NEWS WAVE - Hey, Paul Weller has a son!

We catch NME cover stars Paul Weller and Miles Kane on their photo shoot in London, where they discuss meeting each other for the first time, colour co-ordinating for the shoot and working together in the future. 

VIDEOKILLER - "Dragonfly" by Paul Weller

Paul Weller has unveiled the video for his new track, 'Dragonfly', and you can watch it above.

The NSFW video to the 'Sonik Kicks' song features a naked model writhing around on a bed while images are projected onto her body.

'Sonik Kicks' comes out on March 26, contains a total of 14 tracks, and includes guest appearances from Noel Gallagher and Blur's Graham Coxon. 

Paul Weller recently discussed his battle with drink, stating: "I think I'm an alcoholic". In an interview with the The Times, the singer revealed he had given up drinking over a year ago because he feared that his hedonistic lifestyle was going to kill him. 

Weller said: "I feel fitter now. I go to the gym. Stopped drinking about 16 months ago… Time for a lifestyle change. I couldn't keep doing it. It was killing me... I miss the silliness… I'm not one of those people who can just have a couple of drinks. If it's two, it might as well be 20. If it's 20, it might as well be 40…".

VIDEOKILLER - "You spin me around" by Dead or Alive (original, new version and extended)

VIDEOKILLER - "Mr. Rain" by Tyson

VIDEOKILLER - "U can dance" by Bryan Ferry

VIDEOKILLER/OFF THE RECORDS - Welcome back, GM, out of the "White Light"!

OFF THE RECORDS - "Brilliant" remix by Ultravox

TALK TALK - "They want Ultravox become an X-Factor...!". Midge Ure speaks out!

"There was a reticence about doing this as we didn't know what the public response would be, and especially with a band like us, Ultravox just seemed to be a fantastic punch-bag for the media back in the day and we tended to think: "Do you really want to go and stick your head in the lion's mouth again?"

"But I think all that disappeared when we started working together again, it just felt natural, it felt right, it felt, not easy but comfortable and it was exciting because it was new technology. It was even more exciting when we decided to stand up for ourselves and say: "You know what? We're going to do it the way we want to do it. Whether it's for anybody else, this is how we want to do it." And there was something really nice about that. So the process of getting it right musically, first and foremost, was imperative.

"What happens to it now, when you give it to the wide world, is completely out of our hands so the response from people, the reviews, whether they like it or hate it, there's nothing we can do about it now, that's what making music is all about, you make what you think is right and then hopefuly it will translate into somebody else's life.

"The great thing about Brilliant I think, I'm not sure what Billy thinks about this, I think it's quite possibly the best collection of songs that we ever did. Period. And it's because Billy's continued writing, I've continued writing all the way through the twenty odd year break that we've had and I think that you can hear that. So that, in a way makes everything else redundant, it takes it really back to: 'Is this an intersting piece of music, is this an interesting lyric, is this a good melody, does this do something to you, does it make you cry or laugh or smile or dance or whatever?' That's the core of what it should be, and that's why we stopped talking to Universal because they didn't want that, thay wanted an X-Factor version of that and we weren't prepared to go there. It became very obvious to us they wanted a record with Ultravox's name on it, some signature sounds and my voice on it, but they weren't really interested in what the music was other than the fact was it commercially successful?, and that really hasn't made an awful lot of difference to us. When we got together in the first place, Vienna wasn't a commercially acceptable track, it was completely and utterly out there, it's only become successful and seen as an obviously commercial track in hindsight, but at the time it was radically different, so I don't think our attitude to that process has changed."

Tom Artrocker

Extracted from a full and fascinating interview with Midge Ure and Billy Currie, featuring more of Keith Martin's wonderful photos. Read the whole piece in the new issue of Artrocker available today from all good shops or direct from us here: artrockermagazine.com

LET'S TOUR - Duran Duran back in Italy!

