DURAN DURAN HAPPY TO HAVE SURVIVED HYPE
Sunday, February 12, 1989

BYLINE: By Gary Graff, Knight-Ridder News Service

The title of its latest album is "Big Thing," but the members of Duran Duran admit their group isn't quite as big as it was, say, four years ago.

And keyboardist Nick Rhodes says that's not such a big deal. "It's nice to be away from the pressure," Rhodes, 26, said during a recent phone interview. "Our heyday, if you will, was very exciting, but at the same time it represented something very false. People were coming to see us out of curiosity, not necessarily because they were fans.

"So we may not be as big as we once were, but I think we're in a better position now." And, Rhodes noted, things haven't slipped too far for the 11-year-old group. "Maybe Duran Duran used to sell seven or eight million copies (worldwide) of an album," he said, "but we still sell 4 or 5 million. We're still incredibly lucky in the way we do sell records."

"Big Thing" has sold only about 500,000 copies in the United States. Rhodes said he and his band mates - singer Simon Le Bon and bassist John Taylor - are simply pleased to have survived a dose of early '80s hype that almost leveled the band. Duran was one of MTV's first core bands, saturating the cable music channel with its good looks and videos shot in exotic locales. American radio, initially unresponsive to Duran's high-tech dance fare, was forced to respond by legions of fans who called in to request songs like "Girls on Film" and "Hungry Like the Wolf."

Before you could say Duran twice, the group was a pop phenomenon. Shrieking teens packed its concerts, and Rolling Stone magazine dubbed the group the Fab Five. "We got on a ride, and we thought it was going to slow down any minute," Rhodes said. "But it didn't slow down for five years."

The group actually applied its own brakes, calling a two-year hiatus in 1985 and splitting into the spin-off bands Power Station and Arcadia. When it came time to reunite, however, two members - drummer Roger Taylor and guitarist Andy Taylor (none of the Taylors are related) - decided they wanted off the ride.

Still, Rhodes, Le Bon and John Taylor found life as a trio to their liking. "We have more musical independence," Taylor said. "Instead of thinking, `Well, can I make this kind of music with this band, we can just decide what we want and invent the band we need." Rhodes and his mates also have hired a new manager - Peter Rudge, whose credits include the Rolling Stones and the Who. And, thanks to steady airplay, the "Big Thing" album is still going steady. So, is Duran Duran thinking about being a big thing again?

"That would be OK," Rhodes said, "but we've learned that success isn't measured by how many records you sell. I still get the greatest kick out of seeing someone dance to one of our songs. To me, that's as important as anyone buying the record."

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