Duran Duran formed their group in 1978
and are credited with kick starting the MTV generation.
The MTV superstars landed the hearts of teenage girls
throughout the early 80’s and enjoyed most of their
fame from their first two albums, the self-titled Duran
Duran and Rio. Selling millions of albums and being plastered
on every magazine from Los Angeles to London, led to their
first number 1 hit, The Reflex, from their third album,
Seven & The Ragged Tiger. The quartet from Birmingham
tried to cross over to the adult market in 1993 with The
Wedding Album, which made some positive waves with critics
(unlike their first three pop/dance albums). However,
shortly after that the group broke up with no hope of
ever getting together again.
It wasn’t until May of 2002 that Duran Duran
reunited and began working on new material, however
it was a tough sell for the record companies. There
were no labels that wanted to take the risk and sign
them on, so they decided to prove themselves and went
on tour. The response of the fans and the media was
more than anyone expected. Every one of Duran Duran’s
shows sold out within minutes. Duran Duran concert tickets
stormed the world from Japan to the US, proving to any
record company that their album would sell. This led
to a four album contract with Epic Records and back
to back sold out tours throughout the world.
In 2003, one of the highlights of Duran Duran’s
career came when they were asked to present an MTV Music
Award, which turned out to be a surprise lifetime achievement
award from MTV. Sealing their staying power in the pop
music industry, Duran Duran will continue to tour North
America through the late summer and early fall of 2005.