Nothing sells better than kitsch and irony which is perhaps why the latest efforts of 80’s pop icons Duran Duran along 90’s supermodel icons leave us spellbound, dazzled and begging for more of what made them famous in the first place way back when fame and pop stardom where thrust upon us with the advent of the 80’s music video.
After prolonged bouts of absences Duran Duran have produced a new song called “Girl Panic,’ which draws on our current fascination for fame, stardom and glam – something that they were the first to hype up when they first began to use supermodels (as now) to promote their music and to at the same time gently mock the same sensibilities that once made them titans in the pop glam world. The models for their part relish in the mock role play (they assume the identities of the rock members whilst the rock members assume identities of hotel staff, drivers, and paparazzi). Perhaps it all works because we know that they were once (and still are) very famous and their wish to invert and gently mock their roles says more about the ease and confidence that these players have than any effort to strenuously assert that they are meteorite stars- of course in a perverse way the gentle banality discreetly serves to resurrect their meteorite status and our willingness to give into lush mock- something that mustn’t had been lost on them when they started shooting.
Set at London’s Savoy Hotel the 9 minute long video (yes we kid you not), the video directed by Jonas Akerlund (of Lady Gaga ‘Telephone’ fame) stars Naomi Campbell (as lead singer Simon Le Bon), Helena Christensen (Roger Taylor), Eva Herzigova (Nick Rhodes), Cindy Crawford (John Taylor) and Yasmin Le Bon who is keen to point out “I am NOT a member of Duran Duran”.
That said enjoy the glam, the sex appeal, the name dropping, the star dropping and the unadulterated self referencing which aims to mock us as much as themselves. Either way me thinks you’ll be dancing on the balls of your feet…
