Taking Sides: Ramones "Ramonesmania" vs Duran Duran "Decade"

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geeta sez: duran duran had more good songs than the ramones ever did.

I disagree. I dig them both equally.
Whats yer POV on this?

― Lord Custos Omega (Lord Custos Omega), Monday, 30 December 2002 19:46 (twenty-one years ago) link

Despite Duran Duran being so image-concious, the Ramones had better album covers.

― Sean (Sean), Monday, 30 December 2002 19:54 (twenty-one years ago) link

As much as I love Duran Duran (and I do), the Ramones dwarf the bequiffed quintet in sheer numbers of good songs. That the `mones could play seventeen irrefutable classic in the time it takes the Durans to plough through four is another matter.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 30 December 2002 19:56 (twenty-one years ago) link

As much as I love the Ram Ones, I'll say that Duran Duran's musical lineage is a little harder to trace. You can spot the Ramones' forebears right away ('50s greaser-thugz; Phil Spector), but where the fuck did Duran Duran come from? It's a bit of Adam Ant, but without all the primitivism. Actually, it's like Northern Soul meets Kraftwerk and sticks its finger in a hairdryer.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 30 December 2002 20:06 (twenty-one years ago) link

Decade is better collection then Ramonesmania but I too disagree with geeta.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Monday, 30 December 2002 20:08 (twenty-one years ago) link

As someone cited in another thread, I believe the original objective of Duran Duran was a hybridization of the sleek funk of Chic with the punky insouciance of the Sex Pistols. Whether they achieved that is debatable (in fact, one could also argue that the Power Station were really the outfit that reached that goal).

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 30 December 2002 20:09 (twenty-one years ago) link

Duran come from Roxy Music via Dave Sylvian.

― robertw, Monday, 30 December 2002 20:09 (twenty-one years ago) link

Actually, that works.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 30 December 2002 20:10 (twenty-one years ago) link

Precisely.

― Sean (Sean), Monday, 30 December 2002 20:11 (twenty-one years ago) link

Not sure about the album cover assertion. As great as the cover of ROAD TO RUIN (easily the Ramones finest hour in the album cover department) is, the Ramones put out their fair share of crap covers. Witness the yawnsome covers for PLEASANT DREAMS, BRAIN DRAIN and ADIOS AMIGOS.

Meanwhile, the Durans gave us the definitive "oooh, we're martini-swiggin' playboys cover" in RIO (itself illustrated by a stylishly pervy Playboy magazine doodler)and the unintentionally hilarious eponymous debut cover (rife with tragic hairstyles). NOTORIOUS was crap, of course, as was the sleeve for the THANK YOU cover album (which looked like the inside collage of a high school locker.)

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 30 December 2002 20:50 (twenty-one years ago) link

Yeah, there's a lot of Chic in Duran Duran, esp. in the guitar playing (as opposed to all the key members of Chic being involved with the Power Station, but "Some Like It Hot" is no "Upside Down").

― Douglas (Douglas), Monday, 30 December 2002 21:07 (twenty-one years ago) link

Well, Ramones win, (the Rockist in me comes out yet again), but still, I can't even listen to Ramonesmania anymore, I've had Loco Live for to long. After listening to L.L., it's like Ramonesmania is playing at 1/2 speed.

― Helltime Producto (Pavlik), Tuesday, 31 December 2002 02:14 (twenty-one years ago) link

Wasn't Loco Live the album that they recorded in stadiums in South America? I thought that was a bad choice. That environment seemed to suck the life out of those songs. I know they had a huge, enthusiastic following down there, but live punk rock albums should not be recorded in huge outdoor venues. Greatest Hits Live (despite the piss poor title) is a great live Ramones album, recorded in a club in NYC.

― Mark M, Tuesday, 31 December 2002 03:15 (twenty-one years ago) link

It was recorder in Barcelona, Spain. And it includes the best into ever, "Have any of you seen Stephen King's Pet Semetary? Well then you might just know this next tune, it's entitled Pet Semetary!"

― Helltime Producto (Pavlik), Tuesday, 31 December 2002 03:50 (twenty-one years ago) link

...but where the fuck did Duran Duran come from?
They kept insisting "we want to be Chic meets the Sex Pistols"
But now that you mention it, the Adam Ant and Kraftwerk influences are just as obvious.

― Lord Custos Omega (Lord Custos Omega), Tuesday, 31 December 2002 16:50 (twenty-one years ago) link

Kraftwerk influence obvious? Don't think so.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 31 December 2002 20:44 (twenty-one years ago) link

Well, ok... I don't think they're an obvious influence, but they're an influence (just as every synth artist owes a debt to Kraftwerk).

