Duran Duran: There's Something You Should Know (2018) - full transcript

♪ Please, please
tell me now... ♪

What did I wanna be
when I grew up?

I wanted to be adored.

♪ Please, please
tell me now... ♪

I was just, like,
perpetually excited in 1981.

It was just so much fun.

That's what New Romantic was...
Wearing that on the 50 bus.

What teenage
girl didn't have a crush

on every single guy
in that band?

This one person
threw three bras on the stage.

And two pairs of knickers.
I thought,



"She's definitely not wearing
any underwear now."

♪ Girls on film... ♪

Every time you tried to move,

there would be 200 teenage girls
trying to rip you apart.

Duran Duran is my life.

Waiting for them
outside of BBC...

They never noticed me.

Nobody really wanted to
give you credit for the fact

that everybody was
a great musician.

I feel like Duran Duran
is my second band.

♪ Her name is Rio... ♪

The demands on us
had become absurd.

It's like one of those
rat wheels isn't it?

And you just gotta be
King Rat sometimes and say,



"Bollocks. I'm jumping off."

The atmosphere
was completely toxic.

We'd just had a few years of,

like, "'80s band, '80s band."

I think they just saw
the boat going the other way

down the river
with all their money on it.

Imagine to be in
a band like Duran Duran

and have the career
that they've had.

That's, like,
the ultimate dream.

♪ No-No-Notorious... ♪

For me, all of our albums

define different stages
in our career.

The first album
was our game plan.

♪ Only came outside ♪

♪ To watch the night
fall with the rain... ♪

The way we are
on that first album,

we're all playing the best
that we could play,

and we're all just
playing every note we know.

♪ Some New Romantic
looking for the TV sound... ♪

"Planet Earth" was the energy
of rock music and punk,

and strong melody.

We all loved melodies,

good songs,
that was what it was about.

♪ Look now,
look all around ♪

♪ There's no sign of life ♪

♪ Voices, another sound ♪

♪ Can you hear me now? ♪

- Ooh, it smells old.
- Jesus!

The Decrepids.

Oh... Oh, come on, Rodge.

Come on. Let's get cozy.

- Snuggle up in the back.
- Put your seat belt on.

Well, if you're driving, I will.

- He's actually driving it?
- Oh, no.

That's what I said.

I'm in the danger seat.
You're fine there.

So it appears that in here...

our very first demo,

in Birmingham,
for our first album.

- It's "Faster Than Light."
- It is.

Oh, wow.

- ♪ The light ♪
- ♪ Faster than light ♪

- ♪ The light ♪
- ♪ Faster than light... ♪

I think the last time we were
in a Citroen was probably,

together, maybe 1982?

I don't know how we
came across the first Citroen,

but it was, like,
the perfect car for Duran Duran.

It was super fast
and it was super comfortable.

I don't remember where
we got the first one from.

- We bought the second one.
- Buying the second one

was a major commitment
to success.

We don't know
what else is on here.

Let's have a look.

- Andy's playing was...
- The car's shaking.

Andy's playing was very
economical, wasn't it?

Oh, yeah, but that was so great.

- He played essential guitar.
- Yeah.

That's a loud vocal. Wow.

I hate... The vocal's horrible.

- It's so loud.
- Horrible vocal!

Stop it!

White riot, I wanna riot ♪

♪ White riot,
a riot of our own... ♪

Aah!

We really became brothers.

We were both single kids.
We didn't have any siblings.

We lived a few hundred meters
away from each other

in Hollywood, Birmingham.

There was a lot of other kids
at school that loved music.

But not as much as we did.
Or that's what we thought.

Blondie, Talking Heads,

Patti Smith, Roxy Music...

we saw lots and lots of times.

I took John
to his first concert.

It was in April 1974,

and it was actually Mick Ronson.

And it cost us £1.35 each.

Every time we went to a show,

John and I used to
count the trucks

outside at the back of the show
and figure out

how many lights they had
and how much sound, and think

how many we needed to make
what we were gonna do happen.

My dad was a manual worker.

My dad worked at the Rover.

So it was very much expected

that I would remain
a manual worker.

I didn't think it was
a great way of life.

I wanted to do
something different.

I had this dream
of being in a band.

Birmingham was a very small
world in those days,

and anybody who was
kind of any good,

you know, you'd hear about.

So I think that John and Nick
had heard about me,

and I'd heard about Duran Duran.

We were rehearsing at this...

this squat in Cheapside.

It was kind of like

the armpit of Birmingham
down here.

This is really,
it's the spiritual home

of Duran Duran right here.

Roger is the most likable person

you'll ever
meet in this business.

You know, and right away
we clicked.

Just set my drums up
and started jamming,

and they said,
"Come back next week,"

so I must have got
the gig, you know.

So this is really my moment,

is just walking through
that door right there.

♪ Outside ♪

♪ Is there anyone out there? ♪

At 19 years old, it was like
walking into a space rocket.

It took me all over the world,

and kind of everything
that I have,

really, that's good in life

is a result of walking
through that...

through that door there.

♪ Look out of the window ♪

♪ Baby, you can call
by my name... ♪

Birmingham at that time

might as well have been
the center of the world.

I don't feel like...

It was the center
of our world, wasn't it?

I don't feel like
we ever thought,

"Oh, man,
I wish we lived in London."

