Timeline:1983
DDW: the united memory of all the fans
| The Duran Duran Timeline | ||
| << 1982 | 1983 | 1984 >> |
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Duran Duran re-issues its first album, the self-titled Duran Duran, along with the newly-recorded hit single "Is There Something I Should Know?". Nick produces an album for Kajagoogoo, and then Duran returns to the studio to begin recording Seven and the Ragged Tiger. A massive world tour begins in Australia and the UK. | ||
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Jan 7 | Nick and Julie Anne visit with Andy Warhol in New York |
| ? | DMM Mega Mixes released in Germany |
| ? | Duran awarded Best Album and Best Group, and Simon is awarded Best Male Vocalist at British Rock & Pop Awards |
| ? | John appears as panelist on Pop Quiz TV game show in UK (with Andy Fairweather-Low and Martin Ware of Heaven 17) |
| ? | John is featured on Rockschool show, demonstrating the “Planet Earth” bass line; the show also includes an interview with Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers |
| ? | John appears in print ads and commercials (in Japan) for the Aria Pro II bass |
| ? | Nick visits the Embassy Club in London, where he meets Christopher Hamill (aka Limahl, lead singer for Kajagoogoo) |
| ? | Nick produces Kajagoogoo album White Feathers at Chipping Norton and Utopia studios, where Duran recorded parts of their first album |
| Feb 19 | “Too Shy” by Kajagoogoo, backed with “Take Another View”, hits #1 in UK |
| Feb 26 | “Hungry Like The Wolf” peaks at #3 in the US |
| Feb or Mar? | Simon, Nick and Andy appear on Saturday Superstore in the UK |
| Mar 1 | 'Rio album goes gold |
| Mar 11 | Video album Duran Duran released on VHS, Beta, and laserdisc |
| Mar 19 | “Is There Something I Should Know” single released as a standalone single around the world except in US, backed with “Faith in this Colour”; the first release uses samples from Star Wars |
| Mar 19 | Duran performs “Hungry Like The Wolf” and “Girls on Film” on Saturday Night Live in the US (Robert Guillaume is the guest host) |
| Mar 21 | “Hungry Like The Wolf” peaks at #1 in Canada |
| Mar | A “Video 45” with videos for “Girls on Film” and “Hungry Like The Wolf” released in US. (The VHS-format tape contains MTV-friendly "day version" of “Girls”, while the Beta format contains the uncensored "night version") |
| ? | At a video signing at the Video Shack in Times Square in New York City, the band is mobbed; twelve mounted police are called in to break up the crowd and the guys have to be smuggled out the back of the shop |
| ? | John, Roger and Nick interviewed by New York's Channel 7 news about the mob at the video signing |
| Mar ? | “Is There Something I Should Know” single enters UK charts at #1, remains for three weeks |
| Mar | “Rio” single reissued in US, containing the Kershenbaum 7" remix of “Rio” and backed with “Hold Back The Rain (remix)” |
| ? | Duran lip-synchs a performance of “Hungry Like The Wolf' and “Is There Something I Should Know” on the Oxford Road Show TV program in UK, and answer fan questions |
| Mar 31 | 'Top of the Pops airs Duran's lip-synch performance of “Is There Something I Should Know” |
| ? | Band lip-synchs “Is There Something I Should Know” on the Kenny Everett Video Show in UK |
| ? | Band lip-synchs “Is There Something I Should Know” on the Riverside Show in UK |
| Apr 2 | “Rio” single peaks at #14 in US |
| Apr | 'Duran Duran album repackaged with new photos and re-released worldwide (with “Is There Something I Should Know” added and “To The Shore” dropped); it is the first Duran album available on CD |
| Apr 26 | Rio album goes platinum in US (1 million units sold) |
| Apr | Simon and Nick are Guest VJs on MTV, with Andy Warhol as their guest; the rest of the band appears at the end to present their gold record for the Rio album to MTV as a thank you for helping them break in America |