(ANSA) - ROMA, 11 LUG - Tornano in Italia i Duran Duran: il 16 luglio all'Arena di Verona, il 18 luglio al Foro Italico di Roma e il 20 luglio all'Arena della Regina di Cattolica. Attesissimo il tour europeo della band che lo scorso anno aveva programmato in Europa una serie di live per promuovere il tredicesimo album All You Need Is Now, in seguito annullati a causa di problemi alle corde vocali del frontman. La tranche europea seguira' le date in Australia e Sud America. Il live di Verona sara' la prima occasione di vedere la band dal vivo dall'ultimo tour europeo del 2008.

TALK TALK - Robert Smith: "I Cure fuori da qualsiasi logica"

Intervista a Robert Smith a cura di Matteo Cruccu per il "Corriere della Sera"
MILANO - «Ci avete dato una bella lezione. Ma la Spagna, che squadra di marziani: da anni, io tifo per loro e non per i miei. Perché Rooney, da loro, giocherebbe al massimo nella seconda squadra». I «miei» sono gli inglesi di Roy Hodgson, battuti dagli Azzurri. E lui è l' ultima persona al mondo con cui ti immagineresti a parlare di pallone. Già, lui è Robert Smith, da 35 anni profeta oscuro dei Cure, uno che sembrerebbe avulso dal mondo. E che invece vi è immerso assai, specie quando decide di uscire dal suo ritiro nel Sussex. E di concedere una delle rarissime interviste: sabato è a Rho (Milano) con i compagni di ventura di sempre, headliner dell' Heineken Jammin' Festival che si apre stasera con i Red Hot. Robert, 53enne con la faccia di bambino, parla un inglese placido e chiarissimo. E ci parla innanzitutto del concerto: forse solo il Boss, tra i grandi rocker della Terra, è più generoso dei Cure. Robert e soci non scendono infatti mai sotto le tre ore di show. C' è un motivo, spiega: «Nel 1973, risparmiai per un mese per poter vedere a Londra David Bowie, il primo vero concerto della mia vita. Lui suonò soltanto per 45 minuti. Quando sono diventato musicista, ho sempre pensato che avrei dovuto rispettare il mio pubblico. E poi cantare è una cosa bella, adrenalinica, lo faccio in casa come lo faccio sul palco. Perché dovremmo risparmiarci?». Già, i tour: l' Italia delle lezioni calcistiche è anche l' Italia che più ha dato soddisfazioni ai Cure. «Ricordo con piacere tutti i concerti da voi. Ma soprattutto il tour dell' 89, forse uno dei migliori della nostra carriera, proprio nei giorni di Tien-An-Men: sentimmo una comunanza incredibile col pubblico». E italiano è anche Paolo Sorrentino che ha confessato di essersi ispirato a lui per il Sean Penn di «This Must The Be Place». Robert ci scherza su: «Non l' ho visto, proprio per non doverlo commentare. Ho letto però la trama. E ho guardato le foto di scena. Ma il personaggio di Penn mi assomiglia così tanto? E soprattutto, la sua storia non sembra affatto la mia, ma al limite quella di una delle mie canzoni». Ecco, le canzoni, l' immaginario buio, il mal di vivere che ancora è appiccicato come un marchio indelebile ai Cure: «Che noia. Sono una persona normale. Mi posso alzare felice, come con la luna storta. E poi sono vent' anni che cerchiamo di sembrare il più possibile allegri, guarda i video...». Di sicuro però i Cure non fanno parte dell' establishment di Britannia. Né ci tengono. Non li si vedrà nel parterre de roi dei concerti per le Olimpiadi, né sono saliti sul palco per il Giubileo della Regina. Partiamo dalla seconda: «Che cosa assurda la monarchia, la famiglia reale, il concetto di ereditarietà: io sono un fottuto repubblicano». E bum. I giochi? «Un business delle grandi corporazioni, una macchina per fare soldi. Io mi vergognerei a cantare per un evento come quello». Insomma, in questo i Cure non sono mai cambiati: «Siamo sempre stati fuori da qualunque logica nazionalpopolare in Gran Bretagna. E il potere ci ha cancellato. Non me ne faccio alcun problema». Semmai Robert non ha più la stessa concezione del tempo. Da teenager disse di voler passare a miglior vita entro i 25: «Quand' ero giovane ero abituato a pianificare la mia vita in termini di anni e avevo tempo di pensare anche alla morte. Ora cerco di vivere giorno per giorno. Anche se l' attitudine a guardare il lungo periodo non se ne è andata via del tutto. Diciamo che mi sforzo di progettare soltanto i prossimi tre mesi». Per morire c' è tempo. 

