Duran Duran - Duran Duran

Today (June 15th) marks the thirty-fifth anniversary of the release of the self-titled debut from Duran Duran. This 1981 went multi-Platinum in sales and climbed to number 27 in Canada, number 22 in Germany, number 9 in Australia, number 3 in the UK and number 2 in New Zealand. Here in the US, it failed to chart in 1981 but upon re-release in 1982 it spent eighty-seven weeks on the Billboard Album chart with a top spot of number 10.

Queen - Flash Gordon (soundtrack) (35th anniversary)

Today (December 8th) marks the thirty-fifth anniversary of the release of the Flash Gordon soundtrack album, the ninth studio album from Queen. This one spent fifteen weeks on the US Billboard Album chart, peaking at number 23. It also charted at number 29 in Australia and Norway, number 25 in Sweden, number 12 in Japan, number 10 in the UK, number 7 in the Netherlands, number 2 in Germany, and number 1 in Austria.

For my full review of this album, click here.

For more from Queen, click here.

Queen - The Game

Today (June 30th) marks the thirty-fifth anniversary of The Game, the eighth studio album from Queen. It went to number 17 in France, number 11 in Australia and New Zealand, number 10 in Italy, number 7 in Sweden, number 5 in Austria and Japan, number 2 in Germany and Norway, and number 1 in Canada, the Netherlands, and the UK. Here in the US, it went to number 8 on the Billboard R&B chart and number 1 on the US Billboard Album chart. It spent forty-three weeks on that latter chart, with five weeks at the top spot.

Duran Duran - Arena

Yesterday (November 12th) marked the thirtieth anniversary of Arena, the first live album from Duran Duran. The Platinum selling collection of some of their greatest hits to date charted at number 10 in Canada, number 8 in Australia and Finland, number 6 in the UK, number 5 in the Netherlands, number 4 in Switzerland, number 3 in New Zealand and number 1 in Germany and Italy. Here in the US, it spent twenty-eight weeks on the Billboard Album chart and peaked at number 4.

Queen - The Works

Today (February 27th) marks the thirtieth anniversary of The Works, the eleventh studio album from Queen. This 1984 release went to number 23 on the US Billboard Album chart (with a twenty week total run on the chart), number 22 in Canada, number 14 in France, number 12 in Australia, number 9 in New Zealand, number 7 in Japan and number 4 in Italy. It went to number 3 in Sweden and West Germany, number 2 in Austria, Norway and the UK, and number 1 in the Netherlands.

Duran Duran - Seven and the Ragged Tiger

Today (November 21st) marks the thirtieth anniversary of Seven and the Ragged Tiger, the third studio album from Duran Duran. It achieved Platinum sales status in the UK within a week of its release, and Platinum in the US by the start of 1984. Chart-wise, it reached number 20 in France, number 17 in Germany, number 16 in Switzerland, number 8 on the US Billboard Album chart, number 7 in Canada, number 3 in Finland, number 2 in Australia, and number 1 in the Netherlands, New Zealand and the UK.

DVD: Queen - Live In Budapest

On July 27th of 1986, British rock legends Queen performed at the Népstadion in Budapest, Hungary, becoming the first western act to perform in front of a stadium crowd behind the “Iron Curtain”. János Zsombolyai, one of the country’s leading cinematographers and directors, captured that landmark event on 35mm film.

Queen - News of the World

Welcome to another edition of Seventies Saturday.

On October 28th of 1977, the English rock band Queen released News of the World, their sixth studio album. As had previous albums, this one too was a multi-Platinum seller in the US and Canada. Chart-wise, it went to number 15 in New Zealand, number 9 in Sweden and Austria, number 8 in Australia, number 7 in Germany, number 4 in Norway and the UK, number 3 in Japan and on the US Billboard Hot 200, number 2 in Canada, and number 1 in France and the Netherlands.

Queen - Hot Space

Today (May 21st) marks the 30th anniversary of the tenth studio album by the British rock band Queen. Hot Space fused a number of different elements like pop, disco, R&B and dance into the musical mix, which was a bit of a turn-off to many of their fans who preferred their earlier, traditional rock sound.

The album went to number 22 on the US Billboard Hot 200, number 15 in Australia, number 7 in France, number 6 in Japan, number 5 in Germany, number 4 in their native UK and in Sweden, number 3 in Norway, and number 1 in Austria and the Netherlands. Six of the tracks were released as singles with varying degrees of success.

Duran Duran - Rio (30th anniversary)

Today, May 10th, marks the 30th anniversary of the release of Duran Duran's second studio album Rio.

For my review of this album, please click here.

So, like all my Duranie friends over on Twitter, today I am going to set my iPod to play this classic 80's album and enjoy. I hope you will join us.

DVD: Queen - Days of Our Lives

The title of this 2011 BBC documentary about the legendary rock band Queen comes from a track from their 1991 album Innuendo, their final studio release with lead singer Freddie Mercury. Drummer Roger Taylor penned a song called “These Are the Days of Our Lives” for that record. The title too could reflect a bit of the American soap opera by the same name for, as this documentary points out, the band went through quite a bit of trials and tribulations in their twenty years as a group.

Duran Duran - All You Need Is Now

Happy birthday to Simon Le Bon, born today (October 27th) back in 1958.

In late December of 2010, Duran Duran released a truncated version of this album on their own label Tapemodern and Allido Records (the label managed by Mark Ronson who also produced the album). In the US, the full length version was released in March of 2011 on the S-Curve Records label, distributed by Universal, and coincided with the 30th anniversary of the band’s first studio release. Currently, the band is out on tour to promote All You Need Is Now.

Queen - Flash Gordon (soundtrack)

Welcome to another edition of Soundtrack Sunday.

In researching yesterday’s blog post, I realized I had nearly forgotten about the soundtrack to the 1980 science fiction film Flash Gordon, which starred Sam J. Jones, Melody Anderson, Timothy Dalton and Max von Sydow. With its campy style and bizarre costumes, this film adaptation of the classic comic-strip failed to win over large audiences.

The soundtrack, with music performed entirely by the rock band Queen, fared only slightly better. This, their ninth studio album, went to number 10 on the UK charts (where it was also certified Gold), number 2 in Germany and number 23 in the US.

Duran Duran - Rio

Released on May 10th, 1982, Rio was the second studio album by the British rock band Duran Duran. It was through this album that Simon LeBon, Nick Rhodes, John Taylor, Roger Taylor and Andy Taylor ("no relation" as they would say on Tiny Tunes Adventures) would become big stars in the US as they had done so the previous year in their native UK. The North American album was released in a number of versions, the later ones taking advantage of new mixes on a number of the singles that would further propel the songs up the US charts.