| Re-release of Duran Duran album peaks at #10 in US | |
| Apr | “Too Shy” single by Kajagoogoo released in the US |
| Apr-May | Band takes 2-month break at a chateau in Cannes on the Cote d'Azure in France |
| May 5 | 'Top of the Pops airs Duran's lip-synch performance of “Is There Something I Should Know” |
| May | Duran begins writing new songs; several demo tracks are recorded, including the song “Seven and the Ragged Tiger”, later to become “The Seventh Stranger” |
| ? | With his bass tracks completed, John parties in Cannes every night; the band often doesn't start working until 4:00 pm, and are lucky to get two hours of work done each day |
| May 7-May 18 | Band members visit Cannes film festival |
| May | “Is There Something I Should Know” single released in US, backed with “Careless Memories” |
| May | Missing Persons plays the "US Festival" in Southern California |
| May | Duran begins five weeks of recording at George Martin's AIR Studios in Montserrat, hoping to become more focused |
| Jun 4 | “Is There Something I Should Know” single peaks at #4 in US |
| ? | John and Roger visit Tokyo |
| summer | WNBC Music Magazine airs a Duran profile, including interviews with John, Andy and Roger |
| Jun 20 | Duran records “The Reflex” (with the help of a couple of bottles of John's birthday champagne) |
| Jun 21 | Jools Holland interviews the band in Fréjus, France for British TV special A Midsummer Night's Tube; includes a “Faith in This Colour” promo video |
| ? | Baktabak Interview Disc issued - a vinyl picture disk containing an interview with Simon and Nick |
| Jul 4 | “Too Shy” by Kajagoogoo peaks in the Canadian Top 10 |
| Jul 19 | The band flies back to England from Montserrat via Miami |
| Jul 20 | Duran Duran: Old Dominion Theatre, London, England A command performance for Prince Charles and Princess Diana; the show was plagued by sound problems. It was later discovered that the Irish Republican Army had laid plans to assassinate the royals at this show. Bootlegged. |
| Jul 22 | Duran Duran album goes gold in the US (500,000 units sold) |
| Jul 23 | 'Duran Duran: Aston Villa Football Grounds, Birmingham, England (with Prince Charles & The City Beat Band, and Robert Palmer) A benefit concert for MENCAP raises far less money than expected; Paul, Michael and the band each contribute £10,000 to make up the difference. Bootlegged. |
| Aug | Band returns to Montserrat for another month of recording; they only get one "useful" song |
| Aug | Nick suffers an attack of paroxysmal tachycardia" (abnormally fast heartbeat); attributed at the time to stress and/or sun poisoning; he is airlifted off the island in a helicopter for treatment |
| end Aug | Band moves recording and mixing to 301 Studios, Sydney |
| ? | John shares an apartment in Sydney with producer Alex Sadkin |
| ? | Alex Sadkin returns to the apartment to ask John to re-do the bass on a song for which the chords have been changed; John reacts by smashing a glass shower door (he says that this was where he began planning the Power Station project) |
| Sep ? | John's BMW spins out of control and crashes on the Sydney Harbour Bridge; he escapes without injury |
| When they get homesick, Andy and John visit Gerry Laffy's Sydney apartment for home-cooked English dinners | |
| ? | John is hospitalized for two days with "nose trouble" |
| Sep | Band films “Union of the Snake” video near Sydney, using 35mm film |
| Oct | Simon, Andy and Russell Mulcahy interviewed on the set of the “Union of the Snake” video, for Australian TV |
| Oct | The band works at mixing the “Union” single right up to the last minute, leaving themselves only 24 hours to write, record and mix “Secret Oktober” for the b-side |
| ? | Duran flies in Bengal tiger for a £65,000 photo shoot for the album cover and tour program |
| Oct 10 | “Union of the Snake” video released to MTV a week before radio receives the single, amid much protest from radio stations, who feared that video would supplant radio in the promo game |
