By Heidi
What does Duran Duran mean to me? The quick answer to this question would be ‘everything’. Period. But wait a minute. That’s not exactly true. Though Duran Duran has been a constant in my life since 1984, they do not mean everything to me. If I ranked what’s most important to me, Duran Duran would not make it to the top 3 because that’s where you’d find my children, hubby and my life as it is. Instead they mean a great deal and a lot to me and here’s why. To me Duran Duran is very much about the music. What I mean by this obvious fact is that I stick to buying the regular albums released, but I no longer collect Duran Duran related stuff. To me music is very much related to emotions. I feel music more than I analyze it. I get overwhelmed and cry when I attend choir work concerts. I feel the injustice and rage of The Clash’s Guns of Brixton. I feel the loss when I listen to Gabrielle’s Out of Reach and certain Duran Duran songs like Nothing Less can make me cry too.
Duran Duran came into my life at a time where my life was being turned upside down because my parents split up. During the course of a year, I first lived with my dad, then with my mum and I moved house four times in the course of that year. Duran Duran became my one constant or my comfort music if you will. They still are. If a work day has been particularly tough, I shut my colleagues out by putting on my headphones and listen to a bit of Duran Duran and just like that the world is a better place. Concerts are great, yes, but it’s my daily dose that does the trick for me. As I have grown older, I listen less to music. When I was a teen I listened to music all day long. Now I cherish the quiet. But the one time of day where I do listen to music is when I cook. I love cooking. Some couples love to cook together. I like to cook alone. That’s the time of day, when I do Heidi-stuff and that includes listening to Duran Duran.
So contrary to many fans, I have never been part of a fan community that is until I joined Twitter. The other fans I used to hang out with in junior high grew out of Duran Duran. I do remember being invited to a small fan gathering in a café in Copenhagen back in 1999 but I was pregnant at the time so nesting seemed far more important that Duran Duran and so I lost touch with other fans. Has it felt lonely? Not really. As I said, the music is what’s most important to me after all. That said, I enjoy the little corner of Twitter where I’ve found lots of other Duran fans. I love the way I can refer to Duran related stuff that no one else would get, but other fans will. Through Twitter I have met a bunch of funny people some of whom have become friends.