OFF THE RECORDS/NEW GOLD DREAMS - Tyson, the new Sylvester...his "Die on the Dancefloor" is the best dance '80s album of the Year

In 2011, after a lukewarm attempt at a solo career, London's Ali Love somehow became the male vocalist in house circles: he was versatile enough to feature on top of the spewed electro of Justice's Civilization or the chilled nu-Balearica of Luca C & Brigante's "Different Morals," and he featured, most prominently, on that unescapable half-disco, half-house gem by Hot Natured ("Forward Motion"). If there is one thing you could reproach, however, it's Love's singing, its overall self-restraint, its under-the-top-ness.

Enter Tyson, another Londoner with the same knack for Italo-tinged pop, who works with the same label (Back Yard Recordings), and the same studio collaborator (Martin Dubka, of indie-dance hopefuls Cazals), but with a totally different approach to self-characterization. On the basis of his Die on the Dancefloor long-player, it wouldn't be surprising to see this young newcomer ubiquitously occupy in 2012 the same ground Love did last year. Except Tyson is, at heart, a more theatrical vocalist in the diva house tradition. (Think Robert Owens meets Billie Ray Martin meets Chelonis R. Jones meets Hard Ton.) The campy attitude he displays on the ten tracks on offer might be too much of an acquired taste, but there is also a commanding posture at work here that makes his music definitely stand out.

Aesthetically speaking, Die on the Dancefloor is pretty much in synch with what you'd expect post-disco resurgence dance pop to be like. "Fight," for instance, constitutes a rather enjoyable go at the kind of commercially sound, mainstream recordings Giorgio Moroder perfected during his Flashdance soundtrack phase, although it is hard to tell if the overwrought guitar solo that severs the song in two is tongue-in-cheek or just tootongue-in-cheek for its own good. The same could be said about songs like "Love's on the Line" or "Ran for Love," which both recall Tina Turner's reign in sci-fi classicMad Max. Album closer "On the Radio" constitutes the mandatory—and disposable, to be frank—unhurried track: not slow enough to be fully epic, yet not danceable enough either, it mostly serves to draw attention to the fact Tyson has undeniable magnetism on one hand, but that he also relies on the strength of the background compositions at all times. That said, you can't help but hope that Die on the Dancefloor will be Tyson's entry ticket on the house scene next to other novices like EJ, Little Jinder or even Amirali, and his authoritative vocal presence won't make electronic music producers shy away from one of the most interesting characters to emerge from the UK these past months. 

NEWS WAVE - Download free "Hungry like the wolf" remix by Steve Aoki

Simon Le Bon ‏@SimonJCLeBON

FREE download of the "Hungry like the Wolf" Steve Aoki+Duran Duran The New York Werewolf Mix: http://bit.ly/MvCvs9”

VIDEOKILLER/NEW GOLD DREAMS - "The Truth" by PNAU

VIDEOKILLER - "Talk Talk" by Talk Talk

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OFF THE RECORDS - "The Spirit of Talk Talk" is here to stay! (Thanx to Alan Wilder of Depeche Mode...)

THE SPIRIT OF TALK TALK - CD: A double tribute album celebrating the visionary band, Talk Talk. Designed by James Marsh and released by Fierce Panda on September 3rd 2012.

Descrizione

FEATURING 30 artists, including: Alan Wilder (Depeche Mode/ Recoil), White Lies, King Creosote, Jason Lytle (Grandaddy), Zero 7, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire), Joan As Police Woman, Sean Carey (Bon Iver), Lights, Goldheart Assembly, Thomas White (Electric Soft Parade), Fyfe Dangerfield (Guillemots), Thomas Feiner, The Black Ships, Turin Brakes, as well as Ian Curnow, David Rhodes, Gaynor Sadler and Martin Ditcham, all of whom worked with Talk Talk.