The Rum Runner was
like the sort of premier

New Romantic club

in Birmingham
where everybody went.

It had this really big
kind of entrance

that was like a big corridor
that was almost like a catwalk.

It really was just about
showing off.

It was about going out,
getting your photo taken.

It was just about
getting attention.

This is where we found
somewhere to rehearse.

This is where we found
our management.

This is where we found Andy.

This is where we found Simon.

This was like our Cavern,
in a way.

So I guess within about a month

of having gone
to the Rum Runner,

suddenly it's Nick,
me and Rodge,

and now we're planning
world domination,

although we don't have
a guitar player and a singer,

but this is, like, the...
This is the core.

We were looking
for a guitar player

that could play, like,
Nile Rodgers funk,

but could play, like,
Mick Ronson lead,

and there weren't that many
who could do that.

Andy came down from Newcastle.

We joke about his style,
you know,

'cause that wasn't his thing,
but he thought about music,

and he just right away brought...
He took us to another level.

♪ Da-da, da-da ♪

♪ Groovin' now
to X-Ray Spex... ♪

We all had jobs here
doing different things.

Nick got the DJ job,

John worked on the door,
I worked behind the bar.

And I remember Simon comes
walking down one day,

and that was our first meeting.

When he said his name was
Simon Le Bon,

we sort of didn't believe
that was his real name,

but anyway, turned out it was.

And he had a lyric book
with him.

Well, this was the holy grail.

There were things in there,
and we started reading through.

Wow! This would be perfect
if only he can sing.

♪ All alone ain't much fun ♪

♪ So you're looking
for the thrill... ♪

When he started singing,
it was crazy.

It was just one of those

fantastic "Eureka!" moments.

♪ Don't say a prayer
for me now ♪

♪ Save it till
the morning after ♪

♪ No, don't say a prayer
for me now ♪

♪ Save it till
the morning after... ♪

I thought, this guy's a star.

He was tall,
he was well put together,

and he was really smart.

I mean, he's a poet,
Simon, you know?

So at that time particularly,
he was always writing words.

The gold dust
of the music business

is words on paper.

Whatever anybody else
will tell you

about grooves or notes,
it's all about those lyrics.

♪ Any other day ♪

♪ You might have gone
walking by ♪

♪ Without a second look ♪

♪ Any other way ♪

♪ But I'm still mystified ♪

♪ I'm just trying to
change my luck ♪

♪ Staring at the world... ♪

I'm going to take you
to the church,

'cause we're gonna go
and see Mr. Turvey...

my old choir master.

♪ And nobody knows ♪

♪ What's gonna happen
tomorrow... ♪

This is the beautiful...

Church of St. John
the Baptist, Pinner.

This is where I was a choirboy
for four years.

This place had a huge effect
on my musical development.

I grew to love church music

and the intricacies of it
and the harmonies.

Hello. Long time.

- Nice to see you.
- It's been many years.

So this is where I spent
a lot of time sitting.

Right here. Yeah.

There'd be somebody there
who was better than me.

Until, for a very brief time,

I became the one
who sat... here.

So this is myself and you,

performing
"O For the Wings of a Dove."

In this particular place.

Yes, right. Right here.

♪ O for the wings ♪

♪ For the wings of a dove ♪

- ♪ Far away ♪
- Yeah.

♪ Far away would I rove ♪

I didn't quite get
my breathing right there.

I was running out of breath.

Yes. There's a long note
coming up.

- Yeah. Totally out of breath.
- Yeah.

- ♪ Far away ♪
- That's it.

♪ Far away would I rove ♪

I'm a little bit
ahead of the beat as well,

- I think.
- Just a fraction.

That's something
that I've worked

for decades to try
and overcome, actually.

Yeah, mm-hmm. Yeah.

♪ Far away ♪

-That's my favorite note in it.

- That one.
- You got it right that time.

-Yeah.

We thought we were
so great, didn't we?

We thought that we were
gonna take over the world.

But I don't think
we were arrogant, though.

Well, at the time,
we were young.

We were teenagers.
I was 17.

We were a lot more alike then.

We were really birds
of a feather, you know,

and we had a...
And our dress, really,

I think, helped
define us in a way.

Charlie, you had
some theatrical things.

There was some gray velvet thing
that you had made.

Gray velvet
with purple slashing.

It was right out of
Midsummer Night's Dream.

Yeah, it was.
Oh, my goodness.

- It had bells.
- It had bells on it.

You'd hear him coming down
the corridor with bells.

That was one of the things

that was great about
that period, actually.

None of us were afraid of color.

- Except Roger.
- Apart from me.

He just used to wear black.

I was completely
afraid of color.

Yeah, yeah.

You look like you
should be in Wham!

Very nice, Roger.

Baby, I'm your man.

- Ooh!
- ♪ Come fly with me ♪

I don't think we better go
any deeper into here.

Music at that time
was kind of androgynous.

There was this crossover,
you know,

between girls and boys
wearing the same...

There were clothes
that crossed over,

and we kind of bought into that.

- We found 'em.
- Yeah, we did.

We used to trawl
the streets of Birmingham

trying to find, uh,
bits of clothing.

Ladies' clothes
that would fit us.

Yes, but we...
Then it was easier, right?

I can see you working
the bumper cars in that outfit.

- Yeah, really? Cheers.
- I quite like that.

