Duran Duran has been a very successful band in their almost forty year career. One does not have to look far to see statistics backing up this claim. Wikipedia states the following, “Since the 1980s they have placed 14 in the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart and 21 in the US Billboard Hot 100 and have sold more than 100 million records.[1][2]“.
If that wasn’t enough, Duran Duran has been nominated for countless awards and won many of them, including lifetime achievement awards. In an industry in which many careers are short lived, this band has been around for decades showing their staying power. Clearly, they are not content to just sit home and enjoy their rewards as they spend months writing and recording new albums. They still tour the world selling out arenas.
Despite this success, I’m willing to bet that Duran Duran experiences self-doubt. I’m thinking about those times in the studio when they are writing and recording new material. At times, they might think that they have found the beginnings of a great track. At other times, they might decide that they can’t create anything new that is worthy. Then, I’m sure that looking at current charts or album sales might lead to self-doubt. After all, they haven’t been as successful, commercially lately in comparison to the early 80s. Does that get to them? Does it bother them? If so, how do they deal with these feelings of self-doubt?
I have been thinking about this a lot lately in my own life. Over the course of my life, I can’t say that I have been successful with everything that I have done. I’m not that lucky or that good, but I have usually been successful when it comes to school and work (as opposed to my social life). As a kid, I figured that if I worked hard and studied a lot then the good grades and high praise from teachers would follow, which indeed was the case. Other students saw me as “smart” and “articulate”. Teachers recommended me for various tasks, usually not given to students. Academics generally made me feel good about myself, which continued through college where I earned accolades as well as attention from peers and administrators for my political activism.
After college, I immediately began teaching, which is the reason that I’m in my 19th year of teaching now. I grew up very quickly and took on responsibilities in my early 20s while my peers typically were exploring relationships and careers. Instead, I laser focused on my teaching career, determined to be the best teacher ever. After a rocky start, I found myself experiencing similar success as I did as a student. Principals filled my evaluations with positive comments and many students declared that they liked having me as a teacher.
This feeling of success stretched into the political world as I began campaigning in earnest in 2008 resulting in good turnout and high votes for the candidates I campaigned for. Even here, I felt successful more often than not. Our numbers grew as time went by. On top of that, people attended our events and expressed satisfaction in doing so. All of this resulted in a lot of confidence on my part, at least when it came to my work life.
While I never felt great about myself, socially, I always had work to fall back on. Lately, though, my confidence with work has wavered. I have a couple of classes that are making me question my skills as a teacher. My campaign team this year is much smaller than the past years. Likewise, I am not sure that as many people are reading our blog as before. I get few comments on the ones that I do write. Now, of course, I can give reasons for all of this. My classes are unbalanced with too many tough kids in just two classes. This year features different candidates than in the past and a lot of people in Wisconsin are tired of campaigning. We are in the midst of Duran downtime. All combined, though, makes it difficult for me to dismiss my feeling of self-doubt.
Is this the same for Duran Duran? Do the members experience the same feeling when they look at album sales or the chart positions that do not match what they once were? Do they question their skills as musicians? As artists? What do they do with those feelings to keep going? I wish I knew. I wish I had a better plan to deal with my own self-confidence beyond just trying to make it through one day at a time.
I know that many Duran critics believe that their best is long behind them, that they should have stopped in the 1980s. I have always admired Duran’s ability to fight this, to prove that what they do still matters. Now, I would love to know how they do it because there are days lately that I have found myself thinking that my best days at work are behind me. I would like to be like Duran, who refuse to listen to those voices that tell them to quit.
-A
I wish this was something Duran would talk about more, the ability to override those self-doubts that we all have in our lives. I’m sure it would be really helpful to fans to realise that their idols have down days and down moments too and how to overcome them.
I think…and I’m making a pretty big assumption here, but that’s never stopped me before (!!)…if they started talking about their doubts, it would take away a lot of their mystique with fans. Maybe not hard-core fans, but I kind of think that we aren’t the people they’re marketing to on a daily basis anyway. Duran Duran has always kind of been portrayed as this self-assured group. Not quite boastful, but not exactly humble either. Sure, long time, hard-core fans probably recognize that might just be part of their schtick, but I think overall…it’s the marketing scheme. I hear what you’re saying though, and I would love to get past the facade, past the smoke and mirrors too. Not to “expose”, but to really know them. That’s impossible though. That boundary is there for a reason, and I guess I’ve come to recognize and respect that my place is on the outside. -R
I agree, it would remove that mystique and they’ve said from the start how confident they were that they would succeed. Maybe that confidence is what fans admire and aspire to (myself included) and that’s part of the appeal. It would be nice once in a while to see that more vulnerable side. I think the nearest we’ve seen of that side is probably JT’s book.
I agree with you 100%. Even though I know and understand why they don’t do it – I still wish they would, at least with long time fans. I suppose it’s impossible though. -R
When it comes to self-doubt, I sometimes wonder if critics only say what they do because they, themselves, are essentially failures withing themselves so they have to try and find some warped sense of value by criticizing the efforts of others.
Yet, they themselves offer nothing new, nothing good, nothing created, only words that try and destroy.
To me, Duran’s greatest comes from not letting their fears stop them from trying to succeed, regardless of the result. Sure, nobody wants to think that what they’ve done isn’t the best they could do, but that desire to try, that effort to succeed, that willingness to fail is what defines real success imho.
And, by that measure, the critics are WRONG to try and say they should have stopped in the 80’s. Actually, they are partly right, for it is THEY who should have stopped, bitching and whining that is about others.
If they don’t like it, don’t listen to it, don’t buy it. But, for us who know better, I hope the band never stops writing or recording new music. I may not like it all, like I did say with RIO, but that’s not the point.
How much I DO like hearing and appreciating their new stuff for what it is, is all that matters. And, to Amanda’s point about voices that would try and tell them, or us, to quit, I say why listen to them??? They offer nothing but negativity, and as such they useless, needless and worthless which is actually the self-doubt THEY are filled with – that they have no purpose or value at all. As soon as the majority of people realize that, and shun them, the better place the world will be. :))
Self-doubting is sometiems an activity that we humans should parctise . Not regularly, just sometimes during our life.
It is healthy: reset – think – take your next step.
You must be lucid and the company of a friend or of a family member you trust on is highly recommended.