The CD PACKAGE is designed by Talk Talk’s graphic artist James Marsh using a stunning cover created in 1983 for a prospective album 'Chameleon Hour', but never released.

Alan Wilder is the musical and production supervisor for the project, and the album has been mastered by Denis Blackham, who was also responsible for mastering many of Talk Talk’s albums.

TRACKS come from both sides of the Atlantic, and from seven countries in total, featuring some incredible collaborations.

Track listing :

01. WEALTH - Lone Wolf
02. THE COLOUR OF SPRING - Zero 7
03. I BELIEVE IN YOU - S.Carey
04. DUM DUM GIRL - Recoil ( feat. Shara Worden )
05. LIFE'S WHAT YOU MAKE IT - Duncan Sheik
06. THE RAINBOW - Thomas Feiner, Fyfe Dangerfield, Robbie Wilson
07. AFTER THE FLOOD - Halloween, Alaska
08. IT'S GETTING LATE IN THE EVENING - Peter Broderick, Nils Frahm, Davide Rossi
09. GIVE IT UP - King Creosote
10. LIVING IN ANOTHER WORLD - Lights ( feat. Darkstars )
11. THE RAINBOW - Zelienople
12. MYRRHMAN - Joan As Police Woman
13. RUNEII - The Last Dinosaur
14. ? - Jack Northover


CD 2:

01. IT'S MY LIFE - The TenFiveSixty
02. INHERITANCE - Recoil ( feat. Linton Kwesi Johnson & Paul Marshall ) 03. ASCENSION DAY - Turin Brakes
04. TODAY - White Belt Yellow Tag
05. I DON'T BELIEVE IN YOU - Ian Curnow ( feat. Human )
06. CHAMELEON DAY - Goldheart Assembly
07. APRIL 5TH - Matthias Vogt Trio
08. NEW GRASS - Do Make Say Think
09. TOMORROW STARTED - Jason Lytle
10. GIVE IT UP - White Lies
11. TIME IT'S TIME - Lia Ices
12. THE PARTY'S OVER - The Lovetones
13. CANDY - Thomas White
14. RENÉE - The Black Ships ( feat. Amelia Tucker )
15. TAPHEAD - The Acorn
16. I BELIEVE IN YOU - Richard Reed Parry

Additional bonus tracks available to download at digital stores -

01. ASCENSION DAY - Minerva Lions
02. IT'S MY LIFE - Mike Gill ( feat. Robert Owens )
03. EDEN - Kurran & The Wolfnotes

Please visit www.fiercepanda.co.uk for more details.


SPIRIT OF TALK TALK - BOOK:
A richly illustrated, beautifully designed book celebrating the music and art of the legendary Talk Talk will also be available 27th September 2012. Every copy will be individually signed by James Marsh, who offers a fascinating insight into all his wonderful Talk Talk paintings including inspiration and illustrated sketches.

Chris Roberts, one of the UK’s leading music journalists, traces Talk Talk’s history and evolution, reflecting on their unique journey from synth-pop to near-silence.

The book features stunning photos by Richard Haughton, Sheila Rock and many other leading rock photographers from ’81 - ‘91. Many of these shots have never before been made public and feature vivid live shots from the superb Montreux festival gig.

The book also features 100 written contributions from bands, label owners, DJs and creatives, all of whom share their appreciation and influences, inspired by the music and art of Talk Talk.

Contributors include: Guy Garvey (Elbow), Sir Peter Blake, Alan Wilder (Depeche Mode/Recoil), Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire), James Lavelle (UNKLE), Jason Lytle (Grandaddy), Nick McCabe (The Verve/The Black Ships), Richard Wright (Pink Floyd), Mark Radcliffe, Tom Fleming (Wild Beasts), Matt Johnson (The The), Jimi Goodwin (Doves), Sean Carey (Bon Iver), Paul Hartnoll (Orbital), Karl Hyde (Underworld), Charles Cave (White Lies), Joan Wasser (Joan As Police Woman), Kenny Anderson (King Creosote), Gideon Coe ,Tim Elsenberg ( Sweet Billy Pilgrim), and Olly Knights (Turin Brakes).