Yeah, so do I.

Italian Vogue.
Old habit, you know.

Uh...

We were out at dinner
with Andy Warhol once,

and somebody asked Andy,

"Which do you think
is the coolest Vogue?"

And at the time, I'd made it
as far as Paris Vogue,

and I was really into
Paris Vogue, and he said,

"Oh, Italian Vogue,
definitely."

And we were like,
"Italian Vogue?

Is there one?"
You know?

Pictures of girls.

I first met
Duran Duran around 1980

when they came into the shop.

We became very good friends.
They had the balls to run around

with all the makeup
and the hair.

This lot didn't give a damn,

and they'd worked out
that women quite liked it.

So when they came along,
they were a breath of fresh air.

This is from the year...

- Well, that's probably from...
- Well, when you first started.

1981.

I think after the punk thing,

military was still very much...

Military was very happening.

But you, of course,
broke the mold for that.

You lot went in
waist-deep into it

♪ I saw you
at the air race yesterday ♪

♪ April showers
get out of my way... ♪

You obviously kept
all these over the years.

- How many are there?
- There's about 10,000 in all.

This was actually worn
in the "Planet Earth" video,

along with one of your suits.

The shirts were like this one,
because they had to be.

It's the low arm holes
and all of the rest of it.

That's your easy wear.

It wasn't easy wear
on the number 50 bus

from Birmingham.

That's what New Romantic was:

wearing that on the 50 bus.

So this one was from 1983,

and that's from the front cover

of the Seven
and the Ragged Tiger album.

This fabric's
happening now big-time.

It's everywhere on the catwalk.

Well, then, only 37 years
ahead of our time.

I remember
when you came to the shop.

We came because
when we finally got

our advance from EMI records,

and part of it was
a clothing budget for...

Which you insisted on,
of course.

- Of course.
- The first band to do that.

No, the hard work
was writing the songs

and getting all of that right.

- We know that.
- Finally, when you get to

sort of present it,
that's the fun,

sort of saying,
"How are we going do this?"

- Put it all in positions.
- It ends up like this.

There you go.

Well, perfect for shopping
in Oxford Street.

These are the epitome
of '80s over-the-top.

- Really? You think so?
- Oh, I think so, yeah.

I mean,
they're quite panto-y now,

but at the time they were right,

because they fused
military with romance.

We've got these
corseted-back trousers here

that were all laced up the back,

and then these hanging jackets.

- It's, uh, matador-ish.
- Yeah, yeah.

Somehow
we managed to make it work

because we all had such
individual and personal taste.

We could look at a rail
of clothes now and say,

Roger's gonna like that,
I'm gonna have that one,

- John's gonna like that one.
- Yeah, you could do that.

- Most of the band...
- You were pretty right

because you knew
all their tastes

even better than I did.

Any band,
if you think of anyone you...

Anyone in history
that's worth remembering,

they all have an image.

Elvis Presley, Madonna,
Prince, Duran Duran.

They were Birmingham's peacocks.

There was
this Smash Hits magazine,

and suddenly nobody was reading
any of the weeklies anymore.

There were these, like,
colored magazines

that came out every week,

and it was, like,
perfect for Duran.

It was like,
"There's a John cover.

It's a Roger cover.
It's Simon and Nick."

There was like an explosion,

and we made ourselves
very available to it.

We went on tour
behind Planet Earth,

and we played Nottingham,

and that show was reviewed
in the NME,

and it was the meanest review.

"A Ripple in a Stagnant Pool"
was the headline.

I can still remember it
to this day.

And the last line in it was,
"Duran Duran are gonna be huge,

and they really
don't deserve any of it."

And I remember
reading that, thinking,

"That's so mean. Why?"

You know, like, "Why?"

And then we kind of knew
that we were part of this,

and that was probably
after the Smash Hits cover.

And it was like,

so we were a threat
to that institution,

and they weren't
gonna be nice to us,

so we just had to swallow it.

But the NME never, never...

And it bothered me up until
about a year ago, I think.

The first time I think that

we recognized that something
different was happening

was when out of nowhere...
It was like a movie set,

and we got completely mobbed.

And we sensed that
something had changed.

I'm desperate to know
what it's like to be a pop star.

Do you think
it's all full of fast cars,

fast women, fast living?

Well, that's
probably part of it.

-It is, yeah. But...

I love boats.

I do have a boat
a bit similar to this.

It lives in a garage in Italy,
where she was built.

I think living the life
was very much

a sort of a part
of the rock star lifestyle.

We were objects of desire.

And people wanted to

have us at their parties.

So there was a lot of that.

♪ See them walking
hand in hand ♪

♪ Across the bridge
at midnight... ♪

Duran Duran were like...
It was glamorous.

It was, like,
hot, beautiful locations,

leggy blondes,
yachts and the limousines.

It was aspirational, I think.

That's why I think
people liked it,

because it was like,

you can come from Birmingham,

you can come from
southeast London,

but you can still have
a glamorous life.

I was just, like,
perpetually excited in 1981.

I mean, it was like...
I don't think I slept all year.

I mean, it was just...
It was just so much fun.

It was just... just this
crazy adventure,

and it never really stopped.

It did become the album

that was the most important
in launching our career.

