All language subtitles for BEHIND THE MUSIC - 5 - Documentary (2021) -Hr

Welcome back
to "Behind the Music."

-Hello.
-Hello, Simon.

Nick, welcome back
to "Behind the Music."

-Good morning to you.
-Hello.

Hello..."Behind the Music."

♪♪♪

Are we ready to dance,
ladies and gentlemen?

-That's extra, you know.
-[laughter]

Promise to tell the whole truth.

Ready...action.

♪♪♪

Here's Duran Duran.

["Hungry Like the Wolf" playing,
audience cheering]

NARRATOR: They were the Fab Five
of '80s New Wave

who made their mark
with a unique blend

of rock, funk,
and futuristic pop.

♪ Do-do-do, do-do ♪

And the superstardom
they achieved

was beyond their imaginations.

♪ In touch with the ground,
I'm on the hunt ♪

Nothing we'd ever thought
or came close

to the reality of it.

♪ Like a wolf ♪

♪♪♪

Duran Duran became
the British masters of style,

who seduced the world
with glamour, groove,

and good looks.

♪ Her name is Rio,
and she dances on the sand ♪

You know, the love that
they showered on you

from the moment
you step off the plane

to the moment that you leave,
it was powerful, man.

[screaming]

It was going somewhere that
you couldn't have foreseen.

I love you!

♪ Wild boys ♪

Their unique musical styles
made them famous,

but it was also
tearing them apart.

Musically, we were always
pulling in different directions.

♪ The wild boys are calling ♪

It's a hell of a fight
sometimes.

We're very, "No, I think
it should be like this."

We're very assertive
and opinionated.

Everybody still wants to
be heard.

They're playing in a way
that they're like,

"Hey, I'm in this."

There's so much publicity
on Duran Duran.

Are there ego problems
in the band?

It took something
that you really loved,

and, like, okay, we're gonna

take half of it here
and take half of it here.

♪ Time ♪

As the '80s came to a close,
they were left for dead.

We weren't the shit anymore.

We were like,
"Oh, the shit's over there."

Damn, you know?

But Duran Duran dug deep
and scored their biggest hit.

Simon wrote probably
the best lyric of his lifetime.

♪♪♪

♪ But I won't cry
for yesterday ♪

♪ There's an ordinary world ♪

♪ Somehow I have to find ♪

♪♪♪

Now, over 20 years since
Duran Duran's original episode

of "Behind the Music" aired...

♪ Notorious ♪

...they're reflecting
on key moments of their lives...

When Andy's trying to kill me
during the video...

♪ I don't believe it,
that's why I've done it again ♪

...that was about as close as
you'd get to reality.

♪ Lipstick cherry all over ♪

...giving new insights
on the past...

It was done
because our managers thought

it would get us
a lot of attention.

♪ Girls on film ♪

They were right about that.

♪ Girls on film ♪

...and celebrating the present.

It's really exciting to know
that you can still do it.

The concept of what
Duran Duran can do

is more important than any
of our own personal egos.

[laughter]

This is "Duran Duran:
The Story Behind the Music."

[cheering]

♪♪♪

[cheers and applause]

In the spring of 2021,
Duran Duran was finishing work

on their 15th album,
"Future Past."

♪ Discouraged by the noise ♪

The record marks
the continued evolution

and artistic innovation
of Simon Le Bon,

John Taylor, Roger Taylor,
and Nick Rhodes.

There's plenty of scope in that
for melodies.

Well, why don't we see?

What's always driven us
to move forward is curiosity,

intrigue, excitement
about what's next.

What can we do?
How far can we push it?

Why can't we do that?
Let's try it.

♪♪♪

You have to keep on moving.

If we'd have stopped at "Rio,"

I don't think we'd ever got
very far.

♪ Living without choice ♪

Anybody that gets to do what
we do for this length of time

needs to justify themselves.

♪ No one hears a word ♪

Roger, Nick, myself, and Simon--

we all can still impress
each other, you know?

We bring something new to it,
so it's exciting.

♪ When the air turns red ♪

♪ With their loaded hesitation ♪

We really believe
in what we're doing.

We really believe in the music
we're making.

We believe in Duran Duran.

♪♪♪

[laughter,
indistinct conversations]

♪♪♪

Duran Duran's artistic journey
began in the late '70s

in Birmingham, England.

The images of the Beatles going
around the world, you know,

as a 4 or 5-year-old kid
were pretty indelible.

I'm thinking, "I like the idea
of doing that, you know?

Now what do I have to do?"

John I met when I was
about 10 years old.

We hit it off
pretty much straightaway.

We're both only children.
We're both Geminis.

We're both super creative.

We were always interested
in art and cinema.

We had a keen interest
in photography.

We got into all sorts of things
together.

But we also had a shared love
of music--particular music.

♪♪♪

John and I came
from a sort of glam rock.

♪ You're dirty and sweet,
clad in black, don't look back ♪

T. Rex, David Bowie,
Roxy Music, Sparks.

♪ Get it on ♪

♪ Bang a gong, get it on ♪

And then we went
through disco.

Unlike other people,
we kinda liked disco,

especially Chic.

