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John Taylor of Duran Duran

#21
John is a pretty talented guy IMHO, and he is generally considered to be a good bass player.

I was a closet Duran Duran fan. I was in a metal band, and hung with metalheads. I love metal too, but I liked a lot of the 80's Brit and New Wave stuff. First Duran Duran song I ever heard was Rio. Kiler bass line, and even has a solo in it!

BTW - I am moving this one to Bassists.:)
 
#24
In the 80's I was a metalhead and wanted to kill him. Now, I listen to some of their early stuff and realize that John was/is a damn good groove player. Hungry Like the Wolf, Girls on Film... good stuff.
 
#26
I have absolutely no shame in admitting that Mr. Taylor was one of my strongest influences in my early days of playing (and listening to) bass guitar.
His lines were kinetic, groovy and punched through the mix remarkably. And, in some cases, completey propelled the song. The line in "Rio" is still one of the coolest basslines in all of recorded pop music.

I was extremely surprised to read in an interview with John many years ago that he never thought of himself as being much of a player. Astonishing!

Aside from his playing, John's sound was a big influence on me in the early 80's, and still is. That midrange-punchy tone that he got out of his Aria Pro II's was to die for. And, his technique of pulling strings every once in awhile to produce a pseudo-slap tone (much like what Geddy Lee used to excel at) still plays a part in my personal "bag of tricks".

Duran Duran was never appreciated for the musical and technical abilities it possessed. Musicians should really listen to them more open-mindedly.

--Winston TK
 
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#29
Man that guy can switch from finger style to slap faster than you can blink! I saw him in concert in 88? It was close to that! And man at the end of rio he played about a 6 min bass solo and it was awsome! I wonder if there is a live cd of theres?

Another awsome bass player from those days and even more embarrising to admit is kajagoo goo! Remember too shy? Listen to there live stuff! They opened for duran duran and i still think it was John playing for them! Same style and force behind it.

Dont be embaressed to say you like those guys because i can promise you that thye can smash 75% Of the bass players here!
 
#30
I just bought RIO(the remaster) the other day. I used to listen to DD constantly when I was playing piano and going to school.
I haven't heard RIO since I started playing bass almost 10 years ago. I was totally blown away at how much my sound mimmicks John Taylor's.
I agree regarding Kajagoo Goo and Level 42. John Taylor and DD paved the way for all of them phunky white boy Brit bands and I love them all!!

T. Alan
 
#33
Yeah but there is a major diff between duran duran and the backstreet boys! Duran had talent! Thise guys have none! Did you guys see the connan obrien show the other night when he made hes own boy band? At first i thought how funny,but then i thought how sad that they did just as good as those stupied boy bands!
 
#36
I HAVE TO SAY THAT JOHN TAYLOR IS THE BIGGEST INFLUENCE ON MY BASS PLAYING.IWAS A HUGE FAN OF DD .I BELIEVE THAT HIS BASS TALENT WAS THE MAIN CRITERIA THAT KEPT DD ON THE SCENE AT SUCH A HIGH LEVEL FOR SO LONG.DONT GET ME WRONG,DD ARE STILL AN EXCELLENT BAND,SEEING THEM IN 99 IN NEWCASTLE WAS PROOF.
I READ SOMEWHERE THAT WARREN WAS LEAVING AND THAT THE TAYLORS WERE COMING BACK,ANY TRUTH IN THAT?:cool:
 
#37
First off, yeah DD is going back to the original lineup.

As for John (and Nick Beggs the KAJAGOOGOO guy, and the other Taylors Roger and Andy), their flashy MTV image hid their talent as musicians and many people misjudged their quality.

I say take away the video image and listen to the SOUNDS!

Rio, Girls On Film, Planet Earth, IS THERE SOMETHING I SHOULD KNOW... all had John doing VERY dynamic basslines that require a LOT of talent. Again the image made some people forget to LISTEN to the record.

When you listen to John you realize he is one awesome pop bassplayer. I personally ALWAYS enjoyed DD tunes PRECISELY because John was all over the place. I mean the ending of "Is There Something I Should Know" is stellar.

I SURELY never doubted Taylor's talent and in fact he is one of my big influences.

Yeah John is the man!
 
#38
I dug him...'sfunny, no one is mentioning The Power Station stuff.

"Save A Prayer" from Rio is also nice & melodic.
...I hadda buy their 'first' US release TWICE 'cause the original version lacked "Is There Something I Should Know".
Their videos? I'll watch 'em STILL! "Girls On Film" has an X-Rated glimpse(ya gotta look quick)& "Rio" pushes the envelope(the girl swimmimg scene).

HEY, NOW!
 
#39
Originally posted by JimK
I dug him...'sfunny, no one is mentioning The Power Station stuff.
Click to expand...

Yeah, his work with Power Station was good too, although IMHO not as good as his best with Duran Duran.

Originally posted by NewWaveBasser
As for John (and Nick Beggs the KAJAGOOGOO guy, and the other Taylors Roger and Andy), their flashy MTV image hid their talent as musicians and many people misjudged their quality.
Click to expand...

Yeah, unlike today's boy bands, these guys were real musicians.

Nick Beggs! There is a name that you don't hear very often. Really silly looking boy, but really happening bassline on Too Shy.
 

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