Two members of Duran Duran will pay tribute to one of their greatest influences when Simon Le Bon and John Taylor induct Roxy Music into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the ceremony on March 29.
“I remember seeing them on television, and they were just like nothing we’d ever seen before, were they?” Taylor told former Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones on the KLOS show “Joney’s Jukebox.” He was likely referring to the group’s debut performance on “Top of the Pops” in 1972, playing their first single “Virginia Plain.” Taylor remembers being mesmerized by a young Brian Eno on keyboards.
“They were from outer space, almost,” he said.
Years later, Duran Duran paid homage to that song, performing a few lines from it during 1998 live shows as an introduction to their own song, “Rio.”
However, Duran has shied away from covering full songs by the band that influenced them so much. “We did actually consider several Roxy Music songs,” Nick Rhodes recalled during a 2014 fan chat. “‘Mother of Pearl’ was way up there on the list, but I seem to remember we decided not to touch that one in the end. As close as we got was playing a few bars of ‘Virginia Plain’ at [the above] show in London some years ago, segueing from the [‘Virginia Plain’] line ‘Going down to Rio’ into our song, ‘Rio.’”
Taylor’s fandom of Roxy Music continued beyond his work in Duran Duran. The bass player covered the group’s song, “Just Another High” on the Roxy Music tribute album “Dream Home Heartaches….Remaking/Remodeling Roxy Music,” which he produced.
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The induction ceremony will be a special one for fans of Roxy Music, as it will be the first time since 2011 the legendary group, which influenced artists from Duran to Chic, will perform.
“We’ve been looking into how we’re going to approach the actual induction, whether or not we’re going to play,” saxophonist Andy MacKay told Rolling Stone. “I’m hopeful that we will.”
Roxy lead singer and chief songwriter Bryan Ferry (pictured above) is set to tour this summer with a show based around the group’s classic 1982 album, “Avalon.”
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on March 29.