Fanzine Week 2: Day 1
Welcome to Cherry Lipstick's second Fanzine Week!
We're going to be busy this week - just like our globe-trotting heroes! Since the last Fanzine Week Duran finally worked out Hawaii was a sensible place to have a concert, they probably didn't pack plastic knives and forks at the Electric Picnic, and have also squeezed in some well-paid corporate schmoozing of generally impressed millionaires in Monaco and Singapore. This week they'll be in Japan to close down the two-year Paper Gods fest and it will all go quiet for at least 6 months. Then we wait for DD40 in 2018...
This week has so many fan contributions from around the world. Hopefully it will remind us all of when those wonderful envelopes with the latest fanzine popped through our letter boxes. (Or, if you're in America, in that mail-box thing on a post at the bottom of your long path near where the paper boy has chucked your newspaper on your front lawn whilst cycling down a massive street).
5 days, 5 posts - reviews, views, missives and a little silliness. Enjoy the new issue of Cherry Lipstick.
Contributions during the week are welcome - send them to cherrylipstick1994.2000@gmail.com
Adam Wilson,
Editor (since 1993)
But first, a word from our sponsors:
The last Fanzine Week inspired Anita Eve Perez to design the wonderful Cherry Lipstick word logo which you see above and on this issue's front cover. Thank you.
Download the Cherry Lipstick app from the Google Play store (Android only).
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Now back to the main feature:
Fanzine Week 1 was started brilliantly by Jon Woodhouse and so we decided to copy that and have him start this one too:
What happened to All You Need is Now?
We all know that every band showcases its latest album on a current tour. Duran Duran are no exception, but they have tended to overcook this as recent tours including Paper Gods have seen up to 6 tracks played. 3 or 4 would be more appropriate as it would then allow the playing of rarities and b sides.
I'm therefore a little perplexed as to why DD has dropped everything from All You Need Is Now from the current set. Wasn't this album hailed as a return to roots? The old sound? The follow-up-to-Rio-that-never-was (not that it was) with life long fan Mark Ronson the uber celebrity producer?
Looking at recent history I can understand why Sunrise is the only Astronaut track now set listed. It is their last chart hit single and there's not much else on that album worth a run out. That Red Carpet Massacre has likewise been forgotten is also not too surprising with the 'dream' combination of Timberland / Lake resulting in commercial disaster and severing of the Sony deal. However, contradicting all of that is the continual inclusion of White Lines from the critically abused album Thank You....work that one out!
All You Need Is Now is much better than all of that. I can only think that it's been excluded as it lacks a bonafide hit. However, surely it marks an important stage in their recent history and is worthy of at least one track? How about a 3 minute blast of Being Followed running into Blame the Machines? Both strong tracks showcasing good musicianship, a nod to the old sound but with a contemporary feel.
You could argue that the previous tour showcased the album, but I think it's an important part of recent DD history and deserves to be included.
With rumours of a 40th anniversary tour next year, which would surely include mainly hits and hopefully some B sides and album tracks, it will be interesting to see if any of AYNIN is included. If not, I think a fair conclusion is to say that Duran do not rate it as part of their catalogue.
We read Simon's memories of Fiona Kemp, his ex-girlfriend who got him an audition for Duran Duran in May 1980, in his diaries for Cherry Lipstick (here).
Another key woman in the early Duran years was Clare Stansfield. Fliss remembers her own personal anguish:
"It was reported in the Sun that Simon and Clare had got engaged. Me and my friend Helen were distraught so we constructed a letter to the fan club."
And here is the Fan Club's response to Fliss:
Fliss notes that the letter head (undated but c.1984) featured the old Duran '81 logo. As she says: "that's the 'crap questions' letter head. If you asked about the music you probably got the latest logo letter head."
Last time Notoriousaurus Rex told us about his first Duran concert on the Paper Gods tour. Now he tells us his tale of the first time he bought and heard an album at the time of its release. For us this might have been some time ago. But for N Rex it was just two years ago...
One of my fondest memories from the time I "discovered" Duran Duran 4 years ago was the day that I liked the group on Facebook. That same day they had posted a picture with them in the studio with the hashtag #DD14. I remember being shocked. My thoughts were along the lines of "wait, they're making music still? In 2013?" Back then, the only albums I had heard in their entirety were "Big Thing" and "Rio", so you could imagine my excitement at hearing something new at the same at the same time as everyone else.
The making of "Paper Gods" took forever, there's no denying that. I remember seeing comment after comment from disgruntled Duranies asking what the hold up was, to which some humorously said that the album was 'on Duran time' I didn't mind, because during this wait, I made friends with so many Duranies (some of them living right here in Georgia!) . We all would share all the rumours and bits of info that may or may not be true surrounding the then unnamed album. I even had the chance to really listen and understand Duran, far beyond what I knew before.
Finally it was September 10th, 2015. I remember getting the notification on my phone that night that the album was ready to be downloaded. I took the day off work in preparation for the next day. I remember standing in line at the FYE on Sept 11th in the mall, holding my copy of the deluxe edition of Paper Gods in my hand like it was a gift from God. I remember driving to three different Target stores because the first two were sold out of the Target version. But most of all, I remember lying down in my bed, listening to each song in order and having my jaw drop lower and lower to the ground out of pure excitement and awe.
I remember wondering if this is what it felt like, to be a teenage fan of the band back in the 80s on the release day of one of their albums, like Seven and the Ragged Tiger.
Having to endure all the jokes and criticism from the people my age for liking a band that's "as old as my parents" was more than worth it. Paper Gods will always hold a special place in my heart, not just because of the incredible songs on it, but because it was the first album Duran Duran released after I'd become a fan. It symbolizes my entry into the Duran fandom, and the warmth and kindness that I experienced from almost every Duranie I've ever met since!
And finally... our QUOTE OF THE DAY from Mr Nigel Taylor:
see you all tomorrow for Day 2!