Friday, October 27, 2006

Andy Taylor has left Duran Duran (again)



The last couple of weeks, speculations about why Andy not joining the Duran Duran East European and American mini tour at duranduran.com message board have been very varied
. Firstly it was heard that he was ill.. later it was rumoured that he was actually quitting the band. A poster at the board even provided this 'ad' as a joke:
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During that time, this issue has been endlessly discussed at the board, including reactions of any kind, not to mention drama and stuff. I admit I like to drop by the board since I am, more often than not, amused by these posts, especially the snarky - but witty - ones. Finally, an official announcement at duranduran.com confirmed the 'news':

To Our Fans



We know that there has been a tremendous amount of speculation over
the past few weeks regarding Andy Taylor's continued involvement with
the band and we are sorry that we've been unable to provide you with
more information until now. The past five years have been an incredible
journey for us all - and having the original five back together was
something that we had wanted to see happen for some time. As of last
weekend, however, the four of us have dissolved our partnership and
will be continuing as Duran Duran without Andy, as we have reached a
point in our relationship with him where there is an unworkable gulf
between us and we can no longer effectively function
together. Although obviously disappointed and saddened about this, we
are excited about the next chapter of the Duran Duran story and look
forward to seeing you all soon.



Simon, John, Nick and Roger
[posted 10/25/2006 U.S.A.]

There it goes; 1985 repeated all over again. More reactions came in and the board gets busier than ever. Some demand to know exactly what the problem is. Andy disagreeing the music direction of Timbaland, Duran Duran's current producer, and Andy not getting along with the colaboration with Justin Timberlake are the most popular speculations. Well, it has always been evident that Andy is more a hard rocker than the rest of the band. The bolder sound of Power Station seems like where he really belonged (while, in the same era, Arcadia seems to be the 'alternative' soul of DD).

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Then there was the question of who will replace him as the guitarist. Bring Warren back! No more Warren! - these cries have been heard a lot lately. I personally don't mind who will take Andy's place as long as the band is still intact and is making more music. But of course some posters at the board have also speculated that it won't be long until DD fall apart completely, again. One more album and then gone. The board doesn't lack nasty posts and threads (trolls, attention whores and drama queens are everywhere, mind you) - however, I never take this kind of posts seriously.

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I regret that Andy fell out of the band again, of course, because for
me 'the Fab Five' is the line up of Simon, Nick, John, Roger and Andy.
But what happens happens; they're a band who will develop their works,
not a static entity. More importantly, it's up to them how to go about
their business (i.e. making profit), so who am I to agree or disagree about the kind of music they will produce? If I don't like it, I won't buy it; it's as simple as that. True, I'm not as attached to DD now as I was in my teenage years, but I still diligently update myself
with whatever is going on there. Can't fight my schoolgirl
sentiment, apparently.


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Anyway, regretable as it may be, I fare Andy well to pursue his own musical notion and I just hope to hear the new DD album soon (they've been postponing it long enough!). Thanks to Andy for all the music, the fun memories and the rocking performance! I'm glad my first and only DD concert (May 31st, 2005, at Heineken Music Hall, Amsterdam) was performed by 'my' version of the original line-up! Cheers, all!



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Images are horked from DD.com message board
(Teajay is one of my favourite photographers there)





25 comments:

  1. wah akhirnya kejadian juga..
    yo wis lah cari gitaris baru yang lbh jago dan cakeup aja :D

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  2. akhirnya kejadian lagi.. hahaha..
    semalem mereka konser di chicago, pas ultah simon, jadi pake lagu happy birthday segala. gitaris selama mini tour ini namanya dom brown, katanya lumayan memadai.

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  3. duh sayang ya. moga2 roger gak ikut2 keluar lagi jd petani jeruk.

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  4. ah andy biang kerok melulu.....

    udah lah, ganti sama baron ato piyu aja. lumayan toh....

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  5. iya euy.. berlima-nya cuma tahan lima tahun!
    kalo yg ikutan keluar si john, reunian arcadia deh :P

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  6. haha di board juga udah banyak yg ngelamar tu =))
    (asal jangan warren aja dipanggil balik)

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  7. nanti juga balik lagi... mereka itu kaya pacaran aja, putus jadi putus jadi...
    tapi jangan john... oooooh.... dia itu senyumannya mematikan... lhoooo? hihihihi

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  8. wah wah wah...apa pencarian gitaris untuk Duran-Duran bisa dijadikan tema untuk Rockstar tahun depan?
    (sebenarnya sedikit berharap Queen untuk Rockstar tahun depan)

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  9. benerrr.. bikin klepek-klepek abiiiss.. *jantung hati*
    putus-jadinya kelamaan! hahaha! udah deh, mereka bikin lagu aja buruannn..