♪ Aw, freak out ♪

♪ Le freak, c'est chic,
freak out ♪

We also loved
electronic music...

DONNA SUMMER: ♪ Ooh,
it's so good, it's so good ♪

...and punk rock.

[punk riff playing]

The energy of punk rock,
the Sex Pistols, The Damned,

Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Clash--

we had inspiration
all around us.

♪♪♪

By their late teens,
John and Nick

were devoted scholars
of innovative sound and vision.

♪♪♪

We'd ride home after these gigs,

and we'd say, well, did you
like the projections?

And that opening song was cool,
right?

The way that they did that thing
with the synth,

and what was that synth?

♪♪♪

The two friends
began to learn the craft

and devised an artistic mission
to create their own brand

of cutting edge music
and take on the world.

We wanted to take rock music
onto the dance floor.

We wanted the sound we made
to become a sound

that everybody liked.

If John and I want to make
something work,

if we agree, it usually happens.

It's making
your own opportunities.

It's seizing
those opportunities.

Uh, people don't get lucky.
People maketheir luck.

♪♪♪

After a year of playing
with local musicians

who couldn't match
their creative ambitions,

John and Nick recruited
drummer Roger Taylor,

who was immediately struck
by their intense focus

and shared sensibilities.

I mean, those two were just
on the same page from day one.

They had this connection
between them.

They were like brothers.

It was a huge moment in my life
to find these people

that "A,"
had the same influences,

"B," they're kinda dressed
like me,

and "C," they were just
totally committed

to what we wanted to do.

Duran Duran became
the house band

at the Rum Runner club
in Birmingham,

where they befriended club
owners Paul and Michael Berrow,

who started to manage the band.

For a bunch of teenage kids
like ourselves, you know,

they had--they were able to
give us all jobs in the club,

and they brought me an amp

and, um, gave us somewhere
to rehearse.

John and Roger used to
collect glasses and wash up.

Nick was the DJ.
Great DJ, Nick was.

We had a goal,

and everybody did everything
they could day and night

in order to achieve it.

When Nick and John placed
a want ad

in the music trade magazine
"Melody Maker,"

it caught the eye
of guitarist Andy Taylor.

You know, they had
this whole scene--

the rehearsal room
off this club, offices above.

The managers and the club--

I thought, well,
this is all right.

I thought, do we get
a tab at the bar, you know?

Oh, yeah, yeah. [laughs]

And one of our barmaids
at the Rum Runner said,

"Oh, you should--I'll get
my boyfriend to come down."

And Simon walked
into the kitchen one day,

and that was it.

♪♪♪

I found the Rum Runner
down a little alleyway,

and I said, "Is this where
I will find Duran Duran?"

♪♪♪

As soon as I saw Simon,
I thought,

yeah, he's got that swagger.
He's got the confidence.

He's got the cockiness
that it takes to be a singer.

I was a drama student
since I was 5 years old,

and I guess I was used
to being onstage,

and when I walked down
that alleyway,

I was onstage.

Roger, John, Andy, and Nick
were immediately struck

by Simon's charisma.

They just hoped he had
the voice to match.

I thought, please, please,
just let him be able to sing.

As long as he can sing in tune,
we can--

we can get around it, I'm sure.

Then we went into this
little triangular room

called the Tritec room,

and they started playing
their music.

♪♪♪

And Simon was like, "Ah,
hang on a second," you know?

And he had this--
I mean, this is mythology

in the Duran Duran story--

had this book
with lyrics in it, you know?

We were like, "Ooh."

Then I said, "I think--
I think I can, um,

I've got something
that would work with that."

♪♪♪

♪ I've been
in this grass here ♪

♪ For the last 10 hours ♪

As soon as he started to sing,
it was just the right tonality.

♪ My clothes are dirty,
but my mouth isn't dry ♪

I knew as soon as he opened
his mouth, it was gonna work.

♪ How does it happen? ♪

We had these glances
around the room,

essentially saying, "This is--
This is the guy. We've got him."

♪ Oh, I gave up asking
days away ♪

It just felt right.
He was one of us.

♪ And now I'm lying here waiting
for the sound of thunder ♪

♪♪♪

The new bandmates began
writing songs together

and gigging around England,

where their hard-edged
dance grooves

quickly grabbed
the British music scene.

♪ On the table ♪

♪ Signs of love lies scattered ♪

Roger and John wanted to be
in Chic, you know,

and then Andy
comes from Newcastle.

It's like a tougher place.
He's got a bit more

of this, like,
heavy rock background.

And Nick just built
this sonic architecture

out of all these synths.

♪ Oh, I walk out into the sun ♪

Simon just brings these, like,
arty, weird, abstract lyrics,

so, like, they were this
Voltron.

♪ Screams in my eyes ♪

We had a chemistry between us,
and when we started playing,

something happened.

A fuse caused the electricity
to fire all around the room.

♪ With a careless memory ♪

We all appreciated that
together,

we were capable of achieving
something great.

Like, I may be really kind of
different to this guy,

but if I get really close
to him,

maybe we can really
do something.

