Originally from:

Audiostreet 
http://www.audiostreet.infront.co.uk/pop/features/simonlebon/index.jhtml

A Wild Boy Reflects!
It's hard to imagine life without Duran Duran. A statement some of you might find hard to stomach. However, looking back on the decade that proved to be even more tasteless than the '70s - the '80s - Duran Duran just seemed to make a kind of decadent sense at the time. 
Like many other bands of the time the Duranies made life all the more glamorous and exciting than it really was. Girls and boys of all ages needed little or no excuse to grab the nearest ruff-collared shirt, tight leather trousers, eye shadow and as many man made fibres that a months pocket money would afford, and sling them together in what would rightly be described as a fashion nightmare. 
Spandau Ballet, Tears For Fears and to some extent Simple Minds were all part of this fantastic, epic, glam-ed up version of life, one that reflected the private excesses of these bands but was a far cry from the grim realities of Thatcher's Britain. 

Simon Le Bon and his remaining Duranies - Nick Rhodes and Warren Cuccurullo - are about embark on their first UK tour for two years. Timing is everything in the game of pop and as we end the first (or last depending on how you look at it) year in the new millennium - the 1980s revival couldn't be stronger. With groups like A1 covering Aha's 'Take On Me' - and having a number 1 hit with it, and Aurora having a similar success with Duran's own 'Ordinary World' not to mention various Police and Chris Rea samples also being successfully pilfered by the dance scene, it's like we've forgiven all musical misdemeanours. So it's with some delight that I talk to Simon about this amazing turn of events and the state of pop today. 

Mike Flynn: So how are things at the moment?
Simon Le Bon: Very good. I'm getting all excited about our UK tour! 

MF So you can't wait to get out there again yeah?
SLB It's been at least three years since we played all over the UK, no two years it will be, because we did a show at Earls Court a year ago last December.

MF So how do you find the whole touring process now? Are you more laid back about it or does it stress you out?
SLB No I really enjoy it, it doesn't stress me out, I really like playing live - I really like the exercise, I really like the attention! It's exciting and to go up and play a bunch of songs that people haven't heard for a while, and stick some new ones in as well - it's exciting. 

MF How has your audience changed over the years?
SLB Well there was a time when we'd come off stage, a long time ago, and we'd go 'wow - most guys yes!' And then suddenly kind of changed 'Huh, most girls yes!' This time rather! Then it kind of went - 'ooh, there's some young ones in there!' and it's just evolved. What's good for us I think is that we seem to be appealing to a whole new generation of fans, particularly 12 and 13 year olds. In the States we had a lot of those people coming to see us and I think it's because their mums and dads are playing the records to them. 

MF Looking back on the '80s it was obviously a decade of excess but it was also a decade of flamboyant and enjoyable pop music. 
SLB Well yeah, I mean you know the '70s music revival is no where near as popular as the '80s revival is, and it's incredible, it really is.

MF Yes, that hit Aurora had with 'Ordinary World' - what did you think of that?
SLB Oh I'm so happy with it! Really happy with it, really happy that they chose that song and really happy with the success they had with it. 

MF It's definitely one of my favourite Duran songs.
SLB It's one of mine too. 

MF What kind of stuff are you working on at the moment - what's your next musical move if you like? 
SLB Well what we did with the last album, 'Pop Trash' - was I think quite a traditional sort of album, and I think we've got to strip it down and make it a little bit more modern. We did the kind of Beatle-esque type thing with that album. We've done it and we need to move on from that.

MF Yeah you can strip production right down these days and I think people actually go for it just as much. 
SLB I think it's very important to be stripped down right now because I think that's the thing people do go for and it's the lush stuff that people aren't going for very much.

MF What do think on the whole pop debate that U2 started - criticising the new bands for lacking the 'balls' and conviction that you and others had in the '80s.
SLB I don't think they are fulfilling the same kind of purpose that we fulfilled. We were a kind of voice for a kind of collective consciousness, whereas a lot of new bands are the voice of collective corporations. I think a lot of kids now are being sold ideas and attitudes that aren't necessarily coming from within, it's about industry that much more. Perhaps the point of what Bono was saying that a lot of bands lack the confidence to stick to their own ideas - they feel that they need to be the spearhead of a business.

MF Yes, despite your huge success you actually made proper albums that you could listen to from beginning to end and more unknown tracks were as strong as the singles, there's a lot of filler going on today isn't there?
SLB I don't listen to a lot of their albums I must admit. I've listened to the Britney album - which I actually quite like - and out of all the new stuff I think she's probably got some of the best song writing going on. N'Sync - they're just a great jumping about sort of thing. Backstreet Boys have got some good tunes. I've only heard the Spice Girls single - and it doesn't grab me.