Duran Duran died for real in about '89 (I know they had some terrible 90's cheeseball ballads). Depeche Mode had a good album in '90. I declare this thread a DRAW.
I saw DM on the last tour as well and it was an amazing show - they are still incredible live. OMD brings a ton of energy for a synth pop band and their shows are fun as well - saw them a few years back and hope to see them this May again. The flip side of that is Echo and The Bunnymen who have so many brilliant songs, but Ian McColluchs voice is shot after decades of smoking and drinking. So disappointing.
Speaking purely from personal preference without regards to their place in history or whatever, I'd probably go New Order > Depeche Mode >>>Duran Duran. I think the only Duran Duran song I really love is Ordinary World. My synthpop group of choice growing up was always Anything Box though.
ARE YOU STILL AFRAID OF LIVING IN OBLIVION??? i think i saw anything box at astroworld when that song came out - or maybe im thinking of book of love...haha. i remember reading this article a few months ago...pretty funny. https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/band-who-represented-everything-the-cure-robert-smith-hated/ Robert Smith names the band who "represented everything The Cure hated Throughout the 1980s, The Cure were outliers in the mainstream music scene, and their presence was a refreshing one. Amid the wave of consumerism which ate up society thanks to Thatcherism and Reaganomics, Robert Smith was left feeling sick, and there was one band that he once said “represented everything we hated”. A lot had changed since The Cure first emerged towards the back end of the previous decade, and Britain had become a radically different place. The birth of music television changed the industry, thanks to the invention of MTV, the packaging of an artist became just as important as the music itself, and this helped groups like Duran Duran immeasurably. Although The Cure were publically fighting with The Smiths singer Morrissey and regularly went back and forth in the musical press, Smith didn’t dislike their music. In 2019, he even admitted he “never really understood” the feud, and Morrissey later uncharacteristically offered him a rare apology. While The Smiths would have been the band you’d assume Smith would have despised because of the war of words between them, it was Duran Duran who riled the singer. They never said anything out of line about The Cure and were also huge fans of Smith’s group, but he couldn’t stop himself from viewing them as the antithesis of everything he represented. Duran Duran were an embodiment of the ’80s and its obsession with excess. Everything about the group was grandiose, whether it was the extravagant music videos or their flamboyant dress sense. Much to Smith’s frustration, they were never out of the charts, and throughout their career, they have sold over 100 million records. In 2019, Smith spoke to The Guardian about how The Cure had managed to carve out a niche and successfully operated outside the traditional bubble. They developed a resilient ‘Us vs Them’ attitude, and in Smith’s eyes, there was no act that catered for the masses more than Duran Duran. Smith explained: “It was generally Duran Duran, which is really sad because they loved us and they used to come to our shows. But they represented everything we hated: the whole glamorous 80s, consumer bullshit; this horrorshow that we were up against.” Duran Duran epitomised the attitudes that had crept into society. In videos, frontman Simon Le Bon waltzed around carelessly on a yacht in glossy clips while half the country was undergoing intense financial hardship. In their defence, Duran Duran’s music was simply slick pop which didn’t have an overt political message. However, they were undeniably a product of their times, and whether the band liked her or not, they were an epoch of Thatcherism.
Can't believe you guys are making drive into Houston to find some depeche Mode on vinyl. Houston drivers suck. Y'all can't drive man
On a side note, Robert Smith really neads to learn to accept that hes old now. I get the whole look was kind of "his brand" in the 80s, but nothing sadder than a fat, decrepit old man dressed up in make-up with enough product in his spikey hair to be declared a fire hazard, trying to prerend like he's still 25. On subject, Depeche Mode has stood the test if time much better than Duran Duran. Duran Duran probably had more absolute popularity in the moment.
It's not AGE. Jeff Goldblum can dress quirky, - YOUNG even - but doesn't look like ****. And he's older than Smith.
Jeff’s style has changed and he isn’t fat like RS. You can get away with a lot style-wise if you’re fit, regardless of age. If you're fat it's just kind of sad.