♪ You saw me standing
by the wall ♪

♪ Corner of a main street... ♪

I remember really being worried,

just briefly,

that it wouldn't be
as good as the first album.

And I used to lay in my bed
and listen to the album,

and I rationed myself to
two entire listens a night

because I didn't want
to wear it out.

But I just loved it.
I thought it was so great.

-♪ Don't say a prayer

♪ For me now ♪

♪ Save it
till the morning after... ♪

Everyone has that record,

and I think Rio was that record.

It was the sort of thing
that seals the deal.

I remember the sleeve.

I remember hearing the songs
for the first time.

And I think that Rio
was the album

that established Duran Duran
as a kind of global super force,

because it was like,
"Okay, they can write songs."

Rio was like a masterstroke.

The image on the cover
of that album

so perfectly represents

the sounds in the music.

Whether you're Bowie
or Kanye West,

it doesn't matter,
you're selling a fantasy.

Here we have...

the original Rio painting.

Yes. Still smiling
after all these years.

For our second album we thought,

"Why don't we stick a beautiful
painting on the cover?"

And actually,

to the credit of Paul Berrow,
one of our managers at the time,

who was an avid reader
of Playboy magazine,

um, he spotted these
beautiful illustrations

done by a Californian artist
called Patrick Nagel

and brought them and said,
"Chaps, do you like these?"

And we looked and said,
"Actually, yeah."

They've got a real energy
and a brightness,

and they represented
the period so well,

it's become a symbol
of that whole decade.

But for us,
she's got a very lucky smile

because that period was amazing,
and the Rio album

was really what established us
around the world.

This was the home
to Duran Duran in the '80s,

when we were in Los Angeles.

We've got all The Beatles here.

We've got John, George,

Ringo, and then Paul McCartney.

I know I wouldn't
be standing here

without those guys.

Then we go on to Buddy Holly,

but then they probably
wouldn't be there

without Buddy Holly,
so that's cool.

Moving on. Tina Turner,
and Tina Turner's bicycle,

which is a permanent show
here now.

I'm getting a warm feeling.

Capitol Recording artists
Duran Duran.

It's a big deal
in terms of, like,

where you're from, I guess.

I don't think many of my
schoolmates have got one.

We got a lot of prizes
in the early '80s.

I took them for granted.
I was like... you know.

But as I've gotten older,
I've come to appreciate them,

and display them, even.

And I think to know
where you come in the evolution

of, uh, popular music, you know,

contemporary culture, you know,
that we've got a place...

We've got a place in that,
it feels good.

They were such a seminal
band for me as a kid, you know.

Like, I really loved them.
They had great pop songs,

great melody, great band.

There's a reason that
they sold 18 million records.

They were just attuned
to writing

really universal, great songs.

What's your first memory
of being in this building?

I'm not sure they ever
really knew what to do with us.

EMI in London just kept
pressurizing Capitol

into basically making more
effort to break the band,

and it was really with Rio
that they said,

"Look, you've got to
make this happen."

To me, definitely
the first album

had a lot of the seeds
of what became, like,

the iconic early
Duran Duran sound,

but Rio is probably...
And also just 'cause

the level of songwriting
just went like this.

Do you feel like Rio
is where you sort of forged

- the Duran sound?
- Definitely.

It was a development
from the first...

All the basic ideas...
I mean, you just nailed it,

the funky rhythm section,
you know,

sort of Moroder-esque
synths, you know,

but also that kind of...
That chunky rock guitar.

- Yeah, Steve Jones guitars.
- Yeah.

And also, the other thing
is, like,

probably because your whole,
you know, pin-ups

and all this
kind of thing at first,

nobody really wanted
to give you credit

or the fact that everybody
was a great musician.

I think for all the excitement
of the punk rock era,

the post-punk era
was really exciting too,

because you had kids saying,
"I want to be a bass player."

Roger and I were like,
"We wanna be a rhythm section."

That sound, like, when I play
"The Chauffeur" in my head,

that sound of Roger's drums
on top,

locked into the sequence
of whatever Nick was doing,

and then you with that,
is such an important part.

I feel like "The Chauffeur,"

sonically
and everything about it,

if came out tomorrow
and you said,

"Oh, this is
a new Killers tune,"

you would believe it.

♪ And watching lovers part ♪

♪ I feel you smiling ♪

♪ What glass splinters lie
so deep in your mind? ♪

♪ To tear out
from your eyes ♪

♪ With a thought to stiffen
brooding lies ♪

♪ And I'll only watch you
leave me further behind... ♪

When we first came to New York,
I remember our managers

meeting with these guys

that were putting MTV together,
and they were like,

"Look, we can't play
'Stairway to Heaven' all day,

"like what happens on the radio.

"We need to get more
into new music,

"and it'd be great if you could
give us something really

kind of like
a James Bond film."

- Right.
- And our manager went away,

and that's where the Sri Lanka
video idea came from.

♪ In touch with the ground ♪

♪ I'm on the hunt
I'm after you ♪

♪ Smell like I sound
I'm lost in a crowd ♪

♪ And I'm hungry
like the wolf... ♪

MTV was, like, such a big part
of my teenage life.

I mean, that's how
we got our music.

And I think Duran Duran
was such a perfect band

for this new way

that people were getting music,
which was through television.

♪ Stalked in the forest
too close to hide ♪

♪ I'll be upon you
by the moonlight side... ♪

They were really some of
the pioneers in music videos.

