It Was 25 Years Ago Today . . .

. . . OK, not exactly 25 years ago today, but close, that a certain album was released that changed the way music was received, perceived and consumed.

I found the dreary nonsense of boomer nostalgia over an album that I've never been able to listen to all the way through rather annoying (non-dreary non-nonsense about that album can be found at Althouse, however).

So figured, fight fire with fire.

Started thinking about the albums released in 1982 that had a major impact, and which one really helps define the time and stands out as a landmark for what that era was.

Plenty of terrible albums were released that year, some great albums, too. Thriller was released that year, but I've never been a big fan of that album and it has accrued a lot of baggage that makes a major discussion about that album unappealing. Avalon was released and it's great, but not a cultural touchstone, Prince unleashed 1999 and it's a great listen, but he's done better. Combat Rock was the Clash at full force, but they aren't really what the 80s were about. Scoff if you will, but Kissing To Be Clever is a totally awesome (oops, sorry, the spirit of an 80s Valley Girl snuck into my keyboard for a sec) album and would be worthy of a lengthy discussion, but not in this post. Another album that many would scoff at but others cherish would be The Number of the Beast, but that's also an album for a different post.

Have I worn you out with this preamble yet? Have you guessed what album might be worth the attention? Did you even consider that this is all leading up to a discussion about Duran Duran? Well it is, and if you have patience I'll explain why.

Rio by Duran Duran was released in the UK and US in May of 1982. It took awhile to pick up steam, it was never the #1 album in the UK or US, but it stayed in the Billboard Hot 100 for 129 weeks. It's not just the music that makes this album *THE* album of 1982 (more so than even the biggest selling album of all time (THRILLER) released later that year), it's the overall effect it had on the music industry and Duran Duran's position as the first band that really made a name for itself through its music videos. The album languished in the States for months before MTV started playing the videos.

The Rio video above is little more than a video postcard of exotic locales intercut with images of the band and exotic babes, yet it was the right combination at the right time and it helps that the song still sounds amazing. The bass line in this album kicks all sorts of ass, and the cheesy synth sounds layered on top aren't really cheesy at all, they actually add something to the sound. This is when "new wave" really did seem like something new, it wasn't dusty old hippies still turning out music. This was sunny, optimistic, comfortable with wealth, lush, and sexy. Watch and listen to this and try not to feel better, it's impossible, this stuff is made for good times, better times, and as it so happens, the 80s were good and better times.

The next track on the album is My Own Way. Umm, another fun song, but this video luckily didn't get such heavy rotation in the States, this would have killed the band. Red silk headbands are never, ever, ever a good idea. But this band did have one tight rhythm section, and Simon has a solid voice for this music and presence, which may not seem that big of a deal now, but it is a big change from the type of crap that was popular in the late 70s and the more mainstream bands of the early 80s.

Hungry Like the Wolf is the other big track off this album, the band goes all "Indiana Jones" in this video and it has a cinematic sheen to it, even if it still makes no sense whatsoever. I've accused this song of being cheesy, and it is, and this video is plenty cheesy as well, but it's quality cheese, and there's nothing wrong with high quality cheese. Once again I have to say that their drummer and bassist are amazing together.

Another lushly tropical song, more exotic locales, this time for the more moody, downbeat (though not down) Save a Prayer. All the same tricks are applied to this song, but at a different pace and for melancholy effect. Not much more to say, listen to it yourself, allow it to sweep you away, get caught in this song's undertow, you won't regret it.

The last video I'll link from this album is for "The Chauffeur", the video has naughty bits in it and more than a hint of sexual situations (nothing graphic, an androgynous blonde dancing topless, and a suggestion without depicting some lesbian action), so to watch you'll have to find naughty bits acceptable viewing and be logged in with your YouTube account (and over 18). But it's all arty and in black and white, so that makes it all OK, right? This is the 80s, afterall. There's sadness, strangeness, and a hint of danger wrapped up in the song and the video. There was plenty of that going on in the early 80s with regards to sexuality. Sex was becoming dangerous again after the bachanal of the 70s, no more free love, that stuff turned out to be deadly (at least until folks figured out what was going on and re-embraced barrier protection).

The album itself is an artifact of the time, but it's perfectly listenable outside of that time and place, even if you aren't a kid of the 80s, you should find the sounds engaging, and if you are a kid of the 80s who was caught up in the New Wave wave, then memories should be flooding about now. Rio wasn't an album made to be specifically about the early 80s. Duran Duran purposefully didn't write topical songs, or write songs that are particularly meaningful. Yet despite this, they perfectly captured that time, or defined it, it's hard to know which way the influence went now, there were other bands with a style similar, they were grouped in the UK with the other "new romantics" yet they were the one that broke the biggest worldwide and they were the ones who seemed least constrained by the conventions of that sound. They may seem like unlikely and accidental revolutionaries, but Duran Duran was a revolutionary band and Rio was a revolutionary album, even if neither seemed the case at the time. They captured the promise of that time, the awakening out of the long dreary hangover that was the 70s, and they helped point the direction to a new style of life and art that wasn't afraid of being commercial or urbane. It's not something that hadn't existed before, but after all those dirty hairy hippies, or dirty oddly haired punks were running around, it was something that had to be relearned.

They were the perfect band for Reagan's new morning and Thatcher's spring revival. They were the exact style and sound that personified the neon colors, big shoulder pads, silk suits, and embracing of prosperity that the 80s represented.

So go buy yourself this album if you don't already own the CD, pick up a Nagel print, put on a white suit (or slinky cocktail dress), and drink a fruity beverage, there ain't nothing wrong with any of those things.