Medazzaland

	Medazzaland
album by Duran Duran
Released	14 October 1997
Recorded	1995-1997
Genre	New wave, electronica, electronic rock
Length	53:12 minutes
Label	Capitol, EMI, Virgin
Writer(s)	Duran Duran
Associate Producer	Simon Le Bon
Producer	TV Mania
Duran Duran

Medazzaland is the ninth studio album by Duran Duran, released by Capitol-EMI-Virgin on 14 October 1997.

About the album[]

This was the follow-up to the poorly received covers album Thank You. John Taylor left the band in January of 1997 before recording of Medazzaland was complete. With only three members remaining - Nick Rhodes, Simon Le Bon and Warren Cuccurullo - Duran Duran wrote and recorded several new tracks for the album, and re-recorded songs previously done with Taylor. His work remains on only four songs.

The album was released on 14 October 1997, in North America and Japan. Due to poor sales, plans for a UK release were pushed back, and later, shelved indefinitely. In July 2008, the album was made available to buy digitally through iTunes Store in Europe and the US, marking the first official European release of the songs. On 14th October 2022, Medazzaland celebrated it's 25th anniversary; along with the re-release of the album on CD, x2 LP, and Pink vinyl.

The music varies widely, from the sleazy bounce of "Electric Barbarella" and the dissonant "Big Bang Generation", to the bitter austerity of "Silva Halo" and the simple acoustic sweetness of "Michael You've Got A Lot To Answer For", concluding with the self-deprecating swagger of "Undergoing Treatment". Overall, the album has a heavily-layered, processed feel, with clear influences from the electronica genre of the late 1990s. The back of the album cover features a defaced version of the iconic Rio cover painting.

The album's title was inspired by Le Bon's treatment with the mind-altering drug midazolam during dental surgery, leaving him in a disconnected state for some time afterwards.

Other notable songs on the album include "Medazzaland", the first Duran Duran song to feature Nick Rhodes, not Simon Le Bon, on vocals, and "So Long Suicide", a reaction to the death of Kurt Cobain, among other things. Two songs were written about John Taylor's departure from the group: "Who Do You Think You Are?", with lyrics by Le Bon, and "Buried in the Sand", with lyrics by Rhodes. Le Bon has said that the song "Michael You've Got A Lot To Answer For", was written for his good friend Michael Hutchence, former lead singer of the band INXS. Hutchence died just a month after the album's release.

The dismal performance of the album led in part to the dissolution of the band's contract with EMI after almost two decades. As a parting gift, EMI gave the band ownership rights and the master tapes to the Medazzaland album, as well as several unreleased audio and videotapes of their 1995 and 1997 concerts. It was rumoured that the band would independently release the album in the UK, but they went on to sign with Hollywood Records and released Pop Trash instead. Medazzaland was only available in Europe as an import or download until 2022.

Album Development[]

After the success of Duran Duran (1993 album), the band shifted moods slightly, incorporating some harder, rockier, songs into their follow-up covers album Thank You. John Taylor has been restless for a while, especially after the hard rock driven Power Station project, drug and alcohol problems, and marital issues at home. He got clean in rehab in November 1994, but was not needed for the next Power Station album, so instead he got to work on his own rock album Feelings Are Good And Other Lies. In May of 1995, John wrote Trust The Process (song), a song about struggling with difficulties. At the end of July, Duran Duran got together to rehearse demos for the next album, at Nomis Studios in London, where some tunes were written. Simon couldn't come up with lyrics for any of the songs immediately, and complained of writers block. After a week, Nick flies to Paris and Simon goes to Jamaica with his wife. In August, Warren and John move to Metropolis Studios London where they cut 14 tracks, 9 of which made it on to the album. This session was recorded on the infamous Coat Tapes, and appeared on Medazzaland Demos etc. Most of the tracks are musically complete, with Butt Naked containing lyrics about his wife Amanda. John then returns to LA, while Warren and Nick start working together as TV Mania.

In 1996, John was on the road for most of the year touring with the Neurotic Outsiders, and re-recording some of his own tracks for the Neurotic Outsiders (album). Nick and Warren formalise their own production company called TV Mania in October, just as SYN Productions opens in Japan, formed by Simon, Yasmin and Nick Wood. Also in October, Simon has dental surgery, and is given the mind-altering sedative midazolam. In November 1996, Nick, Warren and Simon return to work on the album from Warren's Privacy Studio. Simon is still unable to come up with many songs, he writes Undergoing Treatment and Michael, You've Got a Lot To Answer For. On November 24th, John and Simon head to Sound Techniques in Boston, where they meet Anthony J. Resta. Mixing of the tracks begins, but John does not attend any more sessions.