That was just the age where

we didn't know what to expect,
and anything could go.

♪ And your skin
it's so tight ♪

♪ You feel my heat
I'm just a moment behind... ♪

There was something
about it when we were there

that we knew
that it was new ground.

It was very exotic.

And we were very lucky to have
Russell Mulcahy directing,

because at that time,
he was the guy.

He had just done "Vienna"
for Ultravox

and all the coolest things
that were out there, really.

♪ I'm lost and I'm found ♪

♪ And I'm hungry
like the wolf... ♪

With Duran, it was a bit

like being a tourist
with a big camera.

♪ I howl and I whine
I'm after you... ♪

I had very much
a cinematic vision,

they had a vision
with their music,

and the managers had a vision
about, "Let's make it big

and-and stand out
from the rest."

We just wanted to raise the bar.

On first glance,

it looks like a guy
chasing a girl.

It's slightly uncomfortable,
actually.

But it's us chasing our career,

trying to make it happen,
and we were so hungry.

We would chase and we would grab

and we would achieve.

And that is what
that song's about.

Then after that,
the travelogue continued,

and hence we ended up doing
the "Rio" video in Antigua.

That was wild.
I mean, we sort of...

That one we actually
just made up on the spot.

I would say in the morning,
"Okay, I need, um...

"I need a mirror,

I need a bed, I want
to put it on the beach."

♪ Moving on the floor
now, babe ♪

♪ You're a bird
of paradise ♪

♪ Cherry ice cream smile ♪

♪ I suppose it's very nice... ♪

The classic shot
eventually ended up being

Simon at the front of the boat
with the boys hanging off,

and the cameraman was sitting
at the top of the boat,

on the... whatever you call it...

With no harness, hand-held,

hanging on to the thing
like that.

Song blasting away,

the boys were all in their
sort of tailored suits,

very expensive suits,
getting splashed with seawater,

ruining the suits, of course,
and we just had a lot of fun.

♪ Down to the Rio Grande... ♪

The yacht was such
a powerful image.

With us all with the colored
Antony Price suits,

it really worked beautifully.

♪ Doo-doo,
doo-doo-doo, doo-doo ♪

♪ Doo-doo, doo-doo-doo,
doo-doo... ♪

Rio was a very hard record
to follow, in hindsight.

We made a classic album
with Rio.

And I think it was first time
that we really felt

the pressure of having to
follow something up.

The Ragged Tiger is that kind of

dirty but incredible...

charismatic animal

that is success.

♪ I knew this was
a big mistake... ♪

Hello, good evening,

and welcome to our show.

This is a dressing room,

and by the nature
of the word "dressing,"

it means everyone has to change,
so fuck off.

What we really want to tell you
is we're gonna do this.

Good night.

The demands on us
had become absurd

because I think a lot
of the business people

had smelled the money

everywhere that they
possibly could,

and they just wanted more
and more and more and more.

♪ The union of the snake
is on the climb... ♪

Our accountants were saying,

"You can't stay in England

because you're gonna pay
all this tax."

So we decamped
to the South of France,

and we end up in this château
in the middle of nowhere.

It was wonderful.

The scenery was fantastic.

And they had swimming pool

and tennis courts,

and we didn't get
a lot of work done.

I get up and...

have a bath and a wee-wee.

Have lunch.

- Play a bit of tennis.
- And then I wake up.

I mean, I was all
into the swimming pool

and the tennis courts.

John was bringing
his girls down.

Andy was getting a bit high.

John and Andy were funding

South American countries
with their, uh...

with their pocket money.

They were up very, very,
very late at night,

but not in the studio so much.

It was like, nobody was a saint
in that band.

I mean, why would you be?

There's so much being served up,

being offered to us.

You've got drugs,
you've got alcohol...

You know, there's
a whole load of things.

It's a...
It's a minefield, really.

And even in amongst
all of the fraternal

kind of fun and games,

there was loneliness as well.

So, you know,

I don't think anybody relished

sleeping alone
if it could be avoided.

♪ The reflex,
fle-fle-fle-fle-flex ♪

♪ You've gone too far
this time ♪

♪ But I'm dancing... ♪

The tour for that album

in '83-'84

was the height of
everything coming together.

All the insanity
from every single place

just came to meet us in America.

We couldn't hear what we were
playing most of the time

because the noise
of the audience

was just overwhelming.

And they were all teenage girls,

so it was all
this certain pitch.

It was like hitting...

very heavy weather
in an airplane.

And we were just looking
at each other, going,

"Whoa, whoa! Hang on! Hang on!"

I have photograph
upon photograph

of girls screaming and crying.

I wasn't prepared for the fact

that it was
the Beatles, effectively.

It was madness, carnage,
everywhere we went.

We were hemmed into the hotels.
We couldn't move at that point.

Every time you tried to leave
the hotel, there would be

200 teenage girls
trying to rip you apart.

♪ Finding treasure
in the dark ♪

♪ And watching over
lucky clover ♪

♪ Isn't that bizarre... ♪

It's absolutely incredible.
There's tons of people here.

I think there's about 2,000,

3,000, four million,
you never know.

Did you think they'd
have to bring in police horses

to keep the people quiet?

Have they got
police horses out there?

Oh, God, where are they?

