Wild Boy: My Life in Duran Duran Book

Wild Boy is the explosive first inside account of the rise and fall of Duran Duran. The band rose to conquer the globe with a string of unforgettable hits such as "Rio," "Hungry Like the Wolf," and "The Reflex." With Simon Le Bon as their frontman, they were the defining pop act of the 1980s, but Andy Taylor, the enigmatic lead guitarist, is widely acknowledged to have been their musical driving force.

Then, at the very height of their achievement in 1985, Duran Duran imploded. Now Andy shares the story of what went wrong. With searing honesty, he charts every moment of Duran Duran's roller-coaster rise from their early days as club musicians through to international superstardom. He captures the glamour and excitement of the band's epic video shoots and the opulence of their world tours.

He reveals the truth about the allegations of drug abuse and wild hedonism that dogged Duran Duran. Packed with more than twenty-five years worth of rock 'n' roll anecdotes, Andy tells of his time in the band The Power Station, and explains why Duran Duran reformed with its original line-up in 2003.

But Wild Boy is also a moving story on a human level, as Andy describes how the pressures of fame took a terrible personal toll on him and his family. Moving from hilarious to harrowing at the turn of a page, WILD BOY is a must-read for anyone who lived through the 1980s, or who cares about music.

Publishers Weekly

In this sincere though slight autobiography, Taylor, guitarist for the 1980s pop band Duran Duran, delivers an extended backstage look at the band's rise and fall. He includes an album-by-album look at how the band, which combined glam fashion and keyboard-driven synthpop with outrageous (and expensive) videos featuring exotic locales such as Sri Lanka, became synonymous with early MTV. Taylor discusses-sometimes underplays-the band's outrageous drug and alcohol habits-much of which was better covered in MTV's 1999 Behind The Music segment. He is clearly aware that the band's "materialistic image" was a key part of London's transformation in the 1980s into a city where "it was a dominant part of popular culture to aspire to be successful." The frustrating part is that his attempts to put Duran Duran into a wider musical perspective are far too infrequent, and his own story can't quite carry the narrative. (Sept.)

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