♪ Look out, look out,
look out, look out ♪

♪♪♪

[cheers and applause]

♪ I said close the door ♪

♪ I've told you twice before ♪

In 1980, the five members
of Duran Duran

each brought their different
musical backgrounds

to form a collective vision.

♪ Rocky Picture
has lost his... ♪

And through their songs,

John, Nick, Andy, Roger,
and Simon became inseparable.

It was really the music that
made the personalities gel.

♪ Georgie Davies is coming out ♪

We went everywhere together
and did everything together.

We were very, very close.

♪ I'm not waiting anymore,
hey, hey ♪

-Great like that. Hold there.
-[camera shutter clicks]

♪♪♪

Duran Duran carefully designed
an innovative aesthetic

that went way beyond music,

meticulously building
their image through photography,

art, hairstyle, and fashion.

♪♪♪

I definitely loved the visual
of the band,

and I went to get my hair cut
when I was 11,

and I remember taking
this picture,

like, folded up from, like, some
fan magazine of John Taylor,

like, in my back pocket,
and I, like, literally,

like, reached in my back pocket.
I'm like, "So, this, please."

And I remember leaving,
and my mom's like,

"What's wrong with you?
Like, I wasn't crying,

but I was, like, really upset,
and I was like,

"He cut my hair like Nick Rhodes
and I showed him John Taylor."

By 1981, Duran Duran became
the leaders

of the New Romantic
music revolution

and signed a deal
with EMI Records.

♪ Only came outside to watch
the nightfall with the rain ♪

With the release of
their self-titled debut album,

they took full advantage

of an exciting, new
record marketing tool--

the music video.

♪ Can you hear me now? ♪

♪ This is Planet Earth ♪

♪ Planet Earth ♪

It became very, very important

the way that we could manifest
ourselves all over the world.

♪ Girls on film ♪

♪ Girls on film ♪

Duran's risqué video
for "Girls on Film"

earned the dubious honor
of being banned

by both the BBC and MTV.

I think that song was actually
like the number 1

video jukebox song
for about three years running.

It was quite incredible, really,

what a little bit of ice cube
on the nipple will do for you.

♪ Lipstick cherry all over
the lens as she's falling ♪

It was done because
our managers thought

it would get us
a lot of attention.

And they were right about that.
It was an eye opener.

♪ Girls on film ♪

Duran Duran's
controversial video

helped their debut reach
number 3 on the UK albums chart.

♪ Girls on film ♪

After a 10-month tour,

they worked quickly to record
a follow-up.

♪♪♪

One Saturday morning,
Simon and Nick

dragged themselves
into the studio

after a night of heavy drinking.

That morning,
I don't know why I agreed

to go into the studio
on a Saturday.

I had a shocking hangover.

I didn't really want to go
into the studio at all,

but I had a relatively new
synthesizer at that time,

and, um, I wanted
to play around with it.

♪♪♪

Simon came in, heard it,
and said, "Wait a minute.

Okay, do that again."

And suddenly,
we had something going.

♪ Darken the city,
night is a wire ♪

♪ Steam in the subway,
earth is afire ♪

The rest of the band came in,
and they just loved it.

Andy brought, I think, probably
one of the greatest rock riffs

of the 1980s down.

[guitar playing
"Hungry Like a Wolf" riff]

There was something about it
that just sounded right.

♪♪♪

In just under two hours,

Duran Duran had created
"Hungry Like the Wolf."

♪ And I'm hungry like the wolf ♪

The band was creatively firing
on all cylinders,

and as the sessions progressed
for their second album, "Rio,"

Duran Duran knew they were
making a masterpiece.

I don't recall there being
any self-doubt with that record.

It was just everything flowed.

When Rio was released
in May of 1982,

Duran Duran formulated a plan
for a new music video.

We had this idea to make a video
that was kind of based

on "Raiders of the Lost Ark,"
um, hence the hat.

♪ Burning the ground,
I break from the crowd ♪

You know, it was a quest,
and it wouldn't have worked

if our singer hadn't have had
some experience in acting.

♪ And I'm hungry like the wolf ♪

[explosion]

♪♪♪

You're watching
MTV Music Television,

the world's music video channel
in stereo.

I'm Simon Le Bon.

And I'm Nick Rhodes
from Duran Duran,

and for the next hour,
we're taking over MTV.

Duran Duran premiered
"Hungry Like the Wolf" on MTV

in February of 1983,
while the fledgling network

was still working to find
a wider audience.

It was interesting,
because MTV was only in about

three or four cities
at that time.

And we could see that the people
that were seeing MTV,

there was a spike
in our radio play.

It was going up
because people were calling in

to the radio station, saying,
"I want my Duran Duran."

MTV most definitely
had an effect.

♪♪♪

As MTV's viewership grew,
so did Duran Duran's fanbase.

♪♪♪

The band arrived in America,

where the media hyped them
as the new Beatles

and dubbed them the "Fab Five."

[screaming]

♪ Moving on the floor now, babe,
you're a bird of paradise ♪

They soon found it wasn't safe
to travel the streets alone.

Adoring teenage fans
pursued them everywhere.

[screaming]

-This is ridiculous.
-Absolutely. Totally ridiculous.