‘Spirit Of Talk Talk’ also includes extracts from the Talk Talk chapters of Phil Brown’s excellent book ‘Are We Still Rolling’, as well as in-depth interviews with Talk Talk musicians including John Turnbull, Ian Curnow, Phil Reis and Martin Ditcham.
For more details or to register your interest for the book please visithttp://spiritoftalktalk.com/

Projects conceived and co-ordinated by Toby Benjamin.
Dedicated to Mark Hollis and Talk Talk.

NEWS WAVE/LET'S TOUR - It's the Ultravox Day! New "Brilliant" album out, new European tour dates!

Seminal electro pioneers Ultravox have issued the artwork for their first new album in 28 years, ‘Brilliant’ which is released on May 28th through EMI. The legendary quartet of Midge Ure, Billy Currie, Chris Cross and Warren Cann have created an album that not only stands alongside the finest work of their career but firmly places them as both a huge influence upon, and a vital contemporary force within, today’s musical climate.

Recorded in Canada, Los Angeles and the UK, ‘Brilliant’ is a stunning tour de force. “I think this record is probably the best one we’ve ever done,” explains Midge Ure, “because the songs are so much stronger than before. There’s a lovely naivety you have when you start out where you throw things together and think that they’re great and somehow that affects other people, but I think the fact that we’ve been working away separately over the years perfecting our art comes out on this record.”

The writing process for the twelve songs on ‘Brilliant’ started when Billy and Chris joined Midge at his house in Canada. “I have a house in the middle of the woods by a lake in Montreal and we realised if the three of us went to my house out there and sat down with some laptops, keyboards and guitars with no outside distractions at all, we could find out whether we were actually capable of writing something together again. And it was a phenomenal experience, a great bonding thing for the three of us; we just ate, slept and breathed music. It was a very, very instant thing, like getting back onto the horse again. We climbed back onto the saddle again and we were off and running.”

It was this sense of starting again that, according to Midge, really inspired the band. “That’s what we were trying to do when we first started, make something unique, something that came from the four of us. You can hear directly from what we were doing thirty years ago stuff that was coming out of deepest, darkest Germany - bands like Kraftwerk and Neu - but you can also hear the pop of Roxy Music and David Bowie and you put that mixture together and it becomes unique because nobody else sounds like that collective. But over the years we had an awful lot of followers and you can still hear some of that influence running through music today with other bands, the melody and the structure and the atmospherics.”

Yet the fact that the four members of Ultravox have come together again means that ‘Brilliant’ has the singular, unique sound which has inspired so many of today’s artists, but never been bettered.“If it was Ultravox with a slightly different line-up, if one of us wasn’t there it wouldn’t have that link but because the four of us are there together it has that link. Something about the persona of these characters coming together and those emotions turns it into something else.”

Further sessions in Canada and LA to record Warren’s drum parts followed leaving Midge, Billy and Chris to finish the recordings in their home studios. With the album almost complete they decided to bring in an outside producer to bring the whole album together.

“We didn’t want to lose the momentum and dry up after this amazing flurry of activity and great creative bubble,” recalls Midge. “So that’s when [producer] Steve Lipson came into the process at the end and helped us fine-tune everything. He’s very much a musician and became almost a fifth member of the band for a while, and he would challenge and question us on everything. We’d done about a year’s work on our own, very isolated and insular, and nobody else had heard anything. So once he came on board and got involved it just worked incredibly well.”

And the result is astonishing. From the opening, swelling barrage of ‘Live’ with its instantly identifiable piano motifs through the epic rock of ‘Flow’ to first single and title track ‘Brilliant’, there is no mistaking the sound of Ultravox; the huge choruses, the impassioned vocals, the driving rhythms and pulsing electronics.

