Vinyl Story #2: Seven and The Ragged Tiger, and Arena by Duran Duran.

As you already know from Vinyl Story #1, this is not a record review and I’m not a vinyl collector. Today, I’m sharing about Duran Duran, the band that made an impact on me between 1984 to 1986.

In late December of 2022, my brother gifted me two Duran Duran records. He bought them online from a person living in the UK. So these records are used, but they still sound good, and still look good. The two Duran Duran records are Seven And The Ragged Tiger which spawned hits like The Reflex, Union Of The Snake and New Moon on Monday, and Arena — the live album that contains the studio track The Wild Boys.

Duran Duran is probably the earliest band that had an impact on me. Yeah, you have read about Survivor but I didn’t even know the names of each member of that band. Different with Duran Duran, I knew the names of the band members, at least the early 80s Duran Duran. I knew the singer was Simon LeBon, Nick Rhodes was the keyboard player and they had three Taylors; Andy on guitar, John on bass and Roger on drums, none of them were related to each other.

Those who know me as a metalhead would probably be surprised, or maybe not, that I like Duran Duran. In the early 80s, between 81 to 86, there was no heavy metal or hard rock music in the household because nobody even know what heavy metal was. And I got to credit my cousin, Rosnita, for getting me interested in Duran Duran.

Whenever Duran Duran is mentioned, it is a story about me growing up in early 80s Singapore, in a housing estate called Clementi . My cousin and her younger sister, lived with my family ( late parents and my younger brother) in the early 80s. She was 5 years older than me, and her tastes in music back then rubbed on her younger sibling and cousins. Among us, she liked Duran Duran first, but later grew out of that. However during the phase of her liking the band, she bought some Duran Duran cassettes and a Duran Duran picture book of sorts. Between 84 to mid 86, I was beginning to like pop music a lot and Duran Duran was the leading band/artiste.

My favourite Duran Duran member will always be the guitar player, Andy Taylor. That guy can be considered my gateway to distortion guitar, other than the song, Eye Of The Tiger. In 1985, I didn’t quite understand why he and bassist John Taylor formed a band called The Power Station. I still remember, late December 1985, on local Singapore TV, there was a music video of the band’s hit song, Some Like It Hot. In that video, Andy Taylor was playing the lead solo very wildly that smoke came out from the guitar. For a kid who didn’t know what heavy metal or hard rock, that scene was…brutally rockin’ ! Oh I almost forgot, before the ‘ incident’ I just described, Andy Taylor had a guitar riff in The Wild Boys that really assaulted my ears in 1984. That too me was the hardest piece of music for the ears of a 10 year old, ın a household that was not exposed to distortion guitars.

To conclude, this two records gifted by my brother means a lot to me. Seven, introduced me to Duran Duran, and Arena introduced me to a live performance record.

The Reflex :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYX5gF8acVM

The Wild Boys : https://youtube.com/shorts/sRv3J92VIKc?feature=share

Some Like It Hot : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw1t7OCESUw