Thank You (Duran Duran album)
Encyclopedia
Thank You is a cover
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

s album by Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...

 released in April 1995, their follow-up to 1993's Duran Duran (The Wedding Album)
Duran Duran (1993 album)
Duran Duran is the seventh studio album and the second self-titled album by Duran Duran, released on 23 February 1993. The cover art by Nick Egan features wedding photos from the parents of the four band members.Recording of the album was completed in early 1992 with an impending release by...

. It did well on the charts (reaching number 19 on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

), but was received very negatively by critics. In May 2006, Q Magazine
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...

 listed it as the worst album ever.

History

The album reportedly began as a lighthearted tribute to the band's influences in the vein of Bowie's Pin Ups
Pin Ups
- Personnel :* David Bowie – vocals, guitar, tenor and alto saxophone, harmonica, arrangements, backing vocals, Moog synthesizer* Mick Ronson – guitar, piano, vocals, arrangements* Trevor Bolder – bass* Aynsley Dunbar – drums- Additional personnel :...

. The band recorded some tracks in borrowed studios (including Prince
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...

's Paisley Park) while the band was on the Wedding Album
Duran Duran (1993 album)
Duran Duran is the seventh studio album and the second self-titled album by Duran Duran, released on 23 February 1993. The cover art by Nick Egan features wedding photos from the parents of the four band members.Recording of the album was completed in early 1992 with an impending release by...

tour, with the intent to have an album ready to release soon after the tour's end. Another studio album was to follow quickly afterwards. However, after a brief break the band set up a portable studio in the south of France to finish the album with producer John Jones
John Jones (record producer)
John Idris Jones is a musician and record producer who has worked with Duran Duran and many high-profile rock and pop musicians.-Background:...

, and progress slowed to a crawl. Conflicts within the band and between the band and Capitol/EMI created delay after delay, and mix after mix was ordered and rejected. Duran Duran's former drummer Roger Taylor, who retired from the band in 1986, joined the band in the studio to play drums on "Watching The Detectives
Watching the Detectives (song)
"Watching the Detectives" is a 1977 single by English singer-songwriter Elvis Costello. It was his first single that credited his backing band, the Attractions, and gave him his first UK hit single...

" and "Perfect Day" (as well as a cover of "Jeepster" by T. Rex that did not appear on the album).

By the time Thank You finally appeared in 1995, the band no longer felt enthusiastic about supporting it. Much of the promotional work was done solely by Simon Le Bon
Simon Le Bon
Simon John Charles Le Bon is an English musician, best known as the lead singer, lyricist and musician of the band Duran Duran and its offshoot, Arcadia.-Early life:...

 and Warren Cuccurullo
Warren Cuccurullo
Warren Bruce Cuccurullo in Brooklyn, New York is an American rock musician who worked with Frank Zappa, was a founding member of Missing Persons, and has been a long term member of Duran Duran. He also has some notoriety in the porn industry after making nude appearances in a magazine and...

. The band made videos for "White Lines" and "Perfect Day" (Roger Taylor, who did not tour or do any promotions with the band, excited old fans by appearing in "Perfect Day"), but the videos saw almost no airplay on the MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

 or VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...

 channels. Duran Duran were not happy about a label-mandated 1995 summer tour of radio station festivals. Bassist John Taylor was particularly frustrated and left the stage several times over the course of the tour. After a final half-capacity show in Southern California, where the band was booed, Taylor remained in Los Angeles to launch the resolutely anti-corporate side project Neurotic Outsiders
Neurotic Outsiders
Neurotic Outsiders was a supergroup founded in 1995, consisting of Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols, Matt Sorum and Duff McKagan of Guns N' Roses, and John Taylor of Duran Duran. The very first line-up featured Billy Idol and Steve Stevens , but they were soon replaced by Jones and Taylor...

 with former members of Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band, formed in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, in 1985. The band has released six studio albums, three EPs, and one live album...

 and the Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...

.

An acoustic version of the title track "Thank You" was included on the 1995 Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...

 tribute album Encomium
Encomium (album)
Encomium: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin is a tribute album by various artists dedicated to Led Zeppelin, released by Atlantic Records on March 14, 1995...

, and was also included on the soundtrack for the Joe Pesci
Joe Pesci
Joseph Frank "Joe" Pesci is an American actor, comedian, and musician.He is known for playing a variety of different roles, from violent mobsters to comedic leads to quirky sidekicks...

 film With Honors.

The cover of this album features a collage of the various artists whose songs were covered on this album, including Bob Dylan, Iggy Pop, Public Enemy with Flavor Flav, Jim Morrison of The Doors, Sly And The Family Stone, and Lou Reed.

Critical reception

The three singles from the album were covers of Grandmaster Melle Mel's "White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)", Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...

