down your skin, the moisture condensing on windows, the tension mounting as our narrator bites his lower lip. This is a haunting track that just pulses sex…and somehow I missed out on it until I was well into my twenties.
I loved Duran Duran when I was little, during their heyday, but was really only familiar with their bigger singles and hits, and never owned any of their albums. Sometime after college, I was driving around Austin, listening to a flashback lunch program on an alternative rock radio station, and they played “The Chauffeur,” and I was mesmerized. At the time, I missed the deejay’s announcement as to what the name of the song was, but it was unmistakably Duran Duran. I became obsessed. I spent the next several days scouring the band’s entire discography, intent on finding the song, on completing my quest for some sonic nirvana. Nothing else mattered. Only Duran Duran.
Eventually I found it, and I have not been able to stop listening since.
“Sing Blue Silver!”
Check it out below, our Daily Jam. And you may also want to check out the excellent covers of “The Chauffeur” from The Deftones and Warpaint.
There seems to be a tape of songs that plays at our grocery store on repeat, and many of them are from my youth. So if you see me there, don't be surprised if i'm singing along to myself as i saunter through the produce aisle. Here's Duran Duran and "Ordinary World," our Daily Jam.
I think Duran Duran get unfairly maligned by a lot of folks, mainly dudes, as some kind of lesser pop music. Sure, they were kind of a boy band or whatever, for the time at least, and Simon LeBon seems like he's probably pretty slimey, but they produced some really wonderful pop songs, and "Rio" is pretty great from start to finish. So here's the penultimate track from that album, "Save a Prayer," our Daily Jam.
I've loved Duran Duran since i was a little kid way back in the '80s, and i think a lot of that can be traced to their (still excellent) Bond theme, "A View to A Kill." Maybe we'll have more Bond themes sometime in the future. Anyway, here it is, your Daily Jam...
A couple weeks ago, Moby's cover of Duran Duran's "Rio" surfaced, and it was pretty good. Now, we have LA female four piece Warpaint taking on that band's "The Chauffeur," which is probably my favorite track that Duran Duran ever recorded. Warpaint's version is a smoky, hazy trip...and will now be stuck in my head for days. Listen below, and look for "Making Patterns Rhyme: A Tribute to Duran Duran" on Manimal next month.
