In the Pleasure Groove

Love, Death, and Duran Duran

By: John Taylor

Narrated by: John Taylor

Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

With Duran Duran, John Taylor has created some of the greatest songs of our time. From the disco dazzle of debut single "Planet Earth" right up to their latest number-one album All You Need is Now, Duran Duran has always had the power to sweep the world onto its feet. It's been a ride - and for John in particular, the ride has been wild, thrilling...and dangerous. Now, for the first time, he tells his incredible story - a tale of dreams fulfilled, lessons learned and demons conquered.

A shy only child, Nigel John Taylor wasn't an obvious candidate for pop stardom and frenzied girl panic. But when he ditched his first name and picked up a bass guitar, everything changed. John formed Duran Duran with his friend Nick Rhodes in the spring of 1978, and they were soon joined by Roger Taylor, then Andy Taylor and finally Simon Le Bon.

Together they were an immediate, massive global success story, their pictures on millions of walls, every single a worldwide hit.

In his frank, compelling autobiography, John recounts the highs - hanging out with icons like Bowie, Warhol, and even James Bond; dating Vogue models and driving fast cars - all the while playing hard with the band he loved. But he faced tough battles ahead - troubles that brought him to the brink of self-destruction - before turning his life around. Told with humour, honesty and hard-won wisdom, and with a PDF of exclusive pictures, In the Pleasure Groove is a fascinating, irresistible portrait of a man who danced into the fire...and came through the other side. Read by the author.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2012 John Taylor (P)2012 Penguin Audiobooks

A boy who became a Man !

What made the experience of listening to In the Pleasure Groove the most enjoyable?

Te possibility of carring the author's voice with me, made me feel closer of him. Technically the possibility of slow down the speed of the speech was amazing, I am not an English Native Speaker, so it helped a lot my comprehention.

What did you like best about this story?

I love Duran Duran, and the stories made me understand a lot of things, facts and even the choices the musicians did all along the way. I had an opportunitty to talk to him once, and my big surprise was: Me...Beeing a Brazilian, full of energy, smiles and tenderness , well I felt something strange in the way they behaved, a little distant and cold, but polite, of course, that day I realised, OH...This could be their English way ...And reading the book this became clear to me! In his own words..."very English" !

What does John Taylor bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The voice, the intention , the emotional colours inside the facts, the entonation... Specially when he mention his father talking...I almost could see JT's Father in front of me!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

YES ! But Well, I prefer to keep new material to be discovered slowly, because when I finnish a good story like this , i will sure miss the habit of having that as a part of my day.

Any additional comments?

I would like to translate it and record it to Brazilian Portuguese, I work doing it.If there's any interest I will be glad