{"id":388442,"date":"2026-01-24T18:42:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T18:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/388442\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T18:42:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T18:42:11","slug":"duran-durans-john-taylor-remembers-pop-supergroup-the-power-station","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/388442\/","title":{"rendered":"Duran Duran’s John Taylor Remembers Pop Supergroup the Power Station"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAs a founding member of Duran Duran<\/a>, you wouldn\u2019t think that much could surprise John Taylor<\/a>.<\/p>\n

By 1984, each of the British new wave gods\u2019 first three albums had gone platinum, their cinematic videos were regularly rotated on MTV, and nonstop global touring attracted Swiftian levels of excitable fans. So, to get away from it all, and rock harder than the synth-pop-driven Duran Duran, bassist Taylor and his guitarist bandmate Andy Taylor hooked up with Chic<\/a> drummer Tony Thompson, invited Chic bassist Bernard Edwards to produce, and brought in blue-eyed soul legend Robert Palmer<\/a> to sing a few songs. The next thing Taylor knew, his sidepiece supergroup, the Power Station (named for the NYC studio), had racked up two Billboard Top 10 hits in \u201cSome Like It Hot\u201d and a cover of T. Rex\u2019s \u201cGet It On (Bang a Gong).\u201d The group\u2019s 1985 self-titled debut got to No. 6 on Billboard\u2019s Top 200) and went platinum without even trying.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI was not, in annnnny way, prepared for that to happen,\u201d says Taylor, from his home in Los Angeles, about the astonishment that was the success of the Power Station.<\/p>\n

\n\tTo quote one of Robert Palmer\u2019s solo songs: \u201cSome Guys Have All the Luck.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTaylor is on tour through the end of January with Duran Duran, which will soon release a deluxe version of its eponymously titled 1993 comeback record, oft-referred to as \u201cThe Wedding Album.\u201d But the reason for our conversation is a well-deserved 40th anniversary edition of that famous side project, out today. Expanded into 4-CD and 2-LP packages, \u201cThe Power Station\u201d comes complete with, among other extras, live rarities from their time with a second journeyman singer Michael Des Barres. (Palmer performed on stage with the Power Station just once, for \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d in February 1985, then left the band shortly after their album came out the following month.) It also includes testimonies form Taylor paying respects to Power Station\u2019s two late members, Palmer and Thompson, and their producer, Edwards.<\/p>\n

\n\tGoing back to before the start of the supergroup, Taylor recalls Duran Duran\u2019s biggest moment with bittersweet reminiscence. \u201cCollectively, psychologically, after \u2018Seven and the Ragged Tiger\u2019\u2026 that record was a bitch to make, something where we went in having to top to our massive second album (1982\u2019s \u201cRio\u201d) and show musical growth,\u201d Taylor says, thinking of the heights of Duran-mania that accompanied their third album. \u201cWe had a huge, long arena tour where everything\u2019s bonkers, and was truly the first time that we\u2019d been exposed to such mass hysteria, internationally. To be honest, we were frazzled at tour\u2019s end, to say the very least.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThe Power Station<\/p>\n

