Duran Duran's Rio (33 1/3 #156) (Paperback)

Description

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In the '80s, the Birmingham, England, quintet Duran Duran became the poster boys for new wave, a synth-heavy genre that dominated the decade's music and culture. No album represented this rip-it-up-and-start-again movement better than the band's breakthrough 1982 LP, Rio. A cohesive album with a retro-futuristic sound-influences include danceable disco, tangy funk, Bowie-caliber synth-pop and swaggering glam-the full-length sold millions and spawned smashes such as Hungry Like the Wolf and the title track.

However, Rio wasn't a smashing success everywhere; in fact, it had to be buffed-up with extensive remixes and reissued before it found an audience in America. The album was further buoyed by colorful music videos, which established Duran Duran as leaders of an MTV-driven second British Invasion, and an embrace of cutting-edge technology. This book explores how and why Rio became a landmark new wave album, and examine how the LP was both a musical inspiration-and a reflection of a cultural and technology zeitgeist.

About the Author

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Annie Zaleski is an award-winning freelance journalist, editor, and critic based in Cleveland, Ohio. Previously, she was on staff at the Riverfront Times and Alternative Press. Her profiles, interviews, and criticism have appeared in publications such as Rolling Stone, NPR Music, The Guardian, Salon, Time, Billboard, The A.V. Club, Vulture, The Los Angeles Times, Stereogum, Cleveland Plain Dealer, and Las Vegas Weekly. She also writes liner notes, including for the 2016 reissue of R.E.M.'s Out of Time.