YEAR
2022
INDUCTED BY
Robert Downey Jr.
CATEGORY
Performers
Duran Duran are a band of delicious dichotomies: infectious pop melodies concealing complicated musical arrangements; pioneering synthesizers combined with distorted glam rock guitars. They were new-wave outsiders who became music video stars – Tiger Beat fashion pinups who rocked arenas.
HALL OF FAME
ESSAY
By Annie Zaleski
In December 1980, the U.K. periodical Sounds ran the first significant profile feature on Duran Duran, who were then honing their live show as the opening act for theatrical synth-rock futurist Hazel O’Connor. As with many young bands, their self-assurance occasionally teetered on the edge of hyperbole. The article’s splashy headline, “We want to be the band to dance to when the Bomb drops,” is a cheeky direct quote from vocalist Simon Le Bon, although bassist John Taylor was completely earnest when describing the vision for Duran Duran’s music. As Taylor said, “The whole point of the band was that we wanted the disco rhythm with the power of early punk, to try and create a lot of atmosphere as well, muddle it all into one and see what comes out.”