Timeline:1988
DDW: the united memory of all the fans
| The Duran Duran Timeline | ||
| << 1987 | 1988 | 1989 >> |
|
Duran Duran records and promotes the Big Thing album, and releases the singles "I Don't Want Your Love" and "All She Wants Is". A string of warm-up dates in small clubs leads to the beginning of a five-month world tour. Simon releases the Drum theme song "Grey Lady Of The Sea". | ||
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Jan 8 | Duran Duran: Hollywood Rock Festival, Praca Da Apoteose, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil bootlegged |
| Jan 15 | Duran Duran: Hollywood Rock Festival, Estádio do Morumbi, São Paolo, Brazil |
| Jan 19 | Nick interviewed on Eagle 106 radio (Philadelphia, PA) |
| ? | SYN Production Company, Ltd. is established in England by Simon and his partner Nick Wood |
| ? | Simon begins hanging out more with the fashion crowd (Yasmin's friends) than those in the music business |
| ? | Duran begins working with manager Peter Rudge (previously with The Rolling Stones and The Who) |
| ? | Warren considers leaving Duran, because "I was tired of not contributing music to a project. I was writing tons of stuff, but I wasn't a writing member of the band." |
| ? | “Grey Lady Of The Sea” is issued as a CD3 single in Japan; includes the song of the same name, plus tracks by Propaganda and Bronski Beat (co-produced by Simon Le Bon and Nick Wood) |
| ? | “Grey Lady and the Sea” is released by Syn as a CD5 single in the UK; available only in chemist's shops with purchase |
| ? | John does sessions work with Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards |
| May | Warren plays most guitar parts as the band records the Big Thing album at Davout Studios in Paris |
| ? | Duran members work with Jonathan Elias at Davout Studios on different parts of his Requiem For The Americas project: Simon writes and sings “Follow In My Footsteps”, John plays bass on “The Chant Movement” |
| May | Chester Kamen plays guitar on the recording of “I Don't Want Your Love” (although it is Warren who appears in the video) |
| May-Jun | Big Thing album mixed at Soundworks Studios in New York |
| ? | Rio album reissued on CD |
| Jun 20 | Working for the Skin Trade concert video released |
| ? | John argues intensely with the record company and other band members over some of the mixes (especially “Drug”) selected for the album, and threatens to leave the band |
| Jul-Aug | Video for “I Don't Want Your Love” filmed with director Steve Lowe; David Palmer, ex-drummer of ABC, appears in the video |
| Aug | Unable to get first choices Steve Ferrone and David Palmer, Duran hires Ferrone-recommended drummer Sterling Campbell for tour |
| Aug | Simon auditions backing singers at the DD Productions office in Wandsworth, London |
| mid-late Aug | Nick and Rocks (at least) work at Nomis Studios in London, doing synth/sequencer programming for the tour |
| Sep | “I Don't Want Your Love” single released worldwide (backed with “I Don't Want Your Love (album version)”) |
| Sep | 'Big Book Thing photo book issued |
| Sep 14 | Duran begins rehearsals for the Secret Caravan tour at Stanbridge Farm Studios in Sussex with Sterling, Warren, Spike Edney (on keyboards) and Stan Harrison (on saxophone) |
| Sep 26 | “I Don't Want Your Love” video premieres on MTV |
| Sep-Oct | Video for “All She Wants Is” shot in London with director (and well-known photographer) Dean Chamberlain |
| Oct 1 | “I Don't Want Your Love” peaks at #14 in the UK |
| Oct 4 | John Jones meets the band, and begins working with them on programming sampled sounds for the live shows |
| Oct 6 | Top of the Pops airs Duran's lip-synch performance of “I Don't Want Your Love” |
| Oct ? | On completion of the “All She Wants Is” video shoot, the heads of the Duran dummies used for the stop-motion work in the video are sent to DD Productions. One of the band's assistants gets a serious shock when opening the box containing Nick's "head"! |
| Oct ? | Duran interviews and rehearsals aired on Glamboys to Badboys on British SKY TV |
| Oct ? | Duran interviews and rehearsals aired on Countdown on Dutch TV station Veronica |
| Oct ? | Duran interviews and rehearsals aired on Deejay on Italia 1 |
| Oct 11 | The spoken-word track “This Is How a Road Gets Made” is edited and mixed at AIR Studios with John Jones |
| Oct 13 | Last day of rehearsals at Stanbridge Farm; at least one of these rehearsals is bootlegged |
| Oct 15 | “I Don't Want Your Love” peaks at #4 in US |
| Oct 18 | Big Thing album released |
| The SECRET CARAVAN Tour A string of US promotional/warm-up dates (in lieu of the usual TV and radio promo blitz) | |
| Oct 18 | Duran Duran: Metro Theater, Chicago, IL, USA |
| Oct 19 | Duran Duran: The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA, USA (with a juggler on a unicycle) |
| Oct 20 | Duran Duran: Capitol Records parking lot, Hollywood, CA, USA |
| Oct 21 | Duran Duran: Coconut Grove Ballroom, Los Angeles, CA, USA |
| Oct 24 | Duran Duran: First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN, USA bootlegged |
| Oct 26 | Duran Duran: Arcadia Theater, Dallas, TX, USA (no opening act) |
| Oct 28 | Duran Duran: Center Stage Theatre, Atlanta, GA, USA (no opening act) |