♪ Her name is Rio,
and she dances on the sand ♪

We're really enjoying
the success

'cause this is a bunch of guys
that have gone

into the music business
for the affirmation,

and we wanted people to like us.

That's Duran Duran.
Say hello, will ya?

[applause]

Somewhere in our DNA,
there's something that said

that we wanna be applauded.

♪ Oh, Rio, Rio,
dance across the Rio Grande ♪

♪♪♪

The success that we had
out of the gate,

and the kind of success
it was--

I mean, we didn't see it coming.

Oh, my God!

[screaming]

♪ Please, please tell me now ♪

♪ Is there something
I should know? ♪

We'd get onstage,
and we'd play our songs,

which a lot of them were sexual,

and we'd have this wave
of sexual energy

sort of come towards us.

♪ 'Cause you don't let it show ♪

For us, the world had changed,
and we were these icons.

♪ Please, please tell me now ♪

[cheering]

Suddenly, we were rock stars.

♪♪♪

["Save a Prayer" playing]

♪♪♪

It was sort of thrilling.

We'd seen the footage
of the Beatles

and the Doors
and the Rolling Stones,

and nobody had expected
to see that again,

and somehow it was us.

♪ 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 ♪

With their conquest of America,

Duran Duran became
international cover boys.

They were besieged by fans
seeking the ultimate autograph.

It was a babe fest backstage.

For all the security, somehow,
the girls would get through,

and it didn't hurt that they all
were the supermodel type.

If you could be the girlfriend
of one of them--

-John Taylor.
-[all shouting at once]

I definitely felt a rivalry
with John for attention--

for female attention, and John
won that battle, completely,

and ultimately, he won it.

[fans screaming]

-I love you!
-I love you!

There's so much publicity
on Duran Duran.

Everywhere you turn, there's
something about you guys,

and that makes each member
a celebrity in their own right.

Are there ego problems
in the band?

Um...

I think we probably did
at one time.

There was like a sort of, uh,
competition.

You know, people sort of trying
to claw

to get more magazine space
sort of thing.

♪♪♪

I mean, there was
a competitiveness

between the band.

You almost couldn't help it.

You know, when they started
doing, like, individual T-shirts

and individual poster sets,
and somebody had mentioned

how many I sold
and how many Andy sold,

and I think that they were
the seeds of dissent.

♪♪♪

We all started
to get girlfriends.

That changes the dynamic
completely,

because you're not just a gang
of five young guys

running around,
doing stuff together.

You get separated out,
and suddenly,

one of the partners will say,

"I don't know. I don't think
you should be doing that,"

or "Why isn't there more of you
in that video?"

When we started, it was a bunch
of guys that would hang out

and spend 24/7 together.

But I think as
the pressure built up,

everybody kind of retreated
a little bit.

It just begins to fragment.

As with anything you build,
the cracks start to show.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

In 1983, despite an emerging
divide within Duran Duran,

excitement continued to follow
the band on tour,

as their concerts became
sold-out teenage scream fests.

♪ Wider, baby, smile,
and you've just made a million ♪

With that much fun
going on at the shows

where everybody,
20,000, 30,000 people,

having that much fun,

you couldn't just unplug
everything.

♪♪♪

♪ Girls on film ♪

♪ Two minutes later ♪

♪ Girls on film ♪

We're having fun.

We are definitely having fun.
Uh, I mean, I was.

♪ Girls on film ♪

I noticed that Roger wasn't
feeling the same way about it

as I was.

He didn't really like
that kind of attention,

and he didn't feel safe.

♪♪♪

[crowd cheering]

-[fans screaming]
-That's him! That's him!

♪♪♪

Roger Taylor's growing
discomfort with the hysteria

that stalked Duran Duran

came to a head one night
in Manchester, England.

We played a show,

and the theater was kind of
on its own block,

and the crowd had surrounded
the entire block,

and we couldn't get out.

[screaming]

And the noise around--you could
just hear these people

screaming and shouting
and singing and chanting.

It was loud and it was intense.

You couldn't--
you could not escape from it.

And I looked at Roger, and he
had this look on his face.

It was like--
And I said to him,

I said, "Are you okay?"
He said, this is--

how are we gonna get
out of here?

How are we gonna get out
of here?"

♪♪♪

A little bit of fear crept in
because it was going somewhere

that you couldn't have foreseen.

I didn't know we were gonna be
like the next Beatles,

but suddenly I felt my life
kind of closing in a bit.

Roger stuck it out at the time,

but it was clear
the band's success

was turning into something
they had never anticipated.

♪ Wild boys never lose it ♪

♪ Wild boys ♪

We were celebrating, really,
what we'd achieved,

and no one was there
to stop us.

♪ Wild boys, wild boys ♪

And sometimes it would get
way out of hand.

♪ Wild boys always shine ♪

Right here.
Hey, guys, over here.

While each member of Duran Duran

dealt with fame
in their own way,

for John Taylor, the party
was getting out of control.

My drug of choice was coke.

I was able to be this
pin-up guy, you know,

24 hours a day, you know?

And especially after midnight.
It was really useful then.

[knock on door]

You know, drugs and alcohol

are about numbing
emotions and feelings.

