DURAN DURAN TRIES HARDER ROCK
Published: Friday, January 13, 1989


DOUG ADRIANSON Herald Music Writer

Much as "talking pictures" revolutionized silent-era Hollywood in the 1920s, the video age turned pop music upside down in the early '80s. You had to look as marvelous as you sounded.

Nobody rode the new wave more skillfully than Duran Duran, who play the Miami Arena on Saturday. But critics who wrote off the British quintet as slickly produced pretty boys without much to say are taking a second look in light of the band's latest album, Big Thing (on Capitol).

Millions of fans, of course, have loved them all along, making huge hits out of Hungry Like the Wolf, Rio, New Moon on Monday, Wild Boys and others. The new album has already added I Don't Want Your Love and All She Wants Is to the list.

"When MTV came on in 1981, it was a positive change," lead singer Simon LeBon said by phone last week. "A lot of old bull got swept away and replaced by another kind of bull. "It certainly would have taken us a lot longer to get where we got without video."

The current album and tour showcase a leaner, meaner Duran Duran. The core group is a trio now -- singer LeBon, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and bassist John Taylor -- augmented by a backup band. The group's pop-wise blend of post-punk and disco has a harder rock edge, and there's more depth to the
lyrics.

"This time we put more emphasis on what we were doing and not so much on how," LeBon said. "It ended up sounding more like us." The title song from Big Thing sports a big-beat dance groove that plays off witty lines sarcastically comparing music- biz success with sexual prowess.

"I guess we're just older and more cantankerous now," LeBon said. "We just say what we feel." Opening Saturday's show is the Pursuit of Happiness, a hot five-piece band from Canada specializing in lively mainstream rock and clever lyrics.

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