Duran Duran - song-by-song rate & discussion thread

Kiss Goodbye


This new age sounding 40 second snippet has the melody of the chorus of the final track on the Pop Trash album (proper).

 

148 Last Day on Earth



"Last Day on Earth" is a single by Duran Duran, released in Japan from the album Pop Trash by AVEX-Hollywood Records on 7 January 2001.

Warren Cuccurullo and Nick Rhodes wrote and recorded a song called "Tomorrow Never Dies" with vocalist Tessa Niles, for the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies. The song wasn't chosen, so Duran Duran re-recorded it for the Pop Trash album, with new lyrics under the title "Last Day on Earth".

The track is a frantic, almost metallic hard rock song, featuring the complex time signature of 5/4 in the verses, which highlights the versatility of Warren Cuccurullo's songwriting and guitar playing.

Additional musicians:

• Wes Wehmiller - bass guitar
• Steve Alexander - drums

 

For those of you interested here was their failed attempt at the 1997 Bond Theme:

Tomorrow Never Dies (demo)

 

Kiss Goodbye and Last Day on Earth. Both 4.5/5. What a way to end an album. If this was the last statement with Warren on record, then what a way to go!

 

stranger. and stranger and stranger. wow this thread keeps on giving and giving and giving.

 

The Sun Doesn't Shine Forever:


Fok, man! What the fok is that?! Hate the pseudo Clapton guitar introduction, the verses are already surprisingly cheap but the chorus takes the "Get the lighters out, let's sing this all together!" cookie. That Simon sounds a bit like Damon Albarn is at least funny. God, the guitar on this one is bad.

1/ 5

 

Last Day on Earth

Superb...this is a direction I approve of. DD with a touch of heavy.

4/5

 

Christ, I never knew Nick was like that!

 

Kiss Goodbye - 3/5: nice little into to the closer

Last Day on Earth - 3/5: Finally! The last song on Pop Trash and the last song of the Warren era. Great chorus and the heavy guitar works for once. Like Too Much Information though, it’s rocker that overstays it’s welcome and the length dilutes its impact.

 

Kiss Goodbye - Obviously has a bit of the final track, but I think it work better if it was the final track, after Last Day On Earth. 4/5
Last Day On Earth - Yeah, this is good. Love the time signature and the guitars. A nice signing off by Warren (not that he knew it at the time). 4.5/5

 

not gonna lie. with a few changes “pop trash” would be almost as good as “medazzaland.” not quite as interesting or engaging, but both better than i gave them credit for when they were released.

 

Wow, yet another (to me) unrevealed view on the band dynamics that is very enlightening. Thank you for sharing this at exactly the right moment in this thread ! The road that Duran Duran took is now so very much more clear to me. I can see now that the reunion or the end was unavoidable. Knowing this, it's actually quite an achievement that Pop Trash did get made. This little quote, and knowing what drama would follow six years later, makes me understand so much better why DD doesn't have a permanent guitar player any more.

 

Tiger Tiger (Ian Little remix)

Yes, I do know I’m quite ahead... but bear with me just for a moment: this one came up during breakfast and I’ve had a ‘wow’ moment - might the chordal bass line at the very beginning be inspired by the one on “Walk on the Wild Side”?

 

Maybe it was Simon!

 

Last Day On Earth- like the time signature . The Bond demo lyrically is a mess , this is much more a improvement. So after listening to Medozzaland , that one still holds up for me and would probably be in my top five. Pop Trash wasn't as good as I remembered , but it's a fun record, never gets boring , and has 2-3 excellent tunes.

 

it’s something for sure

 

If you thought there have been some strange tracks in DD canon, think again:

149 Prototypes


"Prototypes" is an experimental recording by Duran Duran, released as a bonus track on the album Pop Trash by Hollywood Records on 19 June 2000.

This is a collection of short experimental tracks produced by Warren Cuccurullo and Nick Rhodes' TV Mania.

"Prototypes" was released on various international versions of the album Pop Trash, including the German and Japanese editions.

The sections are as follows:
1 - Ring back (not engaged)
2 - Stromo vs. Retibol
3 - Virus
4 - Higher voice
5 - Gm virus
6 - Piece of mind
7 - Archibaldo's favourite toy
8 - Ocean of sound
9 - Reprints
10 - Wire Tap
11 - Thick skin
12 - Missing link
13 - A walk in the park

 

Prototypes, 1/5. Trying to avant- guard, but haven’t got a clue...

 

Last Day On Earth



(Oops I've gone out of sync on this thread): In many ways this frantic, neurotic track with its excellent time signatures & guitar interplay was a perfect and very strong sign off for Warren. As although he did not know it at the time it was his his last track (proper) on DD "Planet" Earth!

4.0/5

 

Prototypes - Hmm...yes...well...1/5

 

Prototypes - 1/5: please no more Pop Trash. Can we move along already?

To that end, any discussion of the reunion/ Astronaut era has to include the leaked demos.

I don’t want to derail this thread but I feel like we have to share our thoughts on the magnificent Beautiful Colors, Salt in the Rainbow, etc.

I don’t think each demo deserves their own day, but they should be discussed in the larger context of the final album and what could have been.

 

==
Beautiful Colours. That should have been their comeback single. Great song! What a wasted opportunity! More later.

 

Checking back in to give Blame the Machines an amazing high five for keeping this sweet bastard going. No easy feat! Keep going, man!

 

I've heard of the Ken Scott mixes before but never seen it detailed along with Simon's disconnect in that detail before. I had assumed he just had had writer's block as most sources claim and that it became more of a TV Mania offshoot-not that Nick wrote most of the lyrics.
Curiouser and curiouser...
Starting to Remember
This song is more of a lightweight but just hits all the right notes for me. It's quite gorgeous and is reminiscent arguably of their Crystal Ship cover from TY. There is definitely a Beatle-y vibe to it as well. 4/5
Pop Trash Movie
The best and most obvious selection on the album for "should have been a hit single". I hadn't heard the Blondie version in some time and while it's quite good this version destroys it. Beautiful energy and I've always loved how the sound opens up for the choruses and then closes back for the verses. I'd argue the song is perfected by that fantastic Warren guitar sweep into each chorus. Balance that against the lovely string section and the lyrics which dance between wistful and hopeful..and this is a band classic. This is probably the one track on the album you can feel most that all three members were engaged. 5/5
Fragment
Because someone has to have these tiny in between tracks that are not songs! And you always get fooled that it's going to be some interesting song when-nope Nick and/or Warren just having fun goofing off etc.! Not really rateable but I guess 3/5 as it's a good interlude.
Mars Meets Venus
A forgotten track that could have been a decent charting single. It has a bit of a one note vibe through the choruses but that's part of the style. I get it sounding like other artists from the time period but the choruses take off and I think this one holds up pretty well. Apparently I like it much more than others. 4.5/5
Lady Xanax
Phenomenal title and if you can hang with the length this song really grows on you over time. Really great slow burning track but I will agree this is where the album starts to really slow down. 4/5
The Sun Doesn't Shine Forever
At first it sounds like anti-DD but there are good things in here. It's very basic and straightforward though. Probably the one song that could be skipped or should have been a bonus cut. 3.5/5
Kiss Goodbye
Gorgeous and probably my favorite of their interlude songs. 4/5
Last Day on Earth
Back on track with a controlled fury. Great closing track with a harder edge and fits perfectly after the interlude. 4/5

I hadn't heard of Prototypes and only knew of the Spanish/French bonus tracks of Someone Else.
Prototypes
AKA TV MANIA track of random noises that could have been used as locked grooves back in the day.

 

I resent that. Bedroom Toys is great!