Duran Duran--Hungry Like The Wolf (1982)

     If I were born ten years later, there might be a quaintness to the synthesizers of the 1980's. As it turns out, growing up during the early days of the Moog taught me a few things (like enjoying the bass sound in a recording) and it seemed as if the entire technology took a step back. Which is why a lot of early 80's stuff leaves me cold except for those artists who understood musical textures and could make the best of lousy keyboards.
     Which brings me to Duran Duran. One could, I suppose discuss the merits of their music, but listening to an hour of them (which happened in prep for the radio show) brings a numbness to my brain cells. Their sound was good enough, and was danceable, but what gave them staying power for so long were the videos.
     Like everyone else in my generation, the idea of seeing an artists rendition of a song was fascinating, even if the artist usually had very little to do with it. I can remember for hours sitting and just watching this (yes kids, MTV used to actually just show videos.....). Looking back now with a tad more jaundice view, it was obvious that without MTV Duran Duran would have gone the way of many a early 80's UK group. However, the guys could make love to the camera and the videos were interesting in a 1982 sort of way.
     In an age now where substance gets overshadowed by flash (there is still a lot of good stuff out there...but you have to work a bit harder for it), one has to look back and wonder if MTV was a good thing at all. Of course, the programming that you find on it now make this video clip look like Masterpiece Theatre.