Duranalysis: The Wild Boys

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Comments

Ingrid Richter said…
Hooray! Love that you're starting in on Duran Duran music video reviews, Morgan, and Wild Boys is probably my favorite of the batch.

Assuming that music videos have an internal logic (they don't), who exactly is throwing the ticker tape parade for Duran Duran? We, the viewing audience? The defeated wild boys? Or did Nick rig up some device that would dump confetti remotely on them as they drove by? In which case, he truly is awesome.
Ingrid Richter said…
I also suspect the rest of the Duran Duran members (in character) held a bit of a grudge against John and his light treatment at the hands of the wild boys.

Simon: "I nearly drowned and had to fight off creepy mutant monsters underwater!"

Nick: "I was caged and attacked repeatedly, fighting for my life!"

Andy: "I had to shake off rabid wild boys while grabbing onto scaffolding!"

Roger: "I was in a balloon and there were fire spouts and evil flying wild boys trying to take me down!"

John: "... I was tied to a car and had to confront my inner demons by watching videos of myself. The wild boys pretty much left me alone, but it really sucked."

Totally unsympathetic.
Morgan Richter said…
Blogger ate my first attempt to reply to you, dammit. Let's try this again:

who exactly is throwing the ticker tape parade for Duran Duran?

It's a mystery. I guess we can extrapolate that the boys had enough secret allies amongst their captors (in addition to the dude passing things to Nick, in the long version we see the guy with wings helping Simon out of the lagoon) who helped them stage a revolt, then threw them a celebratory parade?

(I'm far too tickled by the notion of Nick as a secret mechanical whiz. You have to admit, the mental picture of Nick wielding power tools is sort of irresistible.)

John: "... I was tied to a car and had to confront my inner demons by watching videos of myself. The wild boys pretty much left me alone, but it really sucked."

Heh, yes, John and his inner demons. Oh, no! They're making me watch videos of myself! The agony!

(Not directly Wild Boys-related, but still plenty interesting: There's an awesome and lengthy new (as in, published yesterday) interview with Duran Duran at The Quietus, which provides an interesting then-and-now comparison study. If I were Nick, I'd get Andy Warhol's famous/infamous quote about him -- "I love him. I worship him. I masturbate to Duran Duran videos" -- embroidered on a sofa cushion or something, because that's gold.)
Ingrid Richter said…
I love the idea of Nick furiously working on a device to rain tickertape down on them:

"I may not know how I'm getting out of this cage or how we'll escape, but by gum, we'll a tickertape parade once we're free."

Still reading that excellent interview...
Morgan Richter said…
"I may not know how I'm getting out of this cage or how we'll escape, but by gum, we'll a tickertape parade once we're free."

Well, yeah. Clearly, anyone who gets caught in a post-apocalyptic hellhole while covered in sparkly jewels is going to be more concerned with planning the fabulous post-escape celebration than planning the actual, like, escape part. Nick has priorities.
Morgan Richter said…
(Isn't that interview fantastic, by the way? Love them discussing the difference between the two Duran Duran side bands: Arcadia ("the most pretentious album ever made") and Power Station ("the most cocainey album ever made"). Good stuff.)
Morgan Dodge said…
Having been on the receiving end of more than one Duran lyric email, I think this post has been a long time coming.

I have now gotten on board with the division between Arcadia (pretentious) and Power Station (cocainey). I suppose I might be more pretentious than cocainey myself?

To be clear, I was about 13 when it came out. If it wasn't one of the Duran Duran breast-videos, I didn't pay too much attention to the video. This was has always kinda been that Mad Max-esque one with the windmill and the story about Simon Le Bon almost drowning that he says never actually happened.

How much do you reckon that creepy animatronic head cost?

Now that I read your review I'm confused. I always assumed that the Wild Boys were the band (who always shine!). But I guess the wild boys were the ones who were holding them captive?

The Ticker Tape would have more to do with their hero's welcome for having defeated the Wild Boys? Clearly any group of Wild boys who capture pretty pop-band boys are a public menace, and since they defeated them they deserve a parade and a heroes welcome? Maybe?

Huh. I feel like I've been living a lie. Duran Duran were not the wild boys after all.

Parenthetically, I kinda dig the new Duran Duran single. I wasn't into the last couple albums, but this thing sounds kinda fun.
Morgan Richter said…
(Is anyone having trouble with Blogger eating their comments when you submit them, or is it just me?)

I always assumed that the Wild Boys were the band (who always shine!). But I guess the wild boys were the ones who were holding them captive?

Heh. If you go by song lyrics, the band are definitely the Wild Boys. If you go by the Burroughs novel that inspired the video, it seems far more likely the Wild Boys are their captors. Frankly, they're all kind of wild, so I think either way is okay. I dodged the issue with my review by never directly referring to either party as wild boys. Problem solved!

I suppose I might be more pretentious than cocainey myself?

Ditto for me. Arcadia all the way.

Clearly any group of Wild boys who capture pretty pop-band boys are a public menace, and since they defeated them they deserve a parade and a heroes welcome? Maybe?

Certainly, but who in the hell is throwing them the parade? It's not like there's throngs of grateful people cheering on the sidelines -- the boys are just having their own lonely parade all by themselves. It's mysterious.

If it wasn't one of the Duran Duran breast-videos, I didn't pay too much attention to the video.

Not being all that into breasts myself (that will shock you, I know), I always liked their weird plot-videos (Union of the Snake, New Moon on Monday, View to a Kill) more than their exposed-breast videos (Girls on Film, The Chauffeur), even when the plots made no damn sense. I was just rewatching Union of the Snake when your comment came in... yeah, that one's a stumper.
Karen Burd said…
Omagawd, this blog post and the accompanying comments have quite possibly made my entire year thus far. All of it is true and absolutely hilarious! Stumbled on it somehow while looking for a pic of Simon to post as my Facebook profile pic (Simon's voice is having a major crisis right now, so the current Duranie Facebook meme is to post a shot of him as your profile pic until his voice is all fixed). Can't even begin to cite a favorite piece of the blog post 'cause the whole thing just sings. Fave comment is Morgan's "Arcadia (pretentious) and Power Station (cocainey)." I'm going to giggle over "cocainey" for about the next century. Absolutely fantastical. P.S.Sorry about cluttering things up with the posts I trashed! They were inexplicable double posts (annoying).
Morgan Richter said…
Hi, Karen! Thanks for commenting! I'm glad you enjoyed the post. Yeah, poor Simon's voice -- I hope it comes back very soon, because that's got to be extremely worrisome for him.

Sorry about cluttering things up with the posts I trashed! They were inexplicable double posts (annoying).

Yeah, that's totally not your fault -- comments mysteriously post multiple times sometimes. No worries.