's "Perfect Day", and Public Enemy's "911 Is a Joke
911 Is a Joke
"911 Is a Joke" is a 1990 song by American hip hop group Public Enemy, from their third album, Fear of a Black Planet. It was released as a single and became their first Top 40 hit in June 1990, reaching number 34 on the Billboard Hot 100....

". Each of these had a fair performance on the charts, but critics lambasted the band's attempts, especially of "911 Is A Joke", "Ball of Confusion" and "Crystal Ship".

J. D. Considine of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

said "[S]ome of the ideas at play here are stunningly wrongheaded, like the easy-listening arrangement given Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...

's "Watching the Detectives" or the version of Zeppelin's "Thank You" that sounds like the band is covering Chris DeBurgh. But it takes a certain demented genius to recognize Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Though considered an innovator of punk rock, Pop's music has encompassed a number of styles over the years, including pop, metal, jazz and blues...

's "Success" as the Gary Glitter
Gary Glitter
Gary Glitter is an English former glam rock singer-songwriter and musician.Glitter first came to prominence in the glam rock era of the early 1970s...

 tune it was meant to be or to redo "911 Is a Joke
911 Is a Joke
"911 Is a Joke" is a 1990 song by American hip hop group Public Enemy, from their third album, Fear of a Black Planet. It was released as a single and became their first Top 40 hit in June 1990, reaching number 34 on the Billboard Hot 100....

" so it sounds more like Beck
Beck
Beck Hansen is an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known by the stage name Beck...

 than like Public Enemy."
Despite such negative reception, some of the original artists praised the versions of their songs that Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...

 had recorded. Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...

 said, on the electronic press kit
Electronic Press Kit
An electronic press kit is a press kit equivalent in electronic form. An EPK usually takes the form of a website or e-mail, though they are also known to exist in CD and DVD form....

 that accompanied the album, that Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...

's version of "Perfect Day" was "The best cover ever completed of one of my own songs".

In response to a question on duranduran.com's Ask Katy, the band's keyboardist Nick Rhodes said that he was happy with the way the album turned out.

Track listing

  1. "White Lines
    White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)
    "White Lines " is a song by Grandmaster Melle Mel, released as a 12" in 1983 on Sugar Hill Records. The song, which warns against the dangers of cocaine, addiction, and drug smuggling, is one of Melle Mel's signature tracks...

    " (Grandmaster Melle Mel) – 5:31
  2. "I Wanna Take You Higher
    I Want to Take You Higher
    "I Want to Take You Higher" is a 1969 song by the soul/rock/funk band Sly & the Family Stone, the B-side to their Top 30 hit Stand!". Unlike most of the other tracks on the Stand! album, "I Want to Take You Higher" is not a message song; instead, it is simply dedicated to music and the feeling one...

    " (Sly & The Family Stone
    Sly & the Family Stone
    Sly and the Family Stone were an American rock, funk, and soul band from San Francisco, California. Active from 1966 to 1983, the band was pivotal in the development of soul, funk, and psychedelic music...

    )
    – 5:06
  3. "Perfect Day" (Lou Reed
    Lou Reed
    Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...

    )
    – 3:51
  4. "Watching the Detectives
    Watching the Detectives (song)
    "Watching the Detectives" is a 1977 single by English singer-songwriter Elvis Costello. It was his first single that credited his backing band, the Attractions, and gave him his first UK hit single...

    " (Elvis Costello
    Elvis Costello
    Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...

    )
    – 4:48
  5. "Lay Lady Lay
    Lay Lady Lay
    "Lay Lady Lay" is a song written by Bob Dylan and originally released in 1969 on his Nashville Skyline album. Like many of the tracks on the album, Dylan sings the song in a low croon, rather than in the high nasal singing style associated with his earlier recordings...

    " (Bob Dylan
    Bob Dylan
    Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

    )
    – 3:53
  6. "911 Is a Joke
    911 Is a Joke
    "911 Is a Joke" is a 1990 song by American hip hop group Public Enemy, from their third album, Fear of a Black Planet. It was released as a single and became their first Top 40 hit in June 1990, reaching number 34 on the Billboard Hot 100....

    " (Public Enemy) – 3:59
  7. "Success
    Lust for Life (album)
    Lust for Life is a 1977 album by Iggy Pop, his second solo release and his second collaboration with David Bowie, following The Idiot earlier in the year. As well as achieving critical success, it was Pop's most commercially popular album to date, and remains his highest-charting release in the UK...

    " (Iggy Pop
    Iggy Pop
    Iggy Pop is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Though considered an innovator of punk rock, Pop's music has encompassed a number of styles over the years, including pop, metal, jazz and blues...