You know, and I think that were
just so many feelings going on

the entire experience
of the band's career,

it was just, like, too much.

John! [shouting indistinctly]

Every place you go, there are
screaming, screaming people.

What goes through your mind
when you hear that?

I was just waking up
every morning thinking,

have I got what I need
to get myself through the day?

The drugs and alcohol
were kind of running me.

And it wasn't about
do I want to?

It was like, I have to.

[cheering]

Despite the toll their success
was taking on the band,

Duran Duran retreated
to the south of France

to write their highly demanded
follow-up,

"Seven and the Ragged Tiger."

♪ Telegram force ♪

Recording sessions lasted
a grueling six months,

and unlike
their previous albums,

the divided band was no longer
seeing eye to eye artistically.

♪ I knew this was
a big mistake ♪

The third album was a grind.

You know, and it's amazing
that any of us

were still speaking
to each other

by the time we finished
that album.

♪ To break ♪

You know, Andy would wanna
bring it in this direction.

Nick would maybe wanna bring it
over to that direction.

Andy's also got
a very forceful character.

In a way, he's like me
like that,

in that when he decides
he wants to do something,

that's what he wants to do.

They were never particularly
suited to each other,

and if they weren't in a band
together,

they would have never been
friends.

As we started getting further
and further and further apart,

I think the elastic broke.

The band was forced
to keep it together

to support the release

of "Seven and the Ragged Tiger"
in 1984.

But by the end of the tour,

Andy was on the verge
of quitting Duran Duran.

Andy was like,
"I'm not doing this again.

This isn't working for me,"
and, uh,

you know,
I didn't wanna lose him.

["Some Like It Hot" playing]

In late '84, John and Andy
decided to form

The Power Station,
a side project

with hard-hitting,
guitar-driven rock.

♪ We want to multiply ♪

♪ Are you gonna do it? ♪

It was a clear and intentional
departure from Duran Duran.

It was like, come on,
let's just go and do something

where you can play as loudly
as you like.

There'll be lots of room
for solos.

They can be as long
as you want them to be.

♪♪♪

One of Andy's driving forces
to make The Power Station

was to get away from Nick.

♪ Feel the heat ♪

♪ Pushing you to decide ♪

♪ Some like it hot ♪

♪ But you can't tell how hot
till you try ♪

The album was a hit,

and John and Andy started
to realize

they might be able to have
careers beyond the Fab Five.

You know,
it started to seem like,

well, maybe this is something
more than a one-off.

♪ Some like it hot ♪

For Simon, Nick, and Roger,

it was clear that
the musical differences

that once brought Duran Duran
together

were now tearing them apart.

Musically, we were always

pulling
in two different directions,

and the tension
between what I do

and what Andy was doing
was one of the great things

about the dynamic
in early Duran Duran records.

When Andy decided
he wanted to go a bit further

and a bit more rock, that--
that's just too much for me.

I-I-I have no interest in that.

Nick and I were interested
in something different.

♪♪♪

We wanted to be more
experimental.

♪ Wild kind of look to the day ♪

♪ Opening eyes impale
neon flickers ♪

In the summer of '85,
Simon, Nick, and Roger

formed Arcadia
and recorded an album

with several high-profile
guest stars.

What an amazing time we had.
Incredible.

It was a good lineup.

You know, Dave Gilmour,
Sting, Grace Jones.

I mean,
it was an amazing lineup.

♪ Byroads and backroads ♪

All the groove and the guitar
and the heaviness

seemed to go to Power Station,
and then

all the kind of synth
and clever,

weird alternativeness
went to Arcadia.

♪ I pull my shirt off and pray ♪

It kind of, like, took something
that you really loved

and, like, okay, we're gonna
take half of it here,

and take half of it here,
so it sounded a bit like that.

♪ Coming up on re-election day ♪

On opposite ends
of the creative spectrum,

Arcadia and Power Station
created a schism

within Duran Duran.

Of course, you got competition
coming into play.

I didn't want Power Station
to be any more successful.

You know, we've got to make
a better album

than they're making.

John and Andy were doing
this project here.

Simon and Nick were
doing this project here.

And I was putting one foot
in each project,

and, uh, these kind of two ships

were sailing apart
from each other,

and I was kind of
in the middle of it, you know,

trying to hang on to both,
thinking,

are we gonna like each other
when we get back together?

After six months apart,

the band honored a commitment
to shoot the music video

for their new James Bond theme,
"A View to a Kill"...

♪♪♪

♪ Meeting you ♪

♪ With a view to a kill ♪

...in a true case
of art imitating life,

as the tensions amongst the band
were practically lethal.

♪ Feel the chill ♪

I remember it as being
pretty toxic.

There was an air of resentment.

We weren't getting along
at all.

♪ Nightfall covers me ♪

Andy locked himself
in his trailer.

He wouldn't come out
to do his filming.

We're not really playing well
with each other.

♪ A week is why ♪

♪ Until we dance into the fire ♪

I think you can see when Andy is
trying to actually kill me

during the video, um, yeah,
that was about as close

as you'd get to, uh,
to reality.

♪ A view to a kill ♪

I hate that video, and I don't
think anybody looks good in it.

