duranstoryone

         How I got into Duran, now that is a story I love to pass on. You see I got into James Bond in seventh grade and I was also a major music freak, so of course I bought the Bond CD as soon as I could. I memorized all the songs but my favorite was A View, not just the movie but the music as well. It's not my favorite movie, just my fav Roger Moore movie but now I'm getting off the subject. So I went to the CD case and checked the band, some group called Duran Duran. Probably some 80's flash in the pan that was never heard from again. So I went to my Aunt, the coolest person I know in the entire world and asked her if she knew who Duran Duran was. She's says Oh yeah I know that Band, I met the main singer at a club in New York in the early 80's, he was pretty cocky and pretty drunk. Now before we get all excited, my aunt did not actually meet Simon Le Bon because later that week we were watching VH1 and she points out some British dude and says "That's him Simon Le Bon, the one I met." Then the dudes name flashes under him and it was the lead singer for Japan, a different New Romantic band around the same time as Duran Duran. You'll have to ask me about all of my aunt's wild advantures some time but now back to the story. So I figured they probably just did the song for Bond and called it quits.

         So a year passes and Kim's facination for Bond expands to include Spies in general and she goes to see the Movie The Saint. At the end of the movie Val is driving away in some hot little car and Roger Moores voice comes on the radio (which I thought was a neat little camio) then this song comes on. I was positively mesmerized. My friend's got angry but I wouldn't leave the theater until the song was over. There was one part in it when the British singer whispers in this sexy voice "How could you dare to become so close so evil, when your just a ghost to me?" Right then I demanded that we leave and make the dangerous treck to Media Play to buy the CD. Thank God Media Play was next door, because I drove my friends crazy asking them who sang that song, none of them knew or cared. So we got there and Kim rushed to the cd's and found it The Saint Sountrack and I bought it. I rushed home and popped it in the player only to find it was the wrong CD, I had bought the instramental and not the artist CD. So I begged my parents to go back out to get the other CD and at 7:45 that evening, even though the cashiers were hating me, I made the exchange and couldn't wait to get home to listen to it again. There I was 30 minutes later listening to the song and driving my parents crazy when I realized I hadn't checked who sang the thing. So I get out the CD and checked.   #8 Duran Duran Out of My Mind. It was that weird two time name again! They sang in the 90's as well! They weren't just an 80's band. Was it two brothers? My mind wandered with the possibilities.

          It was about that time that I flunked a math test and my parents took away all my CD's, for three months and Duran Duran, the mysterious 80's-90's band vanished from my life for three years. Junior year, high school. You know what I was like then so I won't explain anything. My dad's boss wants to borrow the Miata for three weeks so my father hands the keys over and we get the boss's Cougar. Kim is driving it around one day when she realizes there's a CD player and wants to put a CD in so she opens it up and finds a CD allready in there. Some CD called the Big 80's. Hey I'm open for options. So I start to play it. Good songs, Starship, Tina Turner, Bangles Walk Like an Eygptian, some party song called Hot Hot Hot and then in the next song this chick laughs and this cube sound starts and Kim thinks to herself Wow! Talk about big 80's sound. Then I start to listen closer, the bass line is positively impressive and the electric guitar is full of attitude. Then the singer comes on "Dark in a city, something something steam in the subway something something fire. . ." I can't understand the singer to well he's British and his voice is very raspy and animal like. Then there's a bunch of Do do doo do do dooood do dos and the singer start talking about how he's chasing after a women, the lyrics are nifty. Then "I'm on the hunt, I'm after you." And my female intuition tells me that I want this guy hunting after me. Then he talks about being Hungry Like the Wolf and Kim is hungry for this guy, this band and she doesn't even know who they are! The slap bass is brilliant the heavy breathing, the raspy voice, I think I'm in love, or at least in lust, which when your with one Daniel ****, you tend to get the two mixed up very easily. Kim starts having fantasies about running off with these guys who are hunting after her and leaving Dan then realizes she's sort of driving in traffic.