    )
    – 4:05
  8. "Crystal Ship
    Crystal Ship
    "The Crystal Ship" is a song by The Doors from their 1967 debut album The Doors. It was also the B-Side of the number-one hit single, "Light My Fire." It is regarded as a love song to Jim Morrison's first love, Mary Werbelow....

    " (The Doors
    The Doors
    The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger...

    )
    – 2:52
  9. "Ball of Confusion
    Ball of Confusion (That's What the World is Today)
    "Ball of Confusion " is a 1970 hit single for The Temptations. It was released on the Gordy label, and produced by Norman Whitfield....

    " (The Temptations
    The Temptations
    The Temptations is an American vocal group having achieved fame as one of the most successful acts to record for Motown Records. The group's repertoire has included, at various times during its five-decade career, R&B, doo-wop, funk, disco, soul, and adult contemporary music.Formed in Detroit,...

    )
    – 3:46
  10. "Thank You
    Thank You (Led Zeppelin song)
    "Thank You" is a song written by Robert Plant and Jimmy Page that was released by English rock band Led Zeppelin on their 1969 album Led Zeppelin II.-Overview:...

    " (Led Zeppelin
    Led Zeppelin
    Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...

    )
    – 6:36
  11. "Drive By" (Duran Duran
    Duran Duran
    Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...

    )
    – 5:34
  12. "I Wanna Take You Higher Again" (Sly & The Family Stone
    Sly & the Family Stone
    Sly and the Family Stone were an American rock, funk, and soul band from San Francisco, California. Active from 1966 to 1983, the band was pivotal in the development of soul, funk, and psychedelic music...

    )
    – 4:25

Bonus tracks on Japanese release:
  1. "Diamond Dogs
    Diamond Dogs
    Diamond Dogs is a concept album by David Bowie, originally released by RCA Records in 1974. Thematically it was a marriage of the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell and Bowie's own glam-tinged vision of a post-apocalyptic world...

    " (David Bowie
    David Bowie
    David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

    )
    – 6:10
  2. "Femme Fatale
    Femme Fatale (song)
    "Femme Fatale" is a song by The Velvet Underground from their 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico. At producer Andy Warhol's request, band frontman Lou Reed wrote the song about Warhol superstar Edie Sedgwick...

    " (Lou Reed
    Lou Reed
    Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...

    )
    – 4:22

Personnel

Duran Duran are:
  • Simon Le Bon
    Simon Le Bon
    Simon John Charles Le Bon is an English musician, best known as the lead singer, lyricist and musician of the band Duran Duran and its offshoot, Arcadia.-Early life:...

     - Vocals
  • John Taylor - Bass
  • Warren Cuccurullo
    Warren Cuccurullo
    Warren Bruce Cuccurullo in Brooklyn, New York is an American rock musician who worked with Frank Zappa, was a founding member of Missing Persons, and has been a long term member of Duran Duran. He also has some notoriety in the porn industry after making nude appearances in a magazine and...

     - Guitar
  • Nick Rhodes
    Nick Rhodes
    Nick Rhodes is an English musician, is best known as the keyboardist of the pop rock band Duran Duran...

     - Keyboards

Other credits

Musicians:
  • Steve Ferrone
    Steve Ferrone
    Steven "Steve" Ferrone is a British drummer.He was a member of the Average White Band, and has recorded and performed with numerous other high-profile acts, including Slash, Chaka Khan, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Scritti Politti...

     - Drums on "White Lines" and "Crystal Ship"
  • Terry Bozzio
    Terry Bozzio
    Terry John Bozzio is an American drummer best known for his work with Missing Persons and Frank Zappa.-Biography:Terry Bozzio was born December 27, 1950 in San Francisco, California. He started at age 6 playing makeshift drum sets. At the age of 13 he saw The Beatles premier performance on The Ed...

     - Drums on "Success", "Thank You" and "Drive By"
  • Tony Thompson
    Tony Thompson
    Anthony T. "Tony" Thompson was a session drummer best known as a member of Chic. He was raised in the middle-class community of Springfield Gardens, in Queens, NY.-Chic:...

     - Drums on "I Wanna Take You Higher"
  • Roger Taylor - Drums on "Perfect Day" and "Watching The Detectives"
  • Abe Laboriel Jr.
    Abe Laboriel Jr.
    Abe Laboriel Jr. is an American session drummer. He is the son of Mexican bassist Abraham Laboriel, Sr. and brother of producer, songwriter, and film composer Mateo Laboriel....

     - Drums on "Lay Lady Lay" and "I Wanna Take You Higher Again"
  • Anthony J. Resta
    Anthony J. Resta
    Anthony J. Resta is an American record producer and musician. A multi-instrumentalist, he is a known for his use of vintage audio gear in creating expansive sonic atmospheres. He has earned twelve RIAA certified gold and multi-platinum awards and has been featured in many articles for his...