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  10. emh.. *tengsin* Rockstar itu acara apa sih? *merona*

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  11. oooh itu lho mbak, reality show macam Idols, tapi bertujuan untuk mencari vokalis untuk suatu band. Biasanya yang ikutan adalah penyanyi rock profesional jadi...KEREN banget.
    Season pertama mereka mencari penyanyi untuk INXS (yg kepilih bagus kok, Michael Hutchence akan tersenyum dalam kubur), yang kedua mencari penyanyi untuk Supernova (http://rockstar.msn.com/)

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  12. ohh semacam idols gitu.. barusan liat2 ke situsnya, thanks :D

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  13. hahah ternyata ada pertanyaan yg sama di msg board DD. trus tanggapannya antara lain ini:

    From the media page:
    Joe Alfone: What do you think about the show “Rock Star SuperNova”?
    John Taylor: It’s just a talent show in rock clothing. If you want to see substandard music, go to a talent show.


    jadi, sptnya nggak akan masuk ke rockstar nih :D

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  14. nanti di indonesia bakal rame gosip-gosip macam kasus armand mau join inxs. modern darlings bakal siap untuk kecewa karena gitaris the upstairs kubil idris bakal cabut ke london ikutan reality show mencari gitaris pengganti andi...

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  15. asal jangan gitaris Duran Duran yang sempet ngisi tuh siapa ya namanya, Warren Cuccurullo? yang bikin perusahaan dildo dari ukuran penisnya sendiri? hahahaha. absurd.

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  16. whahaha tau aja lu yan (btw, produknya itu dinamain rock rod.. hihihi)
    banyak yg minta warren balik, tp kemungkinannya setipis kertas minyak transparan.

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  17. Masa sih Andy keluar lagi? trus yang maen gitar pas konser siapa? Warren Kukuruyuk?

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  18. Haalllooooooooooooo .................. baru sekarang nih nemu blog indonesia yang ngebahas duran duran ...... senuangnyaaaaaaaaaa ketemu temen seperjuangan!!! hehehe ..... Buat yang mo dateng ke konsernya ... pleasseee ..... bikin semacem bootleg dong buat share sama yang gak bisa nonton ... soalnya aku terancam gak bisa nonton nihhh .... huuaaa ..... sedihnyaaa .... impian 14 thn di depan mata tapi gak bisa diambil!!! :(((((((((

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  19. kemaren nelfon ke aquarius tiketnya belum ada juga. cek ke website nepathya juga websitenya kosyong, nelfon ke nepathya kalo nggak bicara mulu ya nggak diangkat
    *geram*

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  20. apapun yg terjadi... nothing can stop

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  21. Tita, Salam Kenal. rencana 8 April mo ke konser Duran Duran di JHCC Jakarta. bisa kasih info buat Meet & Great nya engga? karena aku dah hubungi Nepathya, mereka cuman kasih info harga ticket doang. Tengkyu yah...

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  22. wuiih beneran asyik - syiik banget terdampar di blog nih...ketemu sesama "pejuang"... dan akhirnya kalo bicara "pejuang" gw gak sia-sia nunggu mereka di mulia hotel...dan ketemu mereka satu persatu sehabis konser mereka di JHCC dapat foto bareng plus yah tandatangannya para legend' 80 ituh... huss...tuntas sudah "kepenasaran ini" dari sejak ngumpulin poster mereka seabreg saat SMP, mainin musik mereka di tiap manggung ("ampe sekarang") dan yang paling ok dari momen di mulia hotel itu gw kasih mereka album indie gw hehe plus tanda tangan gw...he he bukan apa-apa, karena musik mereka gw terinspirasi dan akhirnya keterusan main musik ...tengkyu Duranduran...gw g peduli mau pemain gitarnya siapa yang jelas mesti....terus berkarya...!!! HIDUP DURANDURAN

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  23. *jambak-jambak zaki..
    nunggu gak ngajak ngajak.. heuuuuu :))

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  24. boleh ikutan ngejambak nggak ? :">

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