Duran Duran (#26) | Def Leppard (#27)- Evan’s 111 Artists

Memories of my teen emotions remain strong.

To set the tone, give this gem of a Duran Duran 1984 performance from Madison Square Garden a spin.

What a time to be 14!

Short shorts, early stage mullet and my Duran ¾ tee with my mom, Jay and Matt in ‘84.

They were THE Boy Band of our time. The FAB-5.  Bands envied them, girls had their favorite Duran... and so did I.

John, the bass player was REALLY good and by far the coolest, Nick Rhodes on keys was way ahead of Zoolander with the poses. Simon was a fun frontman, great energy and swagger. Roger’s drums were electric; I didn’t like that.

Andy, with the most aggressive mullet, I rooted for, but we never really got to hear his guitar… or if we did, as Er reminded me, the video screen would focus on Nick striking poses and the place would ERUPT while Andy was actually banging out a great technical solo. Poor Andy.

One of our band Quest’s earliest songs was Planet Earth… you have to watch this, if for nothing else the ridiculous fashion and '80’s boy band dancing. I got to play the keyboard part on guitar and the backup vocals were fun, later we played Hungry Like The Wolf.

Kind of like the Police, both songs proved to us the music wasn’t simple. They were legit writers and players.

What I really loved also was the band vibe. They seemed like friends who loved playing together, and being a band.  

They were as cool as it got for a new band at the time, full ‘80s embrace.   

Full ‘80s embrace at my Dad’s wedding with my step-brother Michael. I drank everything in site, my red shag carpet never recovered.

I saw them live right as they started to blow up in the States. It was early ‘84, the Seven and the Ragged Tiger tour at Madison Square Garden. We took the train into NYC, it ran from New Brunswick right into Penn Station/MSG.

This was maybe my 4th live show, and definitely the first one without my mom.

Carl, Eric (my brother), and Mike (our drummer, a.k.a. ‘Juice’) were with me. Not sure why Matt didn’t join. We were SO PUMPED.

By far the biggest moment was before the show.

We were walking around the block outside MSG and we saw the band in a huge white limo as they were entering the Garden, fans were going INSANE, banging on the limo and screaming, and Juice just looked at them and gave them a cool, two-thumbs-up, classic.

God knows how much coke they snorted that night. The vocals were pretty rough, but that didn’t matter; they made up for it with huge energy and the crowd was like nothing I had ever experienced, pure insanity.

We stood on our seats and screamed along with every song. It felt like all of MSG knew all of the words.

At this time, we had 3 Duran records, and the endless magazine stuff, but the biggest thing by far— the music videos. Each one was like a mini action adventure film that only cast beautiful people in exotic locations.

If you’ve never seen these, or it’s been 30 years... enjoy! Save a Prayer | Rio

They were WAY cooler than Miami Vice, but the budget to shoot these might have been the same.

Eric REALLY wanted to be them, he was a HUGE fan. Pretty sure at one point he wore one white and one black Capezezios. That’s where I drew the line, but we all wore parachute pants.

Er did deliver on the recordings though, always finding live imports. He brought home a B-side that had this amazing cover song called Make Me Smile.

Another English band, Def Leppard, had some huge videos at that same time. Very different though.

They were Rock. ‘80s Rock.

Photograph was the first single I remember, then Bringing On The Heartbreak. The guitars blended so amazingly, the harmonies, hooks, sing-along choruses and the overall sound, massive.

We started playing Rock of Ages in the basement, and we felt cool doing so. It became credible to wear a Def Leppard 3/4 tee alongside your Zeppelin and AC/DC.

Around this time, their drummer, Rick Allen, got into a car wreck and lost his arm.

News didn’t travel very quickly back then. You probably heard a mention on the radio. Eventually we learned the full story with VH1’s Behind the Music, an epic music show.

Years later they were back on the scene with such a good record. The best part: it was the same band with Rick holding down the drums post-accident.

It was a sweet comeback with more great songs like Animal, Pour Some Sugar on Me, and then the bigger hits, which didn’t play as much in the Camaros at my High School: Hysteria and Love Bites.

Before kids, working in music and living in NYC ‘97-’04 — what a special time. The view from our West 10th street apartment.

In 2002 we were living in NYC, in the early days of AOL Music. The label invited us to see Def Leppard at Irving Plaza, a strategic underplay. Meaning, they can sell out arenas and this is a 1,200-person room. It was INCREDIBLE.

The right band with stadium anthems can make a smaller room come to life in a different and, to me, much more meaningful way.

After years of trying to convince Diane to move west, in 2012 we moved the family to a really cool community called Monte Nido in the Malibu Hills. It was an instant hit: a dark sky community that was safe for young kids to be outside together, going from home to home.

Our new life in Malibu was not a hard-sell, a pretty perfect place to dive into nature and raise the kids.

A few weeks in, a funny thing happened. Rick Allen walked up my driveway and asked if we had beer bottles thrown onto our driveway from a party that got a little out of hand a few nights earlier. “Nope, but hey, I’m Evan.”

He was with his daughter, who it turned out, threw a party that got out of control, so she called the police. And he wanted to make sure she apologized to any pissed-off neighbors.

Great parenting and she took it like a champ.

Lauren became our babysitter and is still in touch with Luli and Rex.

Lauren and Luli in Monte Nido.

Rick and I would chat. I remember one really fun conversation at our Rock n Roll cemetery where the party usually gathered after the kids were home with their candy on Halloween... we had a Whiskey Bar and loud music.

Our dark sky community in Monte Nido was such an incredible place.

__________

“Dad, you always say this song is a F*CKING MASTERPIECE… make a list.”

Enjoy Duran Duran and Def Leppard masterpieces on my 1k+ song Spotify Playlist — Evan’s 111 Artists