\n\tKnowing that, in 1984, the post-tour Duran Duran did not have another album in them, despite the urging of its management (\u201cWe gave them one new song, \u2018The Wild Boys,\u2019 for the live album \u2018Arena’\u201d), the quintet decided to take a break, yet make their time away from each other a working vacation.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cEverything was changing within Duran,\u201d Taylor notes of that band\u2019s suddenly sweet smell of success, and the so-called \u201cfork in the road\u201d that brought about both the Power Station and Arcadia, Simon Le Bon and Nick Rhodes\u2019 art-pop project with Roxy Music\u2019s Andy Mackay.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cGoing back to the question of what was going on psychologically with Duran Duran then, things were complicated. It was the first time where we all had money; some of the guys got married; some of us began to develop outside relationships during that time off, most notably with Tony and Robert. Andy and I just broke off a bit from the others \u2013 we were like Thelma and Louise, off into the sunset, motherfuckers\u2026. And with those two guys right there, Andy and I couldn\u2019t resist doing something, something a little bit more organic, a little more muscular, a little less thought-out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTaylor met Thompson around the time that his fellow Chic member Nile Rodgers had exploded with his first huge production outside of their disco ensemble, David Bowie\u2019s \u201cLet\u2019s Dance\u201d album. \u201cTony played on \u2018Let\u2019s Dance\u2019 and Madonna\u2019s \u2018Like a Virgin\u2019 (another Rodgers production) and his was a style of drumming that lit up the dance floor,\u201d says the bassist, before adding that Thompson was the \u201creal star\u201d of the Power Station, the foundation upon which every other sound was built.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was, however, another non-Duran relationship of the time that signaled the start of the Power Station project before it had a name: the one with model and Playboy Playmate Bebe Buell, who, at that moment, was John Taylor\u2019s paramour. It was upon Buell\u2019s urging that the bassist would back her on a crunching cover of 1971\u2019s \u201cGet It On.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI was dating her at the tail end of that Duran tour. She was an artiste who\u2019d already had a record out by that time (1981\u2019s \u201cCovers Girl\u201d EP produced by Ric Ocasek and Rick Derringer), and I thought it could be fun producing something with her,\u201d says Taylor, who went to his then-label, EMI, for backing. \u201cThey weren\u2019t going to say \u2018no,\u2019 so we got the green light for studio time to develop the idea, then she and I fell out. But by then the horse was running, and Andy and I took the bit between our teeth\u2026<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAndy, Tony and I were going to be this rhythm section, despite not having played together as a unit at that point,\u201d adds Taylor, talking about a \u201cfantasy\u201d of that trio of musicians backing various vocalists ,as if they were \u201ca new version of the Stax house band.\u201d The schematic of many singing cooks in one Power Station kitchen changed when their pal Robert Palmer stopped by the studio.<\/p>\n

\u201cRobert came in, sang \u2018Communication\u2019 (a tune penned by the two Taylors and co-composer Derek Bramble, to which Palmer added lyrics), and asked about \u2018Get It On.\u2019 We put that track up next, and as soon as he finished singing, Bernard said that we\u2019d need not look further for vocalists \u2013 that Robert was the perfect singer for this project. At that exact moment, the nature of the project changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robert Palmer, by 1984, was a cooly composed, eclectic, British R&B-rock vocal legend \u2014 a \u201cconcessioner of many things,\u201d by Taylor\u2019s estimation \u2014 without having ever had a huge, continuous presence on the charts since his solo album debut with \u201cSneakin\u2019 Sally Through the Alley\u201d (1974).<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cRobert had a very dexterous voice and a clever lyrical style about him,\u201d says Taylor.<\/p>\n

\n\tPalmer\u2019s gritty but gracefully soulful singing prowess and fast way with a lyric brought a different energy to what the Taylors and Thompson had planned for the sessions. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have a plan\u2026. Didn\u2019t really think it all out,\u201d says the bassist. \u201cAndy and I didn\u2019t have, as our goal, to start another band. We just wanted to make cool music with Tony and Bernard. Suddenly, however, we had this other group. Fuck me, right? But it all sounded so incredible with Robert in the mix.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suddenly, and quickly, the Power Station became an \u201cantidote\u201d to what Duran Duran had become at that time, where everything they did felt important and pre-planned, if not fussy. \u201cIt was nice to do something that wasn\u2019t at all important,\u201d Taylor says. \u201cActually, what we did was like we were having an affair from our marriage. And we knew that this affair wasn\u2019t going to last. We were built to come together like a lightning flash, and pull off something unusual.\u201d<\/p>\n