And then we just
went our separate ways

and didn't come together again
until Philadelphia

in the Live Aid.

♪♪♪

In July of 1985, Duran Duran
was given an offer

they couldn't refuse,

when their friend Bob Geldof
organized Live Aid.

This is the ultimate
that pop music can do.

Quite literally is the ultimate.

You can't do anything more
after this.

A global fundraising event
for African famine relief

that featured performances

from the biggest names
in music.

I'm Mark Goodman.
Right behind me,

a recording studio called
The Warehouse in Philadelphia.

Just a few moments ago,

all of the members
of Duran Duran arrived here

to rehearse for what will be
their first live performance

in nearly a year.

♪♪♪

Yes, there was shit going down,
but what are you gonna do?

Pull out of the Live Aid show
because it's not quite right?

No, you just gotta get on
with it.

You've gotta pull off
a big gig here.

You've gotta go and play
in front of

I don't know how many
billion people.

So you had the pressure

of doing the biggest show that's
ever been put on the earth.

[cheering]

Before Duran Duran would take
the stage that evening,

John and Andy insisted on
performing with Power Station.

[cheering]

The fact that John and Andy
had already been onstage

with Power Station says
something about the whole day.

♪♪♪

A few hours after Power Station
left the stage,

Duran Duran was about to play
their first show

in nearly a year
in front of the entire world.

I was totally committed.

I think Nick was totally
committed as well.

I think Roger was feeling
very anxious,

and I think John and Andy
were thinking,

"Ugh, I'm not sure I like this
as much as being onstage

with Power Station."

[crowd cheering]

Live Aid was a bit
of a disaster.

And when we got onstage,
we got no monitors.

I couldn't even hear myself.

And it's quite terrifying.

I was having to sort of turn
around and look at Roger,

thinking, okay, this is being
broadcast to billions of people.

I cannot actually hear
what I'm playing.

[crowd cheering]

I remember just being more
impressed with Led Zeppelin

than anything we were doing.

We were woefully
under-rehearsed, really.

When I watch it,
I can feel that it's, uh,

you know, we're not having
a good time.

It was just trying to hang on
to a very thin piece of string.

We'd really played
all our chips,

put 'em all on the table
at that point.

It was the end
of a relationship.

After Duran Duran's difficult
performance at Live Aid,

John and Andy Taylor returned
to touring with Power Station.

And Roger decided he was ready

to take himself
out of the limelight.

It was a very odd time for us,
because we thought

we were gonna have a 5-piece
band back together again.

But Roger had actually had
enough of the music business,

and he didn't wanna come back.

I think he was just exhausted,
quite honestly.

There's only so much attention
and so many glaring lights

that some people can take.

And you know, you do take on
a besieged mentality.

Roger Taylor left the band
and withdrew from public life.

He didn't wanna have anything
to do with it anymore.

I don't think a lot of people
really understood

what I was going through
at the time,

and I think people tended to,
you know, label it

with different things,

and I don't think I was
emotionally prepared

for the height of fame
that we achieved.

I didn't have the tools
to deal with that.

It sounds like a cliché,

but it was like I need to find
the real me. Who am I?

When I look back at myself,
in those early days,

I'm like, who is that?

And when I left,
I just kind of found myself.

Losing Roger was
a stunning blow to the band.

It was time for Duran Duran
to regroup.

But Andy Taylor ignored
requests to return to the fold.

It blows your confidence
a little bit when people leave.

When Roger and Andy left,
I think the band

kind of lost a little bit
of its innocence then,

and it's never--it was never
gonna be the same.

But by 1986, John Taylor was
ready to rejoin Simon and Nick.

They set aside
their creative differences

to try and keep
Duran Duran alive.

The three of us had so bonded.

We just felt we were
on the right path.

We clung on to each other
and to the idea of Duran Duran.

We learned very much to, uh,
make our egos, uh,

subservient to the band.

Of course, it felt
very different not having

two members there that
we'd spent every day with

for five years,
but at the same time,

it was a new adventure, and in
the spirit of Duran Duran,

we embraced change.

♪ No, no, notorious ♪

♪♪♪

The trio entered the studio
to record

Duran Duran's fifth album,
"Notorious,"

with one of their biggest
influences as producer--

Chic's Nile Rodgers.

When I showed up to do the album
"Notorious,"

and there was no Andy
and there was no Roger,

I wasn't quite sure that it
would feel like

I was working with Duran,

but the thing is,
is that the spirit of Duran

is sort of bigger than
the individual players,

and it felt really like Duran.

♪ Lies come hard in disguise ♪

♪ They need to fight it out,
not wild about it ♪

We've never been as funky
as "Notorious"

before or since Nile Rodgers.

Nile's got the funk.

♪ You own the money,
you control the witness ♪

The more you heard
what you were doing,

the more you had belief in it.

Nile Rodgers is the person
who rescued Duran Duran.

♪ Notorious ♪

It was this new evolution.

It sounded like
they'd been holed up

in some very expensive
New York recording studio.

Like, some of those records
from that era just sound like

cocaine and money, and I feel
like that's one of them.

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

♪ That's why
I've done it again ♪

When "Notorious" was released
in November of '86,

it reached number 12
on the U.S. album charts.