| Oct 29 | Duran Duran: Cabaret Metro Theater, Chicago, IL, USA (no opening act) |
| Oct 29 | Big Thing album peaks at #15 in UK |
| Oct 31 | Duran Duran: Diamond Club, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (no opening act) |
| ? | Duran does a signing at Tower Records in Boston |
| Nov 2 | Duran Duran: Citi, Boston, MA, USA |
| Nov 4 | Duran Duran: Roseland Ballroom, New York, NY, USA bootlegged |
| Nov 5 | Big Thing album peaks at #24 in US |
| Nov | The band does production rehearsals at Bray Studios in Windsor to sort out the lighting and technical details for the arena-sized shows |
| Nov 11 | Duran Duran: Manchester International II, Manchester, England (no opening act) A secret club show |
| Nov 13 | Duran Duran: Fort Regent, Jersey, Channel Islands A secret club show |
| Nov | Simon and John interviewed on Rick Dees' Top 40 radio show (KIIS FM, Los Angeles, CA) |
| Nov | At the suggestion of manager Peter Rudge, Duran sends a promo copy of Official Bootleg: The LSD Edit to radio stations under the name The Krush Brothers, to get around the preconceived notions of Duran as a bubble-gum pop band |
| Nov | The LSD Edit included on the Album Network Tuneup #27 under the name The Krush Brothers |
| The BIG LIVE THING Tour in Europe John struggles with his health and with serious drug problems; many shows are cancelled or downsized to smaller venues due to poor ticket sales | |
| Nov 16 | Duran Duran: Studio 54, Barcelona, Spain bootlegged |
| Nov 17 | Duran Duran: Sport Palace, Madrid, Spain |
| Nov 19 | "The Krush Brothers": La Locomotive, Paris, France Duran performing as The Krush Brothers; bootlegged |
| Nov 20 | Duran Duran: Forest National, Brussels, Belgium |
| Nov 21 | Duran Duran: Bercy, Paris, France bootlegged |
| Nov 22 | Duran Duran: Ahoy, Rotterdam, Holland bootlegged |
| Nov 24 | Duran does promotion on the Dutch show Countdown |
| Nov 25 | Duran Duran: Ishalle (Icehall), Stockholm, Sweden |
| Nov 26 | Duran Duran: Rockefeller, Oslo, Norway |
| Nov 28 | Duran Duran: Valbyhallen, Copenhagen, Denmark (no opening act) |
| Nov 29 | Duran Duran: Congress Center Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany (no opening act) bootlegged |
| Nov 30 | Duran Duran: Philipshalle, Düsseldorf, Germany (no opening act) bootlegged |
| Dec 1 | Duran Duran: Kongreßhalle, Frankfurt, Germany relocated; this show was originally scheduled for Congresshalle in Frankfurt, but arriving fans were redirected to Offenbach |
| Dec 1 | Duran Duran: Stadthalle, Offenbach, Germany (no opening act) bootlegged |
| Dec 4 | Duran Duran: SportHall, Prague, Czechoslovakia |
| Dec 5 | Duran Duran: Kürhalle Oberlaa, Vienna, Austria bootlegged |
| Dec 6 | Duran Duran: Budapest Sportcsarnok, Budapest, Hungary |
| ? | Duran spends a couple of days in Venice, Italy |
| Dec 8 | Duran Duran: Palaverde, Treviso, Italy |
| Dec 9 | Duran holds a press conference in Milan |
| ? | Duran interviewed on Rete 105 radio in Milan |
| Dec 10 | Duran Duran: Palatrussardi, Milan, Italy bootlegged |
| Dec 11 | Duran Duran: Palatrussardi, Milan, Italy bootlegged |
| Dec 12 | Duran Duran: Palatrussardi, Milan, Italy broadcast on Italia 1 TV; audio from TV broadcast appears on the Lost Prophets bootleg CD |
| Dec 14 | Duran Duran: EUR, Rome, Italy bootlegged |
| Dec 15 | Duran Duran: EUR, Rome, Italy bootlegged |
| Dec 16 | Duran Duran: Palasport, Naples, Italy cancelled |
| Dec 17 | Duran Duran: Palamaggio, Caserta (Naples), Italy bootlegged |
| Dec 19 | John Jones creates a four-track mix of “All She Wants Is” for John Taylor |
| Dec 19 | “I Don't Want Your Love” single peaks in Canadian Top 10 |
| Dec | “All She Wants Is” single released worldwide, backed with “I Believe/All I Need to Know (medley)” |
| Dec 20 | Tequila Sunrise soundtrack released on Capitol; includes Duran Duran's “Do You Believe In Shame” and Andy Taylor's “Dead On The Money” |
| Dec 20 | Duran Duran: Glasgow Barrowlands, Glasgow, Scotland Cancelled at the last minute because Warren has the flu |
| Dec 22 | "The Krush Brothers": Town and Country Club, London, England (no opening act) Duran perform an unannounced club date as The Krush Brothers; bootlegged |
| Dec 23 | Duran Duran: Wembley Arena, London, England (with J.J. Slick) opening act is booed offstage; broadcast live on Capitol FM Radio, and edited down to a one hour highlights show for franchise to other local radio stations in the UK; broadcast is widely bootlegged |
| Dec 24 | “All She Wants Is” peaks at #22 in US |
| Dec 24 | Simon appears on Going Live show on BBC, answers phone-in questions and burns incense in the studio |
| Dec 24 | Duran Duran: National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, England (with J.J. Slick) Duran begins the show at 7:30 p.m. so that fans can get home by public transportation before it shuts down for Christmas Day; bootlegged |
| ? | The album James Bond: 25 Years of 007 released by Sounds Of The Screen Orchestra; includes John Barry's arrangement of “A View To A Kill” |
| ? | Andy produces Back Street Symphony for British band Thunder; co-writes “She's So Fine” and “Until My Dying Day” with Luke Morley, and also plays 12-string guitar on “Dying Day”
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| << 1987 | 1988 | 1989 >> |
