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

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...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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