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 31 December 2002 21:25 (twenty-one years ago) link

Play a Duran Duran Disk. Play a Kraftwerk Disk. Play a Duran Duran Disk.
Then you'll notice it.

― Lord Custos Omega (Lord Custos Omega), Thursday, 2 January 2003 13:22 (twenty-one years ago) link

"just as every synth artist owes a debt to Kraftwerk"

The Who and Led Zep used synths.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 2 January 2003 16:14 (twenty-one years ago) link

Duran² were certainly HUGE; their style was considerably more varied, their production was much more stylish, their music videos virtually defined the medium, and their predisposition for perfect hair/make-up help feminize a male populace right into the sensitive 90's (Japan²). Problem is, most of their material is of their individual era and doesn't approach the timeless qualities evident in most of the Ramones' material.

I'll take the Ramones. ¥

― christoff (christoff), Thursday, 2 January 2003 16:32 (twenty-one years ago) link

Play a Duran Duran Disk. Play a Kraftwerk Disk. Play a Duran Duran Disk.

This has to be one of Eno's worst oblique strategies.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 2 January 2003 16:42 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Play a Duran Duran Disk. Play a Kraftwerk Disk. Play a Duran Duran Disk. Then you'll notice it."

Sorry. Still not happening. The Durans exude far too much pouty sexuality and a comparitively conventional, riff-based pop/rock-sensibility to convincintly align themselves with das `Werk. Just because Nick Rhodes likes to ponce and pose behind a stack of keyboards doesn't make him a descendent of the men-machines.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 2 January 2003 17:14 (twenty-one years ago) link

This has to be one of Eno's worst oblique strategies.
Actually this one was from Momus. Its card #2. (FYI: we all know that card #1 was "Close Italic, Open Italic, Close Italic, Now form a Band.")

― Lord Custos Omega (Lord Custos Omega), Friday, 3 January 2003 14:36 (twenty-one years ago) link

No. Wait. Y'all have a point. I just did that experiment where you remove all the sex pistols and chic flava from them (Nick Rhodes scratched like a rabid tomcat when I stuffed him in the the Chic Removal Machine!) what was left sounded more Roxy Music-ish than Krafterwerkian. I'd Say Duran Duran - Chic - Sex Pistols == 60% Roxy Music and 40% Kraftwerk.
Unless some raving madman out there wants to try to prove thats a Devo flava.

― Lord Custos Omega (Lord Custos Omega), Friday, 3 January 2003 14:41 (twenty-one years ago) link

I reckon Kraftwerk have more in common with the Ramones than they do with Duran Duran. I realize this is a massive reach, but let's examine the facts, shall we?

* The Ramones & Kraftwerk: Distant Cousins? *

- Both bands adhere to strict visual uniformity.
- Both bands failed to achieve major mainstream success, yet are both immeasurably influential (and both bands' signature formulas have been ripped off by lesser acts who've made far more money off them than the orginal progenitors.)
- Both have the Germany connection.
- Each band's image has been wildly misinterpreted.
- Each band's sense of humour has been largely overlooked.
- Both band's have lost original members who've gone on to pen tell-all books.
- Both bands want you to dance to their music.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 4 January 2003 01:43 (twenty-one years ago) link

Kraftwerk DID like The Ramones, to the extent that they pay homage to them at the start of Showroom Dummies.

― robertw, Saturday, 4 January 2003 15:35 (twenty-one years ago) link

Ramones were great cos they did Rockaway Beach, and because you can buy their greatest hits and get like 4,000 songs. But Duran Duran were the greatest band of all time. This is an unfair fight.

― Ally (mlescaut), Sunday, 5 January 2003 00:01 (twenty-one years ago) link

In just about every interview I ever read, Duran Duran themselves used to cite Roxy Music as their primary influence. I know this is true because (confession!) it was the naive way that I found out who Roxy Music *were* in the first place.

― Kim (Kim), Sunday, 5 January 2003 01:52 (twenty-one years ago) link

If Japan sounds like Roxy Music's "Both Ends Burning", then Duran Duran sounds like Japan's "Quiet Life". Who else had that foppish look in '79, btw?

― Sean (Sean), Sunday, 5 January 2003 04:29 (twenty-one years ago) link

"But Duran Duran were the greatest band of all time."

A bit of an overstatement, I reckon.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 5 January 2003 19:49 (twenty-one years ago) link

Look, if most DD sounds like "Notorious" or "The Reflex", the Ramones win this, if only on the strength of "Beat On the Brat". "Wild Boys" and "Come Undone" weren't so bad though, IIRC.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Sunday, 5 January 2003 20:17 (twenty-one years ago) link

If by overstatement, you mean understatement...

― Ally (mlescaut), Monday, 6 January 2003 02:21 (twenty-one years ago) link

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