The fans began to realize

that all they had to do
was phone the top hotels,

wait for my name, then they'd
know where the band was staying.

And I'd get the phone
call at 2:00 in the morning

asking how John was,
or the fire alarm would go off

and the whole hotel
then had to evacuate.

And that's how fans
got to meet the band.

♪ Who's waiting by the park ♪

♪ The reflex
Is in charge of finding... ♪

It was... wild.

I had somebody
in a wardrobe in my room.

I checked into my room,

and I opened the wardrobe
when I was unpacking,

and there was a girl in there.

It was like losing
your virginity, you know.

We were never the same again.
It was like... You know?

♪ What a game,
he's hiding all the cards ♪

♪ The reflex is
in charge of finding... ♪

I think by the end
of the U.S. tour,

we'd literally been
deep-fried daily

for months on end.

Of course, pettiness

and misunderstandings

had started to set in
within the band.

We really for the first time
had had enough of each other

We all kind of went...

John and Andy

wanted to be more rock,
and they did Power Station.

Me and Nick decided
we wanted to be more arty,

and we started Arcadia.

Roger didn't know
which bloody camp

to be in,
so he did a bit of both.

It was kind of like two boats

were sailing off
in different directions,

and I kinda had
one leg on one boat

and one leg on the other.

And I got kinda stretched
in between, actually,

which was a bit painful.

I know you've been here all day,

but if you've got
any energy left,

we'd like to see you dancing!

When Bob Geldof calls you
and says, you know,

"I'm doing this project.

It's gonna save millions
of lives in Africa,"

you can't say,
"No, we're on a break."

When we got together
in Philadelphia,

we were really in two camps.

The atmosphere
was completely toxic.

Nobody wanted to be
together at that point.

Which was quite sad, really,

because we'd been so close
a few years ago,

and suddenly it was like
we could hardly bear

to be in the same room
as each other.

Just got to the point
where I couldn't...

I couldn't deal with it anymore.

I got up every morning

feeling unhappy
with what I was doing.

I was sensible enough
at the age of 25

to think, you know, I'm gonna
walk away from this.

I remember when Roger
left the band just thinking,

"What a weird thing to do."
It just...

Who leaves a band when
they're that successful?

Because I sort of knew him.

I just thought,
he's obviously gone mad.

♪ The new moon on Monday ♪

♪ And a fire dance
through the night ♪

♪ I stayed the cold day... ♪

♪ Notorious, notorious ♪

♪ No-No, notorious... ♪

We were fighting for our lives,
you know?

Because the band
had had its moment.

♪ I can't read about it... ♪

We realized that
this was a real crisis.

It was survival.

♪ I'll do fine without it... ♪

Andy kind of, you know,

dicked us around
for about six months, actually.

We didn't know whether
he was coming or going.

Maybe he wasn't getting
his rocks off,

the music
wasn't speaking to him,

he was getting frustrated
with the style of the music

and the direction
the music was taking.

The three of us came together
in such an insanely...

Like, with our backs
to the wall...

But it was so galvanizing.

The desire to prove ourselves

was more powerful than
it had been at the beginning.

Whereas we were in two camps
at Live Aid,

six, eight months later,

the three of us
were in a new camp,

and it was our camp,
and it was the trio camp.

♪ I heard you promise
but I don't believe it ♪

♪ That's why I did it again... ♪

So as things have always
seemed to happen with us,

it was one door closed,
another door opened.

And standing in that doorway

was Sir Nile of Rodgers,

who came in and really oversaw

the Notorious project.

As soon as we met each other,

it was...

goddamn, like
love at first sight.

We had so much fun.
We were making music

the same way Chic makes music,

the same way
Luther Vandross makes music.

When you meet an artist,

and there's that kind
of connection right away,

you know that big things
are gonna happen.

Three, four...

He's fantastic to be around.

He has a great energy,

a joy, a joyfulness
about the way he plays

and the way he approaches
songwriting and recording.

That sounds like music
to me, man.

When we'd finished it,
and we were all pretty pleased,

we were just doing the mixes,
and we'd sent

an almost complete version
to the record label,

and they'd come back,
and they'd said,

"Uh, we've got a problem.

"We can't put this out.

"It doesn't sound
like Duran Duran.

It's-It's... Um...

It's far too urban."

But we just told them
we were changing direction,

and that was that.

I think they just saw the boat

going the other way
down the river

with all their money on it.

When your record's
not as successful

as the one before,
nobody wants to talk to you.

The press don't want
to talk to you,

the music press
aren't interested

because it's other things.

"You can't get
on the radio because

"you're old stuff, man.
You're old news.

We've got new stuff
we're playing here on Radio 1."

So you sit there

in your business manager' office
in New York City,

looking at the pictures of all
the other acts he's working on

and talking about,
"What can we do to save this?

What can we do
to make it work?"

The first time it happens,
it's really scary,

because you thought
it would carry on forever.

But it happens.
You get through it.

And the next time it happens,
it's not so bad.

And the next time it happens,
it's not so bad.

And then you just get
to a point where you think,

"You know what?

"Let's just relax
and do what we do.

"Do we believe
in the music we make?

"Yes, we do.

"Can we go in
and write new stuff?

"Have you still
got stuff inside you

"that you want to say?

Yes, I have. Yes, we can."
And you do it.