January 19th 1997, John announces he has quit Duran Duran. Nick takes over the writing of lyrics, and changes the words of Butt Naked to become Be My Icon. Warren plays Bass and Guitar on most tracks, with Anthony J. Resta and Steve Alexander filling in on drums. Around this time, execs at EMI suggested they wanted a more mainstream pop sounding album, and were unhappy with the swear word in P.L. You, so lead tracks P.L. You and Sinner or Saint are dropped. Several songs are re-recorded with Warren on bass, with the much rockier original recordings finding their way onto bootlegs as Alternative Versions. In February, Simon sings final vocal on Big Bang Generation, and Electric Barbarella; which was written very quickly due to a manager asking the band to write something like the Blondie material which Warren and Nick had co-created. Mixing finished at the end of February 1997, and the band hoped to release the album in the Summer.

Unused Songs[]

P.L. You - This was played through the Thank You tour and also performed live on Canadian TV in 1995. It was stated by Warren that "this song would definitely be on the album", but it was dropped at a late stage of development. According to Warren, the band "wasn't happy with the existing lyric".
Tabula Rasa - This song was dropped late in development. The title became Time Life in February of 1996, and then Hollywood Girls in the summer of 1996, but the song(s) never got finished.
Magic Pill - Unknown if completed. (Played live once on May 28th, 1995 in Houston, Texas. - Unable to Verify)
Plastic Girl- Played live on MTV's Most Wanted show, aired March 17th 1995. The song evolved into Electric Barbarella.
Got To Let Go
Aphrodisiac
Rosebud
Amnesia
Lolita's kiss - This was written after the album's completion. (source).

Chart position[]

The album reached #58 on the US Billboard album chart. It never charted in Europe or Japan.

Singles[]

"Out of My Mind"[]

Prior to the album's release, the band shopped some of the tracks around Hollywood movie studios in an attempt to get some songs onto popular movie soundtrack albums. Paramount Pictures eventually put "Out of My Mind" on the soundtrack for the Val Kilmer film The Saint. The single featured future Medazzaland track "Silva Halo" as a B-side, along with "Sinner or Saint", written for the movie.

In March 1997, the soundtrack and single for "Out of My Mind" were released internationally on Virgin Records, marking the first time a Duran Duran release (single or album) had been released on an imprint other than EMI/Parlophone (or Capitol/EMI for North America, though the same owner). The single peaked at #21 on the UK charts in May.

The video for "Out of My Mind" was filmed by director Dean Karr at Krumlov Castle in the city of Český Krumlov, in the Czech Republic. ^[1]

"Electric Barbarella"[]

The lead single, "Electric Barbarella", (a nod to the film Barbarella, from which the band took their name) was released on 16 September in the United States, and peaked at #52 on the Billboard Hot 100 on 1 November. It has been touted as the first song available for digital purchase/download on the Internet, and a handful of different mixes were created for the song. An 'exclusive' Dom T remix was made available for download in the US for 99 cents by the company Liquid Audio. This pioneering move annoyed many American retailers as they saw it as infringing on their retail territory; and they either refused to stock the album or provided little to no promotion of the disc. That 'exclusive' remix of "Electric Barbarella" was actually just an edit of the full Dom T remix which was available on the commercially released single.

The video, directed by Ellen von Unwerth, involved a robot sex doll and had to be mildly censored before receiving airplay on MTV or VH-1; by the time the modified video was delivered, the song had already fallen off the charts.

Song Development Credits[]

Song Title	Credits	Lyrics	Bass	Drums
Medazzaland	T/R/L/C	Nick	John	Steve Alexander
Big Bang Generation	T/R/L/C	Nick	John	Steve/Anthony
Electric Barbarella	R/L/C	Nick	Warren	Anthony J. Resta
Out of My Mind	R/L/C	Simon	Warren	Dave Di Censo
Who Do You Think You Are?	R/L/C	Simon	Warren	Anthony/Steve
Silva Halo	R/L/C	Nick
Be My Icon	R/L/C	Nick	John	Steve Alexander
Buried In The Sand	R/L/C	Nick	Warren	Anthony J. Resta
Michael, You've Got a Lot...	R/L/C	Simon	Warren	Anthony J. Resta
Midnight Sun	T/R/L/C	Simon	Warren	Steve/Anthony
So Long Suicide	R/L/C	Simon	John	Steve/Anthony
Undergoing Treatment	R/L/C	Simon	Warren/Nick	Anthony J. Resta
Ball and Chain	T/R/L/C	Simon	Warren	Steve Alexander
Sinner or Saint	T/R/L/C	Simon	John	Steve Alexander