Defining discs
Duran Duran (1981): featuring the singles Planet Earth and Girls on Film, the latter of which came with a highly explicit video that overshadowed its message about the exploitation of models. The band's debut album propelled them to success and recognition in their native Britain. To go truly huge globally, however, they would have to wait for the release of ...
Rio (1982): the album that cemented Duran Duran's reputation as the golden boys of the New Romantic movement - a movement they only tenuously belonged to - it contains the single that first sent them supernova: Hungry Like the Wolf. Rio and Save a Prayer followed, then the first album was reissued, then non-album single Is There Something I Should Know? topped the charts, and the rest is history.
Seven and the Ragged Tiger (1983): the band's difficult third album was an ambitious affair; musically and lyrically diverse, it divided fans and critics alike. There was no arguing, though, with the success of singles Union of the Snake and, in particular, The Reflex.
Astronaut (2004): after a series of poorly received albums, culminating with their worst-ever seller, 2000's Pop Trash, Duran Duran made an unexpected return to form with this perky little effort, the first since Seven and the Ragged Tiger to feature all of the band's classic five-man line-up. Partly produced by former Chic legend Nile Rodgers, it furnished the band with an unlikely hit in the form of (Reach Up for the) Sunrise.
All You Need is Now (2010): after 2007's disappointing Red Carpet Massacre, the band's most recent effort, given a contemporary feel by the production of Mark Ronson, has garnered them some of their best reviews for more than a quarter of a century.