♪ Notorious ♪

♪ No-No, Notorious ♪

♪ Hey, child... ♪

At that time,
we were looking to move

into a new phase of the band

and what that band looked like.

We'd gotten away
from the early '80s,

and we were looking to
sort of redefine ourselves.

♪ Who do you need ♪

♪ Who do you love ♪

♪ When you come undone? ♪

We knew there was this guy,
Nick Egan,

and he did lots of cool stuff.

He's got that same interest

in art and music and fashion.

I've worked with the Clash,

I've worked with Bob Dylan,

I've worked with
Malcolm McLaren.

My first cover I did
was for the Ramones.

The greatest achievement
and the proudest achievement

of my working career is actually
working with Duran Duran,

because I find the fact
they stay relevant

and keep ahead of the game,

there's not many bands
that can do that anymore.

I think Nick was really
important at that moment

to help us realize
first the cover

and then
the "Ordinary World" video.

♪ Came in from
a rainy Thursday ♪

♪ On the avenue ♪

♪ Thought I heard you
talking softly... ♪

"Ordinary World,"
the song itself,

the thing that was the catapult
back into phase two,

if you like, when I heard it,

I just thought,
"This is a hit record."

And you don't often think that.
How did you guys feel as a band?

We'd had the biggest flop
of our careers

with the album before,
with Liberty.

We were kind of
a bit lost, really,

but I remember hearing
"Ordinary World" on the radio

and thinking,
"Thank you, God."

You know, that we'd just, like,

we'd got a foot into
another decade, you know?

'Cause we'd just had
a few years of, like,

"'80s band, '80s band.
They're done. They're done."

I think the success
of the single

took an enormous amount
of pressure off us.

So I think Simon's lyrics
were fantastic on that.

Most of Simon's lyrics
from the early albums

are kind of quite oblique.

You're not quite sure
what they are.

That's what makes them
so interesting.

But it kind of felt
at this point like,

maybe we just need to start
writing songs about emotions

and-and, uh, and see
how that works out.

♪ But I won't cry
for yesterday ♪

♪ There's an ordinary world ♪

♪ Somehow I have to find... ♪

"Ordinary World" is a song

about trying to get over

the death of a best friend.

And putting it in words
freed me, absolutely.

It really worked for me
emotionally and mentally.

Everybody who heard it

could apply it to something
in their life,

and it meant something to them,

but for a totally
different reason.

And it became such
an important song for us.

And I think it only had
that power to touch people

because it meant so much to me.

♪ In my world ♪

♪ I will learn to survive... ♪

♪ I put my hand ♪

♪ Into the flame ♪

♪ Burning but
I feel no pain... ♪

We get Andy Taylor back
as well tonight.

- ♪ Don't speak my name ♪

♪ Hold onto... ♪

I was talking to somebody
this morning,

and they thought we got back
together to party...

or find another wife
or whatever, but...

Fuckin' rockin' show, dude.

Simon, the way
you came in the crowd,

I just wanted to
lick you all over.

People have been asking us
for 20 years by then,

"When are you ever gonna put the
original band back together?"

And we didn't know
that we would,

but nobody had ever
ruled it out.

I just thought,

if we ever
get a ball near a pocket,

this massive cheer's
gonna go up.

♪ 'Cause where I stop
that's where you begin... ♪

Apparently, it was 18 years

- Wow.
- In between...

the last show that we were all
on stage together

and the first show
of the Astronaut project.

It was a gamble,

but we didn't have
a record company,

and we didn't have a manager.

I think we went in pretty much
with nothing to lose.

We've got this super hooky vocal
on the chorus.

-To D-minor.

Down.

- ♪ Does anybody know? ♪
- I like that bit.

What's that chord?

It wasn't gonna be all about

what happened in 1983.

This was gonna be about
what we could do now.

So, play it... play it
from that first chord.

But I've gotta say, getting
the different personalities

to work again

was probably more challenging
than the music, I think.

That was the tough part.

Okay, clear the room, please.
Including you. Out.

You guys sang it differently.

- No, we didn't.
- Yeah, you did.

Absolutely, you did.
And we all noticed it.

You sang it... It was exac...

It was exactly the conversation

that we were having
in sound check.

You said that before,

but I can't figure out
what you mean.

You go to the last...

No, no. You're wrong.
You are wrong.

I don't think ever

was there a
more important "Lights!"

than that first show in Osaka
on the reunion tour.

Because that was the ultimate

"Shut the fuck up
and play your guitars."

And that was really what
we needed, because then,

all the politics just
"doof, schtum."

And then we go out and play,
and we remind each other,

"When we do this together,
this is what we get."

♪ Reach up for the sunrise ♪

♪ Put your hands
into the big sky ♪

♪ You can touch the sunrise ♪

♪ Feel the new day
enter your life ♪

♪ Reach up for the sunrise ♪

♪ Put your hands
into the big sky... ♪

After the Budokan shows,

we decided to do a tour
to support Astronaut,

and I think it was planned to be

about three to six months,

but in reality ended up
being around two years.

Tomorrow night
we'll do like tonight.

Tonight we'll do
like last night.

And tomorrow we'll do
like the night before.

We've got to shorten
"The Reflex."

Second show,
"Tiger Tiger's" out. Right?

What do we play
"Bedroom Toys" instead of?

We want to play that next
to "Notorious," don't we?

