DURAN DURAN A HIT - COMMERCIALLY ANYWAY

PHILIADELPHIA INQUIRER

By Fred Beckley

"People used to throw all kinds of things on stage," Simon LeBon recounts from a Manhattan hotel room, "teddy bears, underwear, jewelry. Once, I saw this glittering thing arcing through the air towards me and I thought, 'That looks like it could be quite nice, should I catch it?' And I thought, `No, it's going straight for my head, I'll just step out of the way.' When I turned around, it was a big hunting knife."

Fifteen years later, he still doesn't know who threw it, but "can't imagine any other reason than that somebody's girlfriend was getting a bit too excited." That clears most critics, but few have been kind. "Maybe because we had a largely female following," LeBon speculates, "that tended to make the male-dominated music press think, 'Oh, they haven't got a proper audience, it's just girls going to see them.'" Nevertheless, after nearly 20 years, 11 albums, and a reasonably steady stream of hits on both sides of the Atlantic, the most apt critical assessment of Duran Duran seems to be this: Uncle. "Rio," "The Reflex," and "Hungry Like the Wolf," once widely dismissed as the vacuous drivel of five preened pretty-boys, now seem campy and fun; Medazzaland (Capitol), released here last month, has earned favorable reviews from the snootiest sources.

Only LeBon and keyboardist Nick Rhodes remain from the original lineup. Guitarist Warren Cuccurullo and various electronics have replaced the three unrelated Taylors (Andy, John and Roger). As LeBon correctly observes, though, "the minute I open my mouth, you know it's Duran Duran."

And the band still stamps out plastic wonders. Medazzaland's "Electric Barbarella" and "Big Bang Generation," for all of their electronica window dressing, will nestle in nicely next to the hits of yore on the eventual boxed set. With the years, Duran Duran has suffered only the onset of Richard Marx syndrome: Considerable commercial success coupled with complete cultural inconsequence. "I think we're experiencing the '90s," says LeBon, "rather than the '90s experiencing us, in the same way that the '80s did."