The album\u2019s most thundering track, one that came together speedily, was Power Station\u2019s biggest hit, \u201cSome Like It Hot,\u201d a Twin Taylor idea where Palmer immediately added the \u201csweat when the heat is on\u201d lyrics after hearing the title.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe success of these songs was excess to expectation, as no one could anticipate the outcome, let alone the lot of us who made it,\u201d says Taylor. \u201cThis project was driven solely by a desire to fuck, to rock \u2013 nothing contrived. It all started out as truly unconventional.\u201d Taylor quickly credits the work of \u201cthe hottest engineer and mixer at that time, Jason Corsaro, from the hottest studio around, the Power Station,\u201d as hugely beneficial to his band\u2019s buoyant vibes.<\/p>\n

That drive \u2013 and this band\u2019s muscular rock and funk sound \u2013 quickly pushed \u201cThe Power Station\u201d up the charts following the March 1995 release, to the point they immediately scheduled a summer shed tour. That same sound was so crisp, cutting and, yes, commercial that Palmer suddenly took it as his own, and recorded 1985\u2019s \u201cRiptide\u201d with producer Edwards, drummer Thompson and guitarist Taylor on his biggest-ever solo hit to date, \u201cAddicted to Love.\u201d Not long after \u201cRiptide\u2019s\u201d release, Palmer left his longtime label, Island, for new digs at EMI, and a continuation of the crunch-rock-rhythm sound.<\/p>\n

\n\tPalmer bailed on the tour and split from the Power Station weeks after the album\u2019s release. Taylor doesn\u2019t sound angry at Palmer, now, for having jumped ship on the Power Station when he did.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHey, Island made him a huge money offer at the time to deliver a new album on the heels of ours,\u201d says the bassist. \u201dLook, we were blessed just to be able to make a record with Robert. He\u2019s a great artist, a great collaborator, and should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Robert just came into the studio, loosened his tie, and took off \u2013 he made it all look so easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTaylor makes sure to mention that Palmer\u2019s Power Station tour replacement, Michael Des Barres, came nobly to their rescue when the already-booked 1985 Power Station summer tour and Live Aid appearance reared its head. \u201cWe started out as a band meant to have more than one singer, so why not,\u201d says Taylor with a laugh. \u201cStill, we needed a singer for this tour, so God bless Michael. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cEveryone knew his reputation as an amazing singer and an underachiever who had two bands who were supposed to have been massive \u2013 Silverhead and Detective \u2013 that just didn\u2019t happen. And it wasn\u2019t as if he wasn\u2019t current; he had just written that Animotion song \u2018Obsession,\u2019 which was a huge hit, and he was wide and alive. We found Michael in Texas hanging out with Don Johnson on a movie set, flew him into New York, he hit the mic, and immediately we knew that he just got it. Michael was perfect. He came in and embraced it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTaylor says that listening to the never-before-released August 1985 live show that\u2019s part of the new Power Station boxed set was something of a thrill, as he\u2019d never heard the tapes prior to creating this 2026 collection. \u201cI forgot that we\u2019d had to fill out a two-hour set on that tour based on a Power Station album of just eight songs, so, sure, we did \u2018Obsession.\u2019 And of course, let\u2019s do a Duran Duran song. Hey, let\u2019s do two.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe lesson John Taylor learned with the creation of the supergroup: there\u2019s no place like home.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe idea of a supergroup was so everything not punk-rock, right?\u201d says the bassist with a big laugh. \u201cThe Power Station started off as this unconventional thing, gained traction, and became more legitimate, more conventional. And by the end of its 1985 tour, I realized that I didn\u2019t start the Power Station for the sake of convention, or even to have another band. I was already in a great band to start: Duran Duran.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As a founding member of Duran Duran, you wouldn\u2019t think that much could surprise John Taylor. By 1984,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":388443,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[146626,78453,96,146627,128,146628,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-388442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-chic","tag-duran-duran","tag-entertainment","tag-john-taylor","tag-music","tag-robert-palmer","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}