♪ Notorious ♪

♪♪♪

But as Duran Duran
closed out the '80s,

their follow-up albums,
"Big Thing" and "Liberty,"

failed to make a mark.

As they entered a new decade,

Duran Duran were deemed
a relic of the past.

The landscape had changed.

We'd been pretty successful
through the '80s,

and I think a lot of people
thought we were synonymous

with that period,

and when they locked the door
behind the 1980s,

some people were determined
that we were gonna be

on the other side of the door,

and they were taking the key
with them.

And that's kind of when you
realized that

that moment had passed.

We weren't the shit anymore.

We were like, "Oh, the shit's
over there. Damn."

You know, can we--
maybe if we paddle faster,

we can catch it up,
but it's hard.

In 1992, the band went to work
on their seventh album,

writing with guitarist
Warren Cuccurullo,

who broadened their sound.

As the sessions progressed,

one track emerged
as particularly promising.

["Ordinary World" playing]

And Simon Le Bon channeled
his emotions

about a recent tragedy
into the lyrics.

♪♪♪

I wrote about the death of
a very, very dear friend of mine

who died tragically
very, very, very young.

And when he died, I dedicated
a part of myself to him.

♪ I turned on the lights,
the TV, and the radio ♪

♪ Still I can't escape
the ghost of you ♪

I was finding it very difficult
to let go of the sadness

and to move into
the next chapter of my life,

and I had to free myself.

I wanted to say goodbye,
and that's why I said,

"But I won't cry for yesterday.
There's an ordinary world..."

that I want to live in now,
and I will--I will carry on,

and I will survive.

♪ But I won't cry
for yesterday ♪

♪ There's an ordinary world ♪

♪ Somehow I have to find ♪

♪♪♪

♪ And as I try to make my way ♪

♪ To the ordinary world ♪

♪ I will learn to survive ♪

♪♪♪

That really was my way
of burying my friend

instead of trying to
keep him alive in my own heart,

but with sadness and loss.

♪ Every world ♪

Simon's tribute
to his late friend

connected to millions
across the globe.

Released as a single
in December of '92,

"Ordinary World" became
the biggest hit

of Duran Duran's career.

♪ Any world ♪

To have your biggest hit,
what, 13 years

after your first hit
or your breakthrough,

like, that just doesn't happen
in music.

Like, that means
that you have a true place

in people's hearts, and you have
a truly special song.

♪ Any world ♪

"Ordinary World" propelled
"The Wedding Album"

to the top 10.

Seemingly out of nowhere,
Duran Duran had once again

returned to the mainstream.

♪ Destroyed by MTV ♪

♪ I hate to bite the hand
that feeds me ♪

♪ So much information ♪

We're back,
and we're in the '90s. [laughs]

♪ That you don't need ♪

And that, for me, was one
of the most significant moments

in our career.

♪ For me ♪

They continued to record

and tour
over the next four years.

♪♪♪

But in 1997, the band suffered
an unexpected blow.

John Taylor decided
to leave Duran Duran.

It was hard because, you know,
I'd been a member

of this band
my entire adult life,

since I was 17.

It was almost like
for once in my life,

I had to invest
in my personal life.

It wasn't easy,
but it was necessary.

John moved to Los Angeles,
got married,

and checked
into a rehab facility

to finally get his
substance abuse issues in order.

Getting sober was a big one
for me. Maybe the biggest.

You know, it was
an incredible rebirth.

I mean, it was good to know
at least in the way

that I understood my recovery,
that--that it wasn't my fault.

You know? That I had like
a faulty--

faulty brain when it came to,
you know, alcohol and drugs,

that it wasn't just that I was
making bad choices

or that I was lacking
in discipline.

♪♪♪

With John tending
to his personal life,

only Simon and Nick remained
from the original Fab Five.

John leaving
was a monumental blow.

I felt deserted when John
left the group.

For the next three years,

they carried on recording
and touring,

but it was becoming apparent
that inspiration was fading.

I really questioned
whether I wanted

to carry on at that point.

To me, it didn't feel like
Duran Duran anymore.

I think there was a couple
of options.

One was to just stop...

or look at going all the way
back to the beginning again

and putting the original lineup
together.

I called up John.
Nick and Simon and I had lunch.

He was ready, really excited,

and he said,
"Right, let's call Roger."

He said, "I'm here by the pool
with Simon and Nick.

We're thinking about getting

the original band together
again."

At that point, I kinda
nearly fell to the floor.

So I'm thinking, you know what?
I'm gonna really embrace this.

So I called him back, and I
said, "Yeah, okay, I'm in."

So then there was only Andy, uh,

and it was a case
of finding him.

♪♪♪

Andy had moved
to the Spanish island of Ibiza.

After a phone call with Roger,
he was on board.

♪♪♪

The five original members
of Duran Duran

got together in a studio
in France

to see if they could recapture
the old magic.

Horrible. [laughs]

-[laughs] Oh, boy.
-[laughs]

I mean, it was hard.

♪♪♪

Everybody had the same dynamic.

Andy and I still didn't
really get on.

These five people had not spent
any time together

in a room in what was it?
18 years or something?

