Listen to the isolated bass for Duran Duran song ‘Rio’
There were more than a few accusations during the heyday of Duran Duran that the band were just a bunch of English pretty boys. They didn’t actually do anything huge, they just let the synthesizers and drum machines do all the work while they kicked back and looked good in their music videos. This was the 1980s, so style was in and substance was out, right?
In reality, Duran Duran could be a tight funk rock outfit when they felt so inclined. Nick Rhodes’ keyboards were at the forefront of the band’s arrangements, but just below the surface, Duran Duran had a hell of a rhythm section laying down dance grooves and club beats that most other bands could only replicate with sequencers and pre-programmed drums.
With Roger Taylor laying down frenetic rhythms behind the drum kit, there was plenty of space for bassist John Taylor to lay out. Adopting slap techniques that were almost completely absent from his synthpop peers’ music, Taylor was laying down bass lines that had as much movement and finesse as lead guitar with an extra layer of groove to keep the band’s songs interesting.
“For Roger and I, it was a chance to reference so many of the great rhythm sections that we’d been listening to and had been inspiring us: George Murray and Dennis Davis, Bowie’s rhythm section; John Gustafson and Paul Thompson, the great Roxy Music rhythm section; Mick [Karn] and Steve [Jansen] from Japan, Eurodisco, and even Motown,” Taylor explained in a bass tutorial from 2020. “But what would come out the other end would be quintessential Duran Duran.”
Taylor is all around the neck on ‘Rio’, the title track to Duran Duran’s hit LP of the same name. Throughout the verses, Taylor’s bass growls as he outlines the song’s chord changes and throws in some wonderfully wonky non-chord tones. As the band launches into the song’s iconic chorus, Taylor slides down and simplifies the line slightly, throwing in a pop and slap every once in a while to keep the song moving forward.
What really makes Taylor’s bass line unique is the syncopation that he throws in all throughout the song. Rather than keeping a solid driving bass part, Taylor constantly throws in offbeat rhythms and rapid runs in order to make the arrangement more danceable. It might not burst out of the speakers the first time you hear ‘Rio’ on the radio, but at a closer glance, Taylor’s bass line to ‘Rio’ suddenly becomes one of the funkiest and coolest bass parts in ’80s synthpop.
Check out the isolated bass from Duran Duran’s ‘Rio’ down below.
