Duran Duran are an English new wave/synthpop band formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were a successful band of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the US. Since the 1980s, they have placed 14 singles in the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart and 21 in the Billboard Hot 100, and have sold over 70 million records.
While they were generally considered part of the New Romantic scene, along with bands such as Spandau Ballet, when they first emerged, the band later shed this image. The band worked with fashion designers to build a sharp and elegant image. The band has won a number of awards throughout their career: two Brit Awards including the 2004 award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, two Grammy Awards, and an MTV Video Music Award for Lifetime Achievement. They were also awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The band's controversial videos, which included partial nudity and suggestions of sexuality, became popular in the early 1980s on the then-new music video channel, MTV. Duran Duran were among the first bands to have their videos shot by professional directors with 35 mm film movie cameras, which gave their videos a much more polished look than was standard at the time. In 1984, the band were early innovators with video technology in their live stadium shows.
"Duran Duran" is a Finnish-language song by Finnish singer Jenni Vartiainen, released as the first promotional single of her second studio album Seili on December 13, 2010, by Warner Music Finland. The song is written by Teemu Brunila. "Duran Duran" peaked at number 10 on the Finnish Singles Charts in February 2011 and has sold gold in Finland with over 5,400 copies.
Duran Duran (commonly known as The Wedding Album) is the seventh studio album and the second self-titled album by Duran Duran, released on 11 February 1993.
After dwindling commercial success since the mid-1980s, Duran Duran returned to the UK Top Five and US Top Ten with this album, which has been certified Gold in the UK and Platinum in the US. The single "Ordinary World" also reached the UK and US top ten.
The cover art by Nick Egan features wedding photos from the parents of the four band members.
Recording of the album was completed in early 1992 with an impending release by Capitol Records in the United States. Duran Duran's new management company, Left Bank, was distressed at the apparent lack of enthusiasm for the album and had it pulled from the release schedule. Manager Tommy Manzi later told HitQuarters it was the industry that were unenthusiastic about the return of the band rather than the music consumer. Manzi said that industry insiders "laughed at" Left Bank while they worked on reviving the careers of not only Duran Duran but also Meat Loaf because they would rather focus on "the next hip band" than perceived "old" acts. As it happened, the album reached No. 4 in the UK Albums Chart, their highest charting album since 1983's Seven and the Ragged Tiger.
A stormy summer is rolling closer
Lighting up this holy smoker
And if this drinking could ease the thinking
I toast to my home truth with this glass
All rise, you promises broken
Call my lovers by their names
Lost hearts and words that are spoken to the wind which blows before the rain
Little pin-pricks, and how my ears bleed
On the bomb ticks that is my heartbeat
In every life-flash, in every car crash
I hear the silence waiting to fall
(Chorus)
For all I carry, are murdered secrets
The price of my blue star-eyed weakness
And so we travel, and we unravel
Towards the place where all loose ends go