| Oct 17 | “Union of the Snake” single released worldwide, backed with “Secret Oktober” |
| ? | Duran does an interview in Sydney for the 'Peter Powell Down Under' special on Radio 1 |
| ? | John, Roger and Nick accept an award for "most popular international act" in Australia; Molly Meldrum interviews |
| Oct | Rehearsals for Sing Blue Silver tour begin at Sydney Showgrounds |
| Oct 27 | 'Top of the Pops airs Duran's lip-synch performance of “Union of the Snake” |
| Oct 29 | “Union of the Snake” single peaks at #3 in UK |
| Nov 5 | “Union of the Snake” single peaks at #3 in US |
| Nov | John and Roger tape intro to “Hungry Like The Wolf” video for US TV show Friday Night Videos |
| Nov | Simon, Nick and Roger interviewed by Molly Meldrum for Countdown Australia TV show |
| The SING BLUE SILVER Tour The tour begins with sold-out shows in Australia | |
| Nov 12 | Duran Duran: National Indoor Sports Centre, Canberra, Australia |
| Nov 16 | Duran Duran: Sydney Entertainment Centre, Sydney, Australia (with The Little Heroes) INXS attended the show with their girlfriends |
| Nov 19 | Duran Duran: Festival Hall, Brisbane, Australia (with The Little Heroes) bootlegged |
| Nov 20 | Duran Duran: Festival Hall, Brisbane, Australia (with The Little Heroes) |
| Nov 21 | Seven and the Ragged Tiger album released worldwide |
| Nov 22 | Duran Duran: Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Center, Melbourne, Australia |
| Nov 23 | Duran Duran: Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Center, Melbourne, Australia |
| Nov 24 | Duran Duran: Memorial Drive Tennis Courts, Adelaide, Australia |
| Nov 27 | Duran Duran: Entertainments Centre, Perth, Australia |
| Nov | Simon (27) and Canadian model and actress Claire Stansfield (20) buy an apartment together in her hometown of Toronto |
| ? | Nick buys house in London |
| ? | John tries and fails to get a date with model Yasmin Parvaneh |
| fall ? | Simon and Nick interviewed on UK TV show London Calling |
| Dec 3 | Seven and the Ragged Tiger enters UK charts at #1 |
| Dec 6 | Duran Duran: Apollo, Manchester, England |
| Dec 7 | Duran Duran: Apollo, Manchester, England |
| Dec 8 | Duran Duran: Queens Hall, Leeds, England (with Australian Crawl) |
| ? | Oxford Road Show in UK shows behind-the-scenes clips from the tour |
| Dec 9 | Andy opens a wine bar named “Rio” in Whitley Bay, near his hometown |
| Dec 10 | Seven and the Ragged Tiger peaks at #8 in US |
| Dec 10 | Duran Duran: Royal Highland Exhibition Hall, Edinburgh, Scotland (with 16 Tambourines) |
| Dec 11 | Duran Duran: Queens Hall, Leeds, England (with Australian Crawl) bootlegged |
| Dec 12 | Duran Duran: National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, England (with Australian Crawl) this show is filmed for The Tube TV show, along with interviews with Simon, Nick and John |
| Dec 13 | Duran Duran: National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, England |
| Dec ? | A live clip of “The Reflex” from the Birmingham NEC show is aired on German television |
| Dec 15 | Duran Duran: Brighton Centre, Brighton, England |
| Dec 16 | Duran Duran: Brighton Centre, Brighton, England (with Australian Crawl) |
| Dec 18 | Duran Duran: Wembley Arena, London, England |
| Dec 19 | Duran Duran: Wembley Arena, London, England |
| Dec 20 | Duran Duran: Wembley Arena, London, England bootlegged |
| Dec 22 | Duran Duran: Wembley Arena, London, England |
| Dec 23 | Duran Duran: Wembley Arena, London, England |
| Dec 24 | On the strength of the British tour, “Union of the Snake” re-enters the UK charts and peaks at #66 |
| Dec 25 | Top of the Pops airs Duran's lip-synch performance of “Is There Something I Should Know” |
| ? | John (a devoted James Bond fan) begins dating actress Janine Andrews (known for her small role in Octopussy)
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| << 1982 | 1983 | 1984 >> |