We had some
real personality issues.

How do we relate artistically?
Can we still be Duran Duran?

It was really hard.

♪♪♪

Despite the clashing
in the studio,

the band managed to write
new material

for a reunion album.

But when they shopped
their songs to record labels,

to their surprise,
there was little interest.

I think we thought
that just by getting together,

we'll take a Polaroid,
and then it'll be a blank check,

and it wasn't.

The industry was like,
well, we don't know.

I mean,
what's the interest level?

The band recruited former
Aerosmith manager Wendy Laister

to help right the ship.

Her idea--get the boys
out of the studio

and back onstage.

I felt that we needed
to create a demand

rather than going
knocking on doors.

I wanted people knocking
on their door.

So we put shows on sale.
We said, let's do something.

And sold out in some
crazy amount of time,

I mean, so much quicker than
we had even thought of.

♪♪♪

On July 7, 2003, Duran Duran
was set to play their first show

as the Fab Five in 18 years

with band tensions
at an all-time high.

I remember the night
before the first show,

I thought,
I'm gonna kill somebody.

The interpersonal differences
were so, you know, on fire.

And I mean, I'm sure I was
making people crazy as well.

In my back of my head,
I just thought,

we've just got to get
to the stage.

[crowd cheering]

We could hear the crowd,
the anticipation out there.

It was terrifying.

It was one of those moments
where you had to walk through.

You just had to walk
through the fear.

[cheering continues]

The weight of it.
It was a big deal.

[cheering continues]

["Hungry Like the Wolf" playing]

♪♪♪

♪ Darken the city,
the night is a wire ♪

♪ Steam in the subway,
the earth is afire ♪

♪ Do, do-do-do, do-do-do,
do-do-do, do-do-do, do-do ♪

The crowd went absolutely
bananas.

♪ Woman, you want me,
give me a sign ♪

Once we were in front
of the audience,

it becomes so obvious that it's
so much bigger than we are.

It's an entirely different
calculation. It's like,

"Oh, shit, it's me and them.
It's us and them."

♪ I'm lost and I'm found ♪

♪ And I'm hungry like the wolf ♪

We managed to find our way back
to the chemistry that we had.

♪ After you ♪

♪ Mouth is alive,
I'm running inside ♪

It just sent chills
down the spine,

you know, that moment of, uh,
of realizing

that actually,
this is gonna work,

and the world is gonna love
Duran Duran again.

[crowd cheering]

We knew that there were areas
that we would disagree,

but I think we were all prepared
to put those aside

in order to create something
special as Duran Duran.

♪ Please, please tell me now ♪

Simon, John, Nick, Roger,
and Andy

continued touring
for the next two years,

playing some of
their biggest shows ever.

♪♪♪

Critics began
to praise their return

as they released their
comeback album, "Astronaut."

♪♪♪

But the reunion would be
short-lived for Andy Taylor,

who once again bowed out
in 2005.

Andy had been becoming
more difficult to work with.

Everybody in the band felt that
we weren't all going

in the same direction.
That was clear.

I can't say I missed Andy
terribly.

I know how creative he is,
and I would never, ever

take that away from him.

But personality-wise,

Andy never really fit in
with the rest of us.

♪♪♪

To fill the space
of their departed guitarist,

Duran Duran embraced the idea
of the band as a collective...

♪ It's all up to you now ♪

...with a ride range of
producers and collaborators

to add fresh elements
to their magical sound.

It's come to be, you know,
the empty chair,

you know, which is like
the "X" factor.

So it's actually a way
of injecting energy

and creativity
into the situation.

We have found that it's good to
have another person in the room.

Having different people
and different energy

changes the way you work.

I think it's really made
the four of us

really kind of open our minds
and our imaginations,

and it's broadened
our perspectives.

And the riff comes in.

♪♪♪

In 2021, Duran Duran expanded
their artistic scope once again,

as they wrapped up work on their
15th album, "Future Past,"

working with producers
Erol Alkan...

-Yeah!
-...and Giorgio Moroder...

The section should be the same
as the--as the intro.

...while collaborating with
Blur guitarist Graham Coxon

and Mark Ronson.

Their influence on me
is basically indelible,

because they were
my first favorite band.

I get to have this little

very personal relationship
with everybody.

♪♪♪

It's really exciting to know
that you can still do it,

you know, after all this time.

As soon as you start hearing
that sound coming back,

I mean, it's a real moment.

You never tire of that moment
when you hear it

coming back
through the speakers.

♪ When you don't hear a word ♪

♪ I say ♪

We're making an album that
we're all very excited about.

It's cutting edge
in some aspects,

but it still sounds
like Duran Duran,

and that puts us all
in a very good frame of mind.

♪ When the air ♪

I was an only child.

I magicked into the world
brothers,

and I have brothers.

We were all kind of
equal shareholders in the dream.

♪ Has the memory gone?
Are you feeling numb? ♪

♪ Have we all become
invisible? ♪

There's no other band
I'd wanna be in.

♪ Can you say my name? ♪

♪ Has the memory gone? ♪

♪ Are you feeling numb? ♪

♪ Or have I become invisible? ♪