Selling Duran to "The Man"
You might have guessed from Thursday night's twitters that I went to the Duran Duran concert. I kind of thought I'd be the oldest person there (aside from Simon, Nick and John), but once again I was mistaken. The older I get, the more wrong I seem to be.
I was never a huge DD fan, but I do remember playing a bunch of their songs from albums one and two on my radio show ("You're listening to the High Bob* show on WUSO, 89.1 FM, Springfield Ohio, ten watts of commercial free power.")
That said, I really enjoyed the show ... especially the predictably nostalgic stuff like "Girls on Film", "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Rio." Also interesting was how many of the songs I recognized (and knew the lyrics to) even though I didn't think I knew that much Duran Duran.
They seem to looking for a niche to fit into, our boys from the eighties do. Where to go when New Romanticism isn't salable? A little Kraftwerkian electronica? A little rapolisciouness (which I so didn't care for, and probably wouldn't have even *if* it was being performed by Timbaland ... big surprise there)?
If the new stuff doesn't work out, I have a suggestion. Why not go ahead and sell out? Surely all that Botox (hi Simon) and bleach can't be cheap. I think there are some corporate clients who would be happy to co-opt old hits ...
With a simple lyric change "Planet Earth" could do wonders for a popular website ... "Bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop, this is Google Earth."
Surely the folks at Levonelle might raise their market share with "Save a Prayer"'s melodic reminder to "save it for the morning after."
Keeping with pharmaceuticals, there's bound to be a reflux "Reflex" remix in the cards, right?
It's really a wonder I didn't have a brighter career in marketing/branding, isn't it?
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* "Hi, Bob" was a very popular drinking game back in my Wittenberg days. The premise was simple, you watch The Bob Newhart Show and whenever anyone says "Bob" you drink. Whenever anyone says "Hi, Bob" you finish your drink and start another. I remember one particularly grueling episode which had something to do with an Emily-less Thanksgiving when all of his friends came over, each one saying "Hi Bob" as they walked into the apartment. The episode itself was hilarious, as Bob, Jerry, Elliot and Howard all ended up as drunk as (if not drunker than) we did.
I also seem to recall a double feature one night when the turkey episode was shown after the infamous Chuckles the Clown episode on Mary Tyler Moore. Sadly, we did not have a drinking game for Mary.
duran duran, bob newhart, hi bob, drinking games