038 (feat. Libby Cudmore): Duran Duran - Rio (1982)
"I feel sorry for the ’90s, because it was never able to be anything much more than the hangover to the party that was the ’80s.”
—Simon Le Bon
HO-HO-HO, we’re HU-HU-HUNGRY like the wolf! Discord & Rhyme has held off on its namesake album for far too long, so Rich, Amanda, Phil, and returning guest Libby Cudmore are throwing a festive ‘80s holiday party with Duran Duran’s 1982 album Rio. The British music and fashion press were obsessed with the emerging glitter-and-puffy-shirts New Romantic scene when Duran Duran first hit the stage with their self-titled debut in 1981. The quintet was immediately branded as a “haircut band” and written off by the critical elite, and a series of exotic videos filmed in Antigua and Sri Lanka only reinforced this vapid public image. But Rich argues that their second album Rio, recorded during a hot streak for the band, is musically sophisticated, artistically triumphant, and makes for a fun discussion with some mulled wine.
Miscellany
Discord & Rhyme welcomes back Libby Cudmore of the OST Party and Shattered Shield podcasts; she previously joined us to discuss Wild Planet by the B-52s. Rich actually first reached out to Libby because her novel The Big Rewind repeatedly references Rio and The Shield. (Technical note: There were a few tiny glitches with Libby’s audio file, but nothing game-breaking.)
Rio contains multitudes, so we didn’t even get the chance to talk about its famous cover. The cover was illustrated by late Playboy artist Patrick Nagel, whose style involved deconstructing photographs into stylized portraits, and was designed by Malcolm Garrett.
Duran Duran didn’t spend much time on boats in the early days, but that had changed by 1985, when Simon Le Bon’s vessel capsized during a yacht race off England’s southwestern coast. The incident was quite traumatic for Le Bon, who recounted it in 2018 for this CNN article.
We mentioned an abandoned Second Life world in passing, which is a reference to Duran Duran Universe, the band’s actual abandoned Second Life universe. Kotaku wrote a good piece on it, and as of this episode it’s still there, if you want to visit it.
Duran Duran’s harmless publicity stunts are a big part of the fun with the band, actually. Just this last summer, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, they performed a concert at NASA featuring 300 drones and a 40-piece choir and orchestra, the setlist featuring songs such as “New Moon on Monday,” “Astronaut” and “Planet Earth.”
Special thanks to our oratory pinch-hitter John McFerrin for the opening reading, honed through years of reading bedtime stories to his children in ridiculous voices.
Correction: The instrument that we called a vibraphone on “Last Chance on the Stairway” is actually a marimba, played ably by Nick Rhodes.
Other links
BBC's Classic Albums documentary on Rio (YouTube)
Discord & Rhyme Roll Call
Rich Bunnell (host)
Amanda Rodgers (moderator)
Phil Maddox
Libby Cudmore (special guest)
Mike DeFabio (guest appearance)
John McFerrin (guest appearance)
Rio tracklist
Rio
My Own Way
Lonely in Your Nightmare
Hungry Like the Wolf
Hold Back the Rain
New Religion
Last Chance on the Stairway
Save a Prayer
The Chauffeur
Other clips used
Duran Duran:
Electric Barbarella
I Don’t Want Your Love (Shep Pettibone Mix)
Playing with Uranium
See Me, Repeat Me
My Own Way (single mix)
The Reflex (Nile Rodgers Mix)
The Wild Boys
Nite-Runner
Girl Panic!
Others:
Vitamin String Quartet - Hungry Like the Wolf
Aurora (ft. Naimee Coleman) - Ordinary World
TV Eye - Stevie’s Radio Station
Chic - My Forbidden Lover
Roxy Music - Virginia Plain
The Hollyridge Strings - Jingle Bells/Jingle Bell Rock
They Might Be Giants - Spiraling Shape
Spandau Ballet - True
R.E.M. - Laughing
Japan - Talking Drum
Phil Collins - In the Air Tonight
Eurythmics - Here Comes the Rain Again
Pink Floyd - Shine On You Crazy Diamond Part I-V
David Bowie - Stay
Kendrick Lamar - Swimming Pools (Drank)
Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force - Planet Rock
The Moody Blues - Meet Me Halfway
Songs we mentioned but didn’t clip
Duran Duran:
911 Is a Joke (Public Enemy cover)
Pressure Off
New Moon on Monday
Is There Something I Should Know?
Notorious
Come Undone
Ordinary World
Others:
The Barbarians - Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl
Tracy Chapman - Fast Car
XTC - Pink Thing
Frank Churchill and Larry Morey - Heigh-Ho
Boston - Amanda
Soul Coughing - Super Bon Bon
John Williams - Ewok Celebration
The Who - See Me, Feel Me
Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Take a Pebble
Megadeth - Peace Sells … But Who’s Buying?
Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart
Dire Straits - Money for Nothing
They Might Be Giants - S-E-X-X-Y
Weezer - No One Else
Kajagoogoo - Too Shy
They Might Be Giants - XTC vs. Adam Ant
Mark Ronson (ft. Bruno Mars) - Uptown Funk!
The B-52s - Give Me Back My Man
Savage Garden - I Want You
Billy Joel - Uptown Girl
Dolly Parton - Jolene
Dolly Parton - I Will Always Love You
Neil Young and Crazy Horse - Cinnamon Girl
Black Sabbath - Paranoid
The Beatles - Yesterday
Thomas Dolby - She Blinded Me with Science
Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
Culture Club - Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?
The Pretenders - Back on the Chain Gang
Styx - Mr. Roboto
Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Karn Evil 9: 1st Impression, Part 2
Def Leppard - Hysteria
Pink Floyd - Goodbye Blue Sky
Backstreet Boys - Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)
Boyz II Men - End of the Road
2gether - U + Me = Us (Calculus)
Roxy Music - In Every Dream Home a Heartache
Yes - Tempus Fugit
Deftones - The Chauffeur
Iggy Pop - The Passenger
Oasis - D’You Know What I Mean?
Fleetwood Mac - Tusk
The Moody Blues - So Deep Within You
The Moody Blues - Your Wildest Dreams
The Grateful Dead - Truckin’
Band/album personnel
Simon Le Bon – lead vocals, vibraphone on "New Religion", ocarina on "The Chauffeur"
Nick Rhodes – keyboards, synthesizers, marimba, sound effects, backing vocals on "Last Chance on the Stairway"
John Taylor – bass guitar, backing vocals
Andy Taylor – guitars, backing vocals
Roger Taylor – drums, percussion
Andy Hamilton – tenor saxophone on "Rio"
Colin Thurston – production and engineering
Renate – technician
Credits
“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of:
Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste
The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...
Faith No More - Midlife Crisis
Herbie Hancock - Hornets
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen
Duran Duran - Save a Prayer (this episode only)
You can buy or stream Rio and other albums by Duran Duran at Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Amazon [affiliate link], and any number of other retailers. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Twitter @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other music stuff that strikes our fancy, often/usually related to the Moody Blues. Editing is by Rich Bunnell, and special thanks to Mike DeFabio for production and original music. See you next album, have a very happy new year, and be ever wonderful.