     - Drums on "White Lines", "Lay Lady Lay", "911 Is A Joke", "Ball Of Confusion" and "I Wanna Take You Higher Again"
  • Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five - Background vocals on "White Lines" and "I Wanna Take You Higher"
  • Grandmaster Melle Mel - Background vocals, Rap on "White Lines"
  • Lamya
    Lamya
    Lamya Al-Mugheiry , better known as her mononym Layma was a Kenyan-born British female R&B and dance music singer, She was born in Kenya and was of Omani descent and raised in Sheffield, United Kingdom...

     - Background vocals on "White Lines", "I Wanna Take You Higher" and "Drive By".
  • Curtis King
    Curtis King
    Curtis Albert King is a former pitcher in Major League Baseball. He played for the St. Louis Cardinals.-External links:...

     - Background vocals on "I Wanna Take You Higher"
  • Tessa Niles
    Tessa Niles
    Tessa Niles is an English singer, best known as a backing singer for a wide variety of artists.-Early life and career:Born in Kent, Niles began her professional singing career, as both a lead and a backing vocalist, in 1979...

     - Background vocals on "Perfect Day" and "Watching The Detectives"
  • Maxanne Lewis - Background vocals on "Ball Of Confusion"
  • Flo & Eddie
    Flo & Eddie
    Flo & Eddie are a comedic musical duo.The two were the original founding members of the Top 40 rock group the Turtles. After the Turtles dissolved, Volman and Kaylan first joined the Mothers of Invention as "Phlorescent Leech & Eddie"...

     - Background Vocals on "Success"
  • Lee Oskar
    Lee Oskar
    Lee Oskar is a Danish harmonica player, notable for his contributions to the sound of the rock-funk fusion group War, which he formed with Eric Burdon, his solo work, and as a harmonica manufacturer...

     - Harmonica on "Watching The Detectives" and "I Wanna Take You Higher"
  • Jonathan Elias
    Jonathan Elias
    Jonathan Elias is a U.S. composer and record producer, known for his movie soundtracks, production for several pop and rock acts, and his award-winning advertising music including the PBS logo instrumental from October 1, 1984 to October 1, 1989....

     - Moog synthesizer
    Moog synthesizer
    Moog synthesizer may refer to any number of analog synthesizers designed by Dr. Robert Moog or manufactured by Moog Music, and is commonly used as a generic term for older-generation analog music synthesizers. The Moog company pioneered the commercial manufacture of modular voltage-controlled...

     on "Crystal Ship"
  • Bruce Dukov - Violin (Concert Master-Solo)
  • Ron Folsom, Armen Garabedian, Henry Ferber, Berj Garabedian, Joy Lyle, Michelle Kikuchi-Richards, Maria Newman - Violin strings
  • Pamela Goldsmith, Scott Haupert - Viola
  • Suzi Katayama - Cello


Producers:
  • Duran Duran (tracks 1-4, 6-11);
  • Duran Duran, John Jones
    John Jones
    -Authors, artists, poets, and writers:*John Jones of Gellilyfdy , Welsh calligrapher, manuscript collector and antiquary*John Jones , Welsh writer*John Jones , Welsh poet...

     (tracks 5, 12).


Technical Personnel:
  • Ken Scott
    Ken Scott
    Ken Scott is an English record producer and recording engineer.-Career:Scott started at the age of 16 working in the tape library at Abbey Road Studios. He became a recording engineer working with such acts as The Beatles, Jeff Beck, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones and Procol Harum...

    , John Jones, Tony Taverner, Avril McCintosh, Steve Churchyard - Engineering
  • Anthoy J. Resta, Bob St. John, David Richards
    David Richards
    David Richards may refer to:*David Richards , former NFL offensive lineman*David Richards , British general*David Richards , former CEO of the ICC...

    , Jason Corsaro, Tim Palmer
    Tim Palmer
    Tim Palmer is a British music producer, audio engineer and songwriter of rock and alternative music.-1980-1990:Palmer worked as an assistant engineer at Utopia Studios in London, England in the early 1980s...

     - Mixing
  • Anthoy J. Resta, Bob St. John, John Jones - Additional production and engineering
  • Mark Tinley
    Mark Tinley
    Mark Ty-Wharton is a British author, composer and philosophical speaker who specialises in presentations using sound art....

    , Anthony J. Resta, John Jones - Additional programming
  • Tim Young
    Tim Young
    Timothy or Tim Young may refer to:*Tim Young *Tim Young *Tim Young *Tim Young *Tim Young *Timothy R. Young, U.S. representative from Illinois*Timothy Young , a character in the Saw films...

    - Mastering
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