Beginning (1978–1980)

John Taylor and Nick Rhodes formed Duran Duran in Birmingham, England in 1978, naming the band after the villain Dr. Durand Durand, played by Milo O'Shea in Roger Vadim's science-fiction film Barbarella. Their first singer was Stephen Duffy. Several drummers and guitarists were subsequently tried, as well as a handful of vocalists after Duffy left Duran Duran early in 1979.


Duran Duran in 1981. Clockwise from top left: Nick Rhodes (keyboards), Simon Le Bon (vocals), John Taylor (bass), Andy Taylor (guitar) and Roger Taylor (drums).Drummer Roger Taylor fell in with Taylor and Rhodes after meeting them at a party, which led John Taylor, who originally played lead guitar, to switch to bass. Guitarist Andy Taylor came south from Newcastle to audition after responding to a magazine advertisement, and London vocalist Simon Le Bon was recommended to the band by an ex-girlfriend who worked at the Rum Runner nightclub where the band rehearsed. The owners of the club, brothers Paul and Michael Berrow, became the band's management, paying them to work as doormen, disc jockeys and glass collectors when they were not rehearsing.

The group was generally considered part of the New Romantic scene, with other style-and-dance bands such as Spandau Ballet, Japan and ABC. In 1980, they recorded two demo tapes and performed in clubs around Birmingham and London. In late 1980, when touring as an opening act for Hazel O'Connor, the band attracted critical attention which escalated into a bidding war between the record companies EMI and Phonogram Records. A certain patriotism toward the label of The Beatles led them to sign with EMI in December. However, Nick Rhodes said in a 1998 interview with Deluxe magazine, that the band was appallingly ripped off by the EMI contract.

Duran Duran was amongst the earliest bands to work on their own remixes. Before the days of digital synthesizers and easy audio sampling, they created complex, multilayered arrangements of their singles, sometimes recording entirely different extended performances of the songs in the studio. These night versions were generally available only on vinyl, as b-sides to 45 rpm singles or on 12-inch club singles, until the release of the compilation Night Versions: The Essential Duran Duran in 1998.

From the very beginning, the band had a keen sense of style.[citation needed] They worked with stylist Perry Haines and fashion designers such as Kahn & Bell and Antony Price to build a sharp and elegant image, soon outgrowing the ruffles and sashes of the pirate-flavoured New Romantic look. While they may have suffered the typical hair spray and mullet excesses of the 1980s, they have continued to present fashion as part of the package throughout their career. In the 1990s, they worked with Vivienne Westwood, and in the 2000s with Giorgio Armani—one of their advertising taglines reads, Styles change, style doesn't. The band retained creative control of their visual presentation and worked closely with graphic designer Malcolm Garrett and many others over the years to create album covers, tour programmes, and other materials.

All five members of the band were photogenic — People magazine called them the prettiest boys in rock. Teen and music magazines in the UK latched onto their good looks quickly, and the U.S. soon followed. It was a rare month in the early eighties when there was not at least one picture of the band members in teen magazines such as Smash Hits or Tiger Beat. It helped that each member had a distinctive look and personality. John Taylor once remarked that the band was like a box of Quality Street [chocolates]; everyone is someone's favourite — an effect that has been strategically planned in more recent boy bands. Duran Duran would later come to regret this early pin-up exposure, but at the time it helped attract the national attention they sought. In an interview with Rock Fever Superstars Magazine in early 1988 John Taylor stated:We used to be a very chi-chi name to drop in '79, but then the Fab Five hype started and something went wrong. Something went really wrong. That wasn't what I wanted. [...] Not that I didn't like being screamed at. At one point I really did.