        Any way she gets home and runs in to the house to have her mother listen to the song. Mom is not impressed, Kim is star struck, she goes up to her room and plays it really loud. After she ticks her parents off, she listens to them loud in her headsets and dances around the room with wild abandon. She memorizes the song, or at least the third she can understand. (The singer needs to take a lesson in pronunciation.) Dan calls and Kim makes him listen to the song, maybe he knows who sings it. His reply "Oh yeah that's that group of sissys. You know with the gay keyboardist. They have that wierd double name." Kim hangs up the phone on Dan, they aren't that sissy if she's wanting them more than her own boyfriend right now. He calls back "Oh come on Kim what does Duran Duran have that I don't?" My mind was screaming at that moment. It was Duran Duran again. I thought that I was in love, before, now I knew I was in love. I thought about Dan's question for a while then answered. "British accents." Then I got off the phone and began to hunt for loose change so that I could go and buy a Duran Duran CD. Imagine, a whole CD with them on it.

          I found the change and ran to Media Play and found them in the used CD section. Thank God for used CD's I couldn't afford a new one. Then I looked for a cashier that might be able to tell me more about them. I find her allright. A forty something stuck in her 80's teenage years. Tight jeans, big hair, giant funky hoops, she was perfect. I run up and hand her the CD and she looks at me then smiles and says "God Bless you." This struck me as funny but she quickly explained. "Noone has bought this CD in ages. It's a classic you know Rio. It's the ultimate guilty pleasure, it's even higher on the list then Michael Jackson and Prince- the purple rain CD." Wow, they must have been popular. She puts the CD back into my hand then as I'm walking away she happens to mention "Oh by the way did you know there going to be on TV tonight?"

         I rush back running over a kid and his pokemon toy. "When? Where?" I'm desprate to know all I can about my new found obbsession. Kraig Kilborn Show 1:30 in the morning. "Thanks." I say. The kid below me is now crying and his mother is cussing. "I've never seen them before." "Oh honey." says my eternal 80's groupie, "You're in for a treat especially that John Taylor." Right then the mother stops cursing and looks over at groupie and says "What time?" and Kim made two groupie friends that afternoon. (I know this is going on forever Torrey but I hope your entertained with the patheticness of my life) That night Kim fights to stay awake. She fights with her parents to let her stay awake. She fights with her boyfriend who is about to come over and throw her in bed so that she goes to sleep and is not cranky the next morning on their date. She justs snarls at all of them and continues to watch the screen even though Kraig Kilbourn won't be on for another four hours. She then mutes the TV and listens to her new CD Rio which she has allready memorized even though she can only understand a 1/4 of the words. Finally after numerous caffiene intakes and several slaps to the face a commercial that Kriag Kilborn is next and that his special guest is you guessed it Duran Duran, I'm so excited I forget to press record on my recorder.

          Holy Cow I'm flipping out and it's 1:30 in the morning. The last time I was this excited was when the last James Bond flick came out. (That's excited) Then Kraig comes onto stage and introduces himself, I don't care get to the band. He has his little monolougue about bill Clinton (I don't care get to the Brits) He talks to some chick on road rules. (Who cares!!!) Then he presses play on his tape recorder and Rio comes on the TV. I'm mesmerized. Then Kraig starts showing pictures of the band. I can't even put into words this euphoric feeling that swept through me but let's just say I have only been that excited/happy/in love/lust as when I saw the first commercial for GoldenEye. Finally a word comes to my mouth. (well several words.) "JESUS CHRIST THEY'RE HOT!" All of them. Especially the singer and the bassist who I decide is to sexy for his own good. He must be John.

       Then the remaining band members come out and I am hooked for life. O.K. the rest was just Simon fooling around on the stage and Nick and Warren shaking there heads in embarresment and Kim going O.K. so they got old. Any way from then on Kim Taylor has had Duran on the brain. I believe you caught up with me the day after I had recieved my Duran Duran video and was still getting Andy and Roger mixed up. As a matter of fact I do believe I bought seven and the ragged tiger that day, we watched the movies and then we went swing dancing that night. Yes my life has been very happy indeed ever sence my wild boys came into play. I could tell your story to, but your much better at that I'm sure. Wow there we go, how I found out about Duran Duran, and I left out a bunch of little details. (Torrey says thank god she left out little details)

        Wow O.K. glad I got that out. I think I'll save this one and put in on a web site once I'm rich and famous. Then Simon, who will be a huge fan of my books, can call me from the nursing home and say how honored he is that his band was such an influence in young Kim Taylor's life. Then John will call and demand to meet me and. . . Oh wow I'm getting ahead of my self.