We could play "Night Boat,"
then "Chauffeur."

♪ Her name is Rio ♪

♪ And she dances
in the sand ♪

Hey, that was a great...

I'm feeling
job insecurity, Bill.

The last time
we were at the wheel,

we just drove it off the cliff.

And this time, you know,

wanting to make sure
that doesn't happen again.

I mean, we're all
quite driven now.

I think what the time did
was that it...

We all dug back in our
relationships with each other

and our feelings
for the band, you know.

I love you.

- That was worth the work.
- That was worth a year.

It was like, everything was set.

You know what?

Not a moment too fuckin' soon.

All the British gigs,
all the gigs we've done.

You know, to get it here:

just press the "on" button.
Boom!

- Aren't we smug?
- Yeah, right!

I hit a horrific bum note

on the guitar in "Astronaut."

Oh, someone had to
spoil it, didn't they?

Just when you thought
it was perfect.

♪ Bop, bop, bop, bop
bop, bop, bop, bop ♪

♪ Calling Planet Earth ♪

♪ Bop, bop, bop, bop
bop, bop, bop, bop... ♪

This is Planet...

And then we started
a pretty good two-year run

of working together.

It was difficult, though,
you know,

because everybody had
had a different experience

and was carrying
different stuff, baggage.

There was different things
in everybody's suitcases,

and honestly, I really
didn't want to know

what was going on,

but it would just come out.

It's a really big one
for the fans.

- It's a very exciting tour.
- Yes, it is.

Roger and I were
just saying that we thought...

You watched the reaction
plummet.

Are you joking?

The front three, four rows.
Watch all the way back.

They just went...

You're telling me you
can see people at the back?

- Of course I can.
- Bullshit.

This is really when
it all started going wrong

for Andy on that project.

I remember just seeing
how much he put into a show,

or rather, how much
it took out of him.

Andy was all or nothing.

You kind of knew

that he wouldn't be able
to keep it up.

If I don't come off,
and I haven't had a good show

or I haven't got enough,
I'm a bit burnt,

I get a bit dark
after 10 weeks on tour.

I'm a performer,
first and foremost,

and anything else for me

is a secondary incident in life.

I think he really missed
his family, as well.

Andy was, and still is,
a real family man.

When you're younger,
you don't have a home to call.

When you're our age,

home isn't just a house,
it's a...

It's a family,
it's your children.

And so you can get stretched
very thinly,

and those stresses can
also take their toll.

You can get very homesick,
in a nutshell.

We wanted to do everything.

We wanted to do more work
and more shows,

and we were happy

with the way that
the management was working,

and Andy wasn't.

It's like one of those
rat wheels, isn't it?

And you just gotta be
King Rat sometimes

and say, "Bollocks.
I'm jumping off."

And finally, the guitarist
with the pop group Duran Duran

has left the band
halfway through a world tour.

Andy Taylor, one of
the original members,

rejoined the lineup
five years ago,

after a 15-year absence.

The rest of the band

has described
the relationship with him

as "unworkable" and one
which couldn't be resolved.

♪ Steppin' out
steppin' out ♪

♪ Steppin' out
and jumpin' up and ♪

♪ Steppin' out
steppin' out ♪

♪ Steppin' out
and jumpin' up and ♪

♪ Steppin' out
Steppin' out ♪

♪ Steppin' out
and jumpin' up... ♪

We haven't been on Radio 1
for decades,

and we do another album

with Nile Rodgers,
with Mark Ronson,

Ben Hudson, and it goes top-10.

It's extraordinary.

♪ Everybody everywhere ♪

♪ Feel it in the air
oh, yeah ♪

♪ It's time to take
the pressure off ♪

♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪

♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh,
it's up to you.... ♪

And it was just such
an uplifting experience.

When you see Nile playing his
guitar like that and grinning,

there's nothing quite
like it in the world.

♪ It's up you, girl, it's time
to take the pressure off... ♪

The four of us have

this extraordinary belief
in ourselves.

You know, we still believe we've
got important music to make.

You know, when everybody else
is going, "Pfft! They're done!"

You know?
And we... we have this sense

that there's a...
That staying together...

'Cause we've all worked
apart from each other.

We all tried that.

Eh. You know.
There's something that we have

when we're together
that's worth showing up for.

We accept, um,

who we are as people now,
who we've grown into,

including everybody's
faults and quirks.

I don't even know what's...

I don't know what's
in the future for us.

You know, I just know
it'll be interesting.

- ♪ Oh ♪
- ♪ Bow to the paper gods ♪

♪ In a world
that is paper thin ♪

♪ The fools in town... ♪

Getting to a 14th album is
a milestone. That's a moment.

It's not something
you even think about doing

when you start your career.

Think about anyone now
who's gonna make a 14th album.

On one hand.

Maybe not. One finger.

I actually think we've
proved the detractors wrong

in the last decade.

The fact that we're still here

40 years after we started,

that... that's the real proof.

♪ Bow to the paper gods ♪

♪ In a world
that is paper thin ♪

♪ The fools in town ♪

♪ Are ruling now ♪

♪ Bleeding from paper cuts ♪

♪ From money for head shots ♪

♪ Fools leading ♪

♪ Who needs it? ♪

- Yes!
- Yes!

- Charlie's first pot!
- Finally! Well done!