The song and its player
Is There Something I Should Know?, The Reflex, A View to a Kill. Those three titles give Roger Taylor’s place in Duran Duran a precise musical starting point. His bandmates name his drumming on the two number-one singles and the 1985 James Bond theme, alongside ten hit albums. Taylor is now leaving because his tinnitus has steadily worsened. At 66, he says he needs to heed his doctors. The immediate change concerns the performing personnel: the songs retain their titles while the drummer associated with these versions has decided to leave.[1]
A repertoire described only by song titles leaves the player’s contribution incomplete. Taylor’s place here is attached to named works rather than a general legend about the band. The possibility of another ensemble playing a song does not make the musicians in an earlier performance anonymous. I read this departure as a reason to understand Duran Duran’s catalogue through its individual players as well as its hits. Identifying Taylor’s participation does not require inventing an account of how his drums sounded. For the listener, the concrete starting point is who played on the version being discussed.[1]
Return, tour, studio
Taylor’s time in the band was not uninterrupted. He left in 1985 and returned in 2001, a return his colleagues specifically describe as important. His farewell also recalls the recent UK and European tour, a second headline appearance at Hyde Park and renewed studio work with Nile Rodgers. That sequence includes both concerts and studio activity in his final period with the group. It extends beyond remembrance of old recordings. A concert lineup and a recording lineup answer different musical questions: one identifies the players on a particular evening, the other those performing on a particular recording.[1]
Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes and John Taylor say they intend to continue exploring new projects. That intention does not alter the personnel of recordings on which Taylor played. Continuity of the Duran Duran name and continuity of the drummer are separate matters. For me, the repertoire question raised by this departure is to give performing personnel their place alongside a work’s title whenever an older song is presented again. The clearest musical recognition of Taylor’s contribution is to keep his name attached to the works on which he played. A band’s intention to continue can coexist with precise recognition of the drummer on particular recordings.[1]