‘Rise’ is a modern computer-pop classic while the likes of ‘Remembering’, ‘One’ and ‘Change’ evoke the cinematic atmospheres Ultravox do so well. Coupled with the widescreen drama of ‘Lie’, the chiming exoticism of ‘Satellite’, the sinister tension of ‘Hello’ and the chilling heartbreak of ‘Fall’, Ultravox have crafted an album that may well be ranked as their finest work to date.

The final part of the jigsaw puzzle was choosing which record company to release the album through, as the band had a number of offers on the table. But it was EMI, the band’s home for many years that they decided to return to. “We’ve always had the EMI connection through being signed to Chrysalis and EMI did such a fantastic job with the reissues around the ‘Return To Eden’ shows that it felt very natural. EMI got it, and understood what we were doing and understood the standards we have. We spent six weeks rehearsing for a three week tour to make sure it was as good as it could be and EMI are able to work to the same high standards.”

More info on the European tour dates below, with further details to follow on a few of the shows to follow where marked tomorrow.

Please note that Italy is the ONLY show in Europe which will have a presale. This presale will start on Wednesday 30th May for 24 hours only (link in listing below, no password required).

SEPTEMBER 2012 21 Bristol Colston Hall 22 Oxford New Theatre 23 Portsmouth Guildhall 25 Nottingham Royal Centre 26 Birmingham Symphony Hall 27 Hammersmith HMV Apollo 29 Guildford G Live 30 Manchester Palace Theatre

OCTOBER 2012 02 Southend Cliffs Pavilion 03 Ipswich Regent Theatre 04 Sheffield City Hall 06 Blackpool Opera House 07 Glasgow Clyde Auditorium 08 Gateshead Sage

OCTOBER 2012

• 10.10.12 - France, Paris, Trabendo - on sale 30th May
• 11.10.12 - Belgium, Antwerp, Trix Hall - on sale now / 0900 00 600
• 12.10.12 - Holland, Tilburg, Poppodium - on sale 2nd June / 0900 300 12 50
• 14.10.12 - Germany, Hamburg, Docks - on sale now / +49 (0)1805 570000
• 15.10.12 - Denmark, Copenhagen - MORE INFO TOMORROW
• 16.10.12 - Sweden, Malmö - on sale 30th May / +46 771 651 000
• 18.10.12 - Finland, Helsinki - on sale 30th May / 358 (0) 600-1-1616
• 20.10.12 - Sweden, Stockholm - on sale 30th May / +46 771 651 000
• 21.10.12 - Norway, Oslo, Rockefeller - on sale now / 00 815 11211
• 23.10.12 - Sweden, Gothenburg- on sale 30th May / +46 771 651 000
• 25.10.12 - Germany, Berlin, Columbiahalle - on sale now / +49 (0)1805 570000
• 26.10.12 - Germany, Mainz, Phoenixhalle - on sale now / +49 (0)1805 570000
• 27.10.12 - Germany, Leipzig, Haus Auensee - on sale now / +49 (0)1805 570000
• 29.10.12 - Germany, Munich, Kesselhaus - on sale now / +49 (0)1805 570000
• 30.10.12 - Austria, Vienna - MORE INFO TOMORROW

NOVEMBER 2012

• 01.11.12 - Switzerland, Zurich - MORE INFO TOMORROW
• 03.11.12 - Germany, Memmingen, Stadthalle - on sale now / +49 (0)1805 570000
• 05.11.12 - Italy, Milan - PRESALE 30th / general sale 31st May / +39 0253006501
• 07.11.12 - Germany, Köln, E-Werk - on sale now / +49 (0)1805 570000
• 08.11.12 - Germany, Bielefeld, Ringlokschuppen - on sale now / +49 (0)1805 570000

The Brilliant microsite has now launched, and you can either pre-order the album from there or directly from www.ultravox.org.uk/store.shtml. These are the same Amazon (worldwide), Townsend, HMV, Play & iTunes links that appear on the EMI microsite, and there is no difference to ordering from either; your order will be helping EV either from either location (thank you!).
You will still be able to view the video clips and competitions (all worldwide this time) which will appear on the microsite; no purchase is necessary to see them or to take part.

