Duran Duran, Three To Get Ready

By Jemiah Jefferson

“No obscure cheeses.”
—John Taylor, giving directions of what the band wants on its tour rider

The film opens on a very dry, very droll Nick Rhodes rejecting most of a series of recent photos of the band. We see that he’s joined with Simon Le Bon, just as dubious about most of the pictures, but he does helpfully supply, “I like the shape in the middle.” The empty space might have once been occupied by their departed band mates, Andy Taylor and Roger Taylor. Without even meaning to, this signals a new Duran Duran than expected by the legions of loyal global fans seduced by their mixture of surrealism, style, and raw sensuality, but accustomed to the five faces and iconic mops of expertly teased hair.

This is Three to Get Ready, the 1986 documentary depicting a band all too aware of their market share, refusing to be fractured, and yet straining towards expressing the creativity embodied in the core members of Le Bon, Rhodes, and the remaining Taylor: John, a former art student, lover of punk rock and disco, and at this time, in the grips of raging cocaine and hashish addiction yet no less tenderly gorgeous as he manifested in the earliest days of Duran Duran (and was barely out of his teens).

Their lives are full of intense hard work—photo shoots, hours of phone calls to radio stations, musically jamming towards collaborative songs, setting up a massive tour to try to prove themselves serious musicians and not just a convenient quintet of beautiful faces.

By 1986, Duran Duran’s original drummer Roger Taylor had had a nervous breakdown and left the band in favor of being a gentleman farmer (but really, what does an urban boy from Birmingham know about running a fucking farm? He’d be back.) and irascible guitarist Andy Taylor enmeshed in his crazy, coke-fueled, but immensely talented solo dreams. (Andy’s album Thunder has some great ’80s guitar rock songs on it and is worth a listen).

Successful side projects The Power Station and Arcadia are now behind them, experiences that expanded the worlds, musically and personally, of the band members. Still, it was time to get back to the real work of Duran Duran.

What’s amazing about this documentary is that their dedication to the group is so unwavering. It really seems to be a part of them, especially the cheery and thoughtful Simon, but also the grinning, beautiful, silly John Taylor, who might have been wasted, but never less than professional. He is the one playing with effortless concentration during their endless rehearsals, taking notes, giving his opinions to engineers and backup musicians. He shows less of the sleeplessness that makes Simon dull and daffy, and Nick robotic and impassive. John loves to make music. He’s a marketing savant, and has a keen aesthetic eye, but the music is of paramount importance to him.

The stalwart, impassable Nick looks after the visuals and coolly plays synths, never displaying a drop of sweat or a tiny crack in his composure. Simon excels at client services; he’s the face, the personality, the public mind with the silver tongue to match his clear and darting thoughts. He loves the music, too, though; he takes enormous pleasure in singing, posing, showing off even if no one pays him much attention. He’s just Simon being Simon, goofing, swearing, hip-swinging, being theatrical.

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