Durantime has been a major topic of discussion lately. The debate, like many in Duranland, is full of complexity and cannot be broken into a simple Durantime is good and healthy vs. Durantime is bad and unhealthy. Part of this debate, though, even unsaid, is based on the idea of how much time is too much time. In thinking about this myself, I realized that there isn’t actual information about what Durantime or Duran downtime has been like in the past. Thus, I thought it would benefit all of us in actually compiling that information. I know having information, facts, together helps me in my thinking and maybe it will help you, too, in drawing some conclusions about the current Durantime.
First, it seems to me that one should look at touring, as that is a big event that gets a lot of fans excited. We all know that Duran has taken breaks from touring, but how long have the breaks been and when? To answer that question, I referred to dd. com’s complete tour list and here is what I found.
Tours or individual dates took place in the following years: 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992 (2 dates), 1993, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 (private/corporate), 2011, and 2012.
The longest time in between tours was 3 years from 1984-1987 and 3 years from 1989-1992. That said, 1985 saw a tour from Power Station. Perhaps, that should not count as 3 years then. Then, we know that they did not tour after Liberty. We can then debate that this was a good choice or not. Interesting that their longest time in between tours, STILL featured a new album, still had Duran news. Since the reunion in 2003, the band has toured every year since then until 2013. If they don’t tour until 2015, this will the longest stretch since 1989-1992.
Beyond touring, how long has it been between albums or album release dates
Self-titled debut album: June 1981
Rio: May 1982 (11 months after last one)
Seven and the Ragged Tiger: November 1983 (1 year and 6 months after last one)
Notorious: November 1986 (3 years after last one–although Power Station and Arcadia happened in between)
Big Thing: October 1988 (1 year and 11 months after the last one)
Liberty: August 1990 (1 year and 10 months after the last one)
The Wedding Album: February 1993 (2 years and 6 months after the last one)
Thank You: April 1995 (1 year and 10 months after the last one)
Medazzaland: October 1997 (2 years and 6 months after the last one)
Pop Trash: June 2000 (2 years and 8 months after the last one)
Astronaut: October 2004 (4 years and 4 months after the last one)
Red Carpet Massacre: November 2007 (3 years and 1 month after the last one)
All You Need Is Now: December 2010 (digital release) (3 years and 1 month after the last one)
Based on this information, the longest the band has gone between albums is 4 years and 4 months with Astronaut. Obviously, I will point out that this is when the Simon, Nick and Warren version of the band ended and the original five reunited. 4 years and 4 months from All You Need Is Now will be April 2015. On average, though, the band has taken 29 months or a little less than 2 and a half years to release a new album. We are past that, at this point.
Does this information clarify the discussion of Durantime? Does it help you make sense of people’s perspectives? Of yours?
-A