NEWS WAVE - Against all odds, Duran Duran is the perfect band for the Olympics

Article by Paul Morley for "The Observer"

All through the 80s, I hated Duran Duran, when for some they were the kings of pop. I hated them because they acted as though they were minor members of the royal family, but those that loved them did so because they made grand, escapist music reflected in escapist videos celebrating their own playboy riches.

When I interviewed them for the NME in 1982, they were already lording it over the charts and playing ornate pop rooted in the otherness of Bowie and the cool of Roxy Music but somehow also in the scarves of the Bay City Rollers and the barnets of Slik. I was so angry at their self-importance that I could never bring myself to call them by the name they had lifted from Roger Vadim's Barbarella – they seemed more soap than space opera.

I used different names for them, my favourite being Diana Diana. (Writing such a piece now, I would call them, among other things, Seb Seb or Lordy Lordy.) Even then, they resembled the freshly minted Princess of Wales; you could see where her look as a fan derived from, certainly her hair, eyeliner and posing genius. You could see Diana as the female member of Duran Duran as Cilla was the female Beatle.

That's one reason why it's apt that they have been selected to be the English pop act marking the opening of the Olympic Games, a decision that provoked so much hand-wringing last week. Duran Duran created a soundtrack to the Diana years and carry with them the glory and burden of those years in much the same way Vera Lynn does for the war years. And, of course, they are mates of James Bond, if merely the plastic Roger Moore model, sealing the "international-symbol-of-Britain-whether-we-like-it-or-not" deal when two Beatles are dead and Adele and Coldplay are too extreme, and when most of the world has no knowledge of PJ Harvey and Arctic Monkeys, let alone Siouxsie and the Fall.

But I hated them, in the 80s. I hated them from the point of view of a rock critic taking pop seriously, even when it was just for fun. They fancied themselves as not so much the made-up boy band they clearly were – the pretty one, the chubby one, the moody one, possibly the talented one, etc – but as Peel-listening pop conceptualists mixing the Sex Pistols with Chic. (Wanton English energy and brazen processed disco, an interesting formula I may have stolen when working with Frankie Goes to Hollywood, my personal chart retort to Dreary Dreary.) Duran Duran, though, sounded forced, lacking the subversive swagger of the Pistols and the transcendent swing of Chic and leaving behind an embellished melodic sludge. They were perhaps more Sweet crossed with Abba – a classically cheering formula for the flashy, revivalist entertainment required by an Olympic Games opening ceremony.

To understand them you need to understand the times. Duran Duran arrived only a few years after punk transformed the idea of what rock could be, in a Britain dragging itself out of the bruising, disorientating 70s. Things were intellectually and spiritually tightening up inside the iron grip of Thatcherism, and at the same time loosening up economically and socially.

Music magazines turned glossy, gossipy and colourful, requiring new sorts of decorated fairytale cover stars, a backlash against the hifalutin' weekly inkies containing thousands of intense words about Cabaret Voltaire.

All new pop then made by those interested in being the latest thing had to be influenced by punk, if just the look, the clothes and the expression. One consequence was an experimental sonic elaboration of punk's ideological spirit and aesthetic vision but a rejection of the safety-pinned visual cliche; this became known as post-punk. Another consequence was more theatrical, with dandy tabloid-labelled New Romantics looking back longingly over the spiky heads of the harsher, angrier punk to the showy costumes and window-dressing camp of glam, where pop stars looked like pop stars.

Some groups could float, sometimes self-consciously, sometimes serenely, between those two camps – Human League, Japan, Depeche Mode, ABC – and others occupied a more purist, thoughtful zone, advocating mental glamour – Gang of Four, New Order, Associates, Magazine, the Smiths. The hardcore New Romantics were definitely all about the clothes, cosmetics, travel and showing off; as a response to grievous, turbulent times, Steve Strange, Spandau Ballet, Wham! and Duran Duran preferred the dolled-up posing in pampered cliques inside VIP sections of exclusive nightclubs. They weren't privileged, but pretended they were, which could be annoying if you didn't get the joke, and especially annoying and complacent when it isn't a joke.

New Romance wasn't all about the fancy dress, shaky pretension and cocktails. There were those displaying convincing signs of resistance to the mediocre, to the restrictive and ordinary – the presence on Top of the Pops of daring Boy George blurring the sexes and positively confusing the mainstream mind, Soft Cell's northern sauce, and something deviant dripping from Adam Ant's painted brow was a sign of intact subversive punk spirit filtered through a kinky dream of Bowie.

Those moaning about Duran Duran singing for the Olympics are being as nostalgic for something as the thing they criticise is – nostalgic for a time when it was clearer what the meaning and purpose of pop was and why it was worth fighting for. They are inheriting 30-year-old critical standards that do not apply now. It's the same with Eurovision. Something perhaps representing a deeper, richer and more inspiring sense of the restless, radically creative British spirit would be crushed by the essentially fraudulent and kitsch nature of the event. I worry about the Specials, Blur and New Order show closing the Olympics and any remaining transformative energy being squashed by routine, committee-organised ceremony.

Engelbert is finger-on-the-pulse correct for Eurovision, where the English pop 60s might as well never have happened, let alone glam, punk and rave, in the way Duran Duran are finger-on-the-pulse correct for an Olympics event, which has nothing to do with music, art, innovation and fashion, but is to do with publicity, marketing, fabricated history and the celebration of success.

In a mainstream pop world so thoroughly emptied, mostly by constant, degrading replication, of pop art, punk militancy, artistic surprise and disruptive, maverick gaiety, Duran Duran as representatives of English talent are an incredible, inspired choice. Theirs is not necessarily musical talent, but just a brilliant ability to take themselves seriously in the middle of general superficial commercial mayhem, to manifest a sense of occasion, however preposterous, and parade their own self-appointed greatness – self-promotional skills that make the group as contemporary as anything. Equally of the moment is their unashamed conclusion first broadcast while Thatcher cruelly reigned that tough times call for nothing more and nothing less than a party; 30 years later, tough times, unsympathetic, cutting Tory government, and the wrinkled New Romantic superheroes are still available to those that need saving through sheer hammy, self-loving spectacle.

So, yes, I've hated Duran Duran since the 80s, but now, in a world where they are attacked for being too old and dated, for obviously accepting a prominent showbusiness invitation, I find myself drifting toward a sympathetic position. I don't love them or anything – that's impossible, especially after their version of Elvis Costello's Watching the Detectives, which is Rolf Harris meets David Sylvian. I may, though, have developed a grudging respect for the way as enduring light entertainers they're perfectly poised in a very modern fashion between being prized national treasures and grotesque figures of fun. The marginalised, even mocked, New Romantic movement they stolidly represent has, for better or worse, turned out to be a big influence on the current ostentatious, synthetic pop landscape filled with bragging, stunts and fancy dress.

Perhaps stubborn Duran Duran were right all along; being a pop star is all about being sure of yourself, whatever anyone else says.

The Old Romantics

FLOCK OF SEAGULLS

Known for singer Mike Score's hairstyle as much as singles like I Ran (So Far Away), they had a series of international hits in the early 80s.

DEPECHE MODE

Now one of the biggest goth-pop acts in the world, but started life as New Romantics - 1981's Just Can't Get Enough was the first of many top ten singles.

VISAGE

Formed by Steve Strange, right, and Rusty Egan, released three albums in the early 80s and had their biggest success with Fade To Grey, a worldwide hit.

SPANDAU BALLET

With hits like True and Gold, Spandau Ballet were one of the biggest acts of the 80s. They split in 1990, but reformed for a world tour in 2009.

JAPAN

Unsurprisingly big in the Far East, the avant-garde five-piece had their biggest UK hit with Ghosts, which reached number five in the singles chart in 1982.