Duran Duran (1993 album)

Duran Duran (commonly known as The Wedding Album ) is the seventh studio album and the second self-titled album by the English pop rock band Duran Duran, released on 15 February 1993 through Parlophone and Capitol Records.

Background
As the 1990s progressed, the once-certain popularity that Duran Duran enjoyed in the 1980s began to fade. Many critics began to write them off as a throwback to the new wave era, with some declaring their career "over". During this period, the band found themselves struggling to adjust to the evolving music scene, which was being shaped by the rise of genres like hip hop, techno, and alternative rock. Keyboardist Nick Rhodes said in a 2013 retrospective piece: "The '80s had ended and a lot of people wanted to lock the door and close Duran Duran in that decade, too, I think. At the end of the '80s, music changed considerably. We had grunge, techno and rave culture, which left us in a place where we felt we had to make ourselves relevant to the times. We weren't about to make a grunge or techno album, but we had our songwriting. We very much went back to basics."

Following the release of their studio album Liberty in 1990, Duran Duran faced worsening financial difficulties. This was primarily attributed to poor album sales, lack of touring to promote Liberty, and excessive spending.  The album saw limited commercial success, peaking at number 46 in the US. The singles "Violence of Summer (Love's Taking Over)" and "Serious" achieved only moderate to low success on the US and UK charts. Despite reaching number eight in the UK, it wasn't enough to convince Capitol or EMI, Duran Duran's record labels, that the band was on the right track. Nonetheless, Capitol did not completely abandon them, agreeing to provide financial support for a new album under strict supervision.

Recording
Duran Duran was recorded and produced mainly at American musician Warren Cuccurullo's home studio in Battersea, London, named "Privacy".

Title and packaging
The band ultimately chose to self-title the album after describing themselves as having to go "back to the basics". After its publication, the album became known alternatively as The Wedding Album, inspired by the album's cover art and to distinguish it from the band's 1981 album.

British visual design artist Nick Egan collaborated with graphic designer Eric Roinestad to create the album cover for Duran Duran. Departing from the band's traditional approach of costly album cover photoshoots, Egan opted to craft a "piece of art" that would stand out. His final design features a collage using sepia-toned wedding photos of each band member's parents, suggested by Nick Rhodes, with a gold Duran Duran logo at the centre. The inspiration behind the collage was drawn from the work of American graphic artist Robert Rauschenberg, known for his influence on the pop art movement. Egan aimed to capture the essence of Rauschenberg's collages, which he describes as having "seemingly random images [laid] on top of each other with the faintest hint of off-register color as if the whole thing were screen-printed". British magazine Classic Pop cited other potential inspirations for the album design, such as Jean-Michel Basquiat for its "raw illustrative sketching" and Andy Warhol for its "overlaid print effects". Throughout the album are liner notes created using embossing tape from a Dymo label printer and grease pencil writing on masking tape, contributing to the do-it-yourself concept Egan envisioned.

Prior to the creation of the album cover, John Taylor was looking for an artist to design the band's new album cover. He mentioned to American actor Billy Zane, who happened to be visiting London at the time, that he was interested in having Nick Egan create the artwork. To Taylor's surprise, Zane revealed that he was good friends with Egan, and that he was also in London. Taylor promptly reached out to Egan, arranging a meeting at his residence within hours to discuss the band's vision for the album design.

Release and singles
Recording of the album was completed in early 1992, with a planned mid-year release by their record label.  However, Duran Duran's new management company, Left Bank, was distressed at the industry's lack of interest in the band and the label's seeming lack of enthusiasm for promotion of the album. Despite receiving positive feedback from shared material of the album that Duran Duran had provided to Capitol-EMI, the band's label were hesitant in releasing the album, preferring to focus on what they considered to be "priority" acts. This led to the album being temporarily pulled from the release schedule as a way to address the concerns raised by Left Bank. In an interview with HitQuarters, Left Bank manager Tommy Manzi expressed frustration, stating that the industry seemed resistant to the comeback of Duran Duran. He believed that the focus was on promoting "the next hip band" rather than supporting established acts like Duran Duran. Manzi mentioned that industry insiders even "laughed at" Left Bank while they worked on reviving the careers of not only Duran Duran, but also Meat Loaf. Despite their efforts, industry insiders seemed to dismiss these "old" acts. This lack of recognition and support ultimately resulted in the album being shelved, with a release date set for 1993.

During the delay of the album, the remaining members of Duran Duran found themselves at a creative crossroads. John Taylor returned to his wife in Los Angeles, while Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes, and Warren Cuccurullo began working on cover songs for what would later become the Thank You album. The unexpected leak of their song "Ordinary World" to radio stations in Jacksonville, Florida caught the band off guard. Speculation arose that their own record label had intentionally leaked the track to gauge public interest, as Duran Duran had seen a decline in popularity after a decade of chart success. To their surprise, "Ordinary World" received positive reception from listeners and was a hit at radio stations, sparking a renewed interest in the band's music. The positive feedback led to Capitol Records advancing the song's release as a single. "Ordinary World" was officially released as a single on 19 December 1992 by Capitol Records and made its debut on record charts the following year, reaching number six in the UK and number three in the US.

Personnel
Adapted from the album's liner notes.


 * Duran Duran
 * Simon Le Bon – lead vocals
 * Warren Cuccurullo – acoustic and electric guitars
 * Nick Rhodes – keyboards
 * John Taylor – bass guitar (except track 6)


 * Additional personnel
 * John Jones – programming, engineer, keyboards, drums (all tracks except 1, 2, 7 and 9), bass (track 6)
 * Milton Nascimento – vocals (track 7)
 * Steve Ferrone – drums (tracks 1 and 2), percussion (track 10)
 * Vinnie Colaiuta – drums (track 7 and "Falling Angel")
 * Dee Long – additional keyboards (track 11)
 * Bosco – percussion (track 7)
 * Lamya – backing vocals (track 3)
 * Tessa Niles – backing vocals (track 6)
 * Karen Hendrix – vocal samples (track 4)
 * Jack Merigg – vocal samples (track 4)


 * Production
 * Duran Duran – production (all tracks), mixing (track 5)
 * John Jones – production (all tracks), engineering (all tracks except track 9) , sub-mixing, mixing (track 5)
 * Tony Taverner – live drum session engineering (tracks 1, 2, 7, and 9)
 * Stuart Every – assistant live drum session engineer (tracks 1, 2, and 7)
 * David Richards – mixing (tracks 1–3, 6–8, and 10–13)
 * David Leonard – mixing (tracks 4 and 9)
 * Kevin Metcalfe – mastering