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Duran Duran, "Serious"
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Posted on June 27, 2016 at 22:15:27 | ||
Posts: 7291
Location: Bay Area Joined: December 11, 2000 |
"Hey Lummy," writes one of my audiophile friends, "My wife likes Duran Duran. Pick one of their lesser known songs." By 1990, Duran Duran were largely forgotten, relegated to the early-80s dustbin/archives. Thrash metal, hip hop, dance, Freestyle, and alt-rock had squeezed New Wave out. In October 1990, I was a sophomore a UC Santa Cruz, and from my first floor single dorm room, I got to observe all the goings-on in the dorm. Octobers had warm weather, lots of parties, which often led to hook-ups. One warm and orange Saturday evening, a double room on the 2nd floor was clearing out and prepping for a party. The two girls, I would learn, coexisted, because they took turns getting out of each other's way. One girl, whose name I forget, was a strong wannabe hippie. The other, the petite brunette Warts, although sympathetic to the wannabe hippies' issues, was closer to normal/neutral. Why was the latter called Warts? Though she was from western Pennsylvania, her ancestors were from central European countries. Her surname was long, and full of consonants. Thus, it was easier for us to truncate her surname, and nickname her "Warts." Warts had a very middle-of-the-road personality, neither pushy nor reclusive. Though a genuinely nice person, she had the narrowest, pointiest cuspids I'd ever seen. So every time she smiled, which was often, her sharp, needle-like cuspids made me think she was a vampire, about to bite me. I did check out Warts' roommate's party. They were having their wannabe-psychedelic stuff, which didn't appeal to me. Warts downed a beer, burped, and smiled, "Well I am part German." On the way out, Warts grabbed a handful of her own CDs, a variety of pop music, and went with me to my room. We sat on the bed, and I let her pop in CDs into my Sony D-10 Discman. We set the AR Powered Partners down low, and just...listened. One of the CDs she had was Duran Duran's then-new album, Liberty. Track 4, "Serious," kind of took me by surprise. I thought it was the band maturing. And the snare drum "popped" through the mix. Warts smiled, "It's my favorite song on the album. I think it's sexy." And with that, we just.....talked. That was kind of odd, at contrast to the other times she and I had been in each other's company. In study group and the dining hall, Warts and I were always with other friends. So while she and I did mingle, she and I never had one-on-one private conversations. So to me, Duran Duran's "Serious" was the key, which unlocked the door to Warts. It's also what crystallizes all of my vivid memories of her. She took off her thin dirty-gray hoodie, revealing that she was wearing a red (matte, not bright) bra. Now, having seen all the lingerie left in the laundry room, I didn't come across many red bras. Hell, as my next-door neighbor Andrea remarked, hardly any of the girls in the dorm bothered to wear bras. Hoodie removed, Warts flicked and let loose her shoulder-length hair, and complained that it was "cardboard brown, ugly and boring." She rubbed her forearm, raised an arm, and pointed out that her leg, pubic, arm, armpit, and even facial hairs were the same shade of "ugly and boring" cardboard brown. Warts said she'd rather have black hair like mine. Duran Duran made a seemingly out-of-nowhere comeback in early 1993. And ever since then, they have regained their status as radio staples. Yet, you hardly ever hear the, as Warts said, "sexy" 1990 song, "Serious." Don't forget to play it. Or, well, as my wife KJ, who often bashes Duran Duran, says, "You can't forget it, if you never knew it in the first place!" Ouch, |
RE: Duran Duran, "Serious", posted on June 28, 2016 at 14:23:38 | |
Posts: 15486
Location: Alabama Joined: September 11, 2010 |
All great songs- Lummy. |
Speaking of Duran Duran...., posted on July 12, 2016 at 15:29:59 | |
Posts: 4493
Location: Chicago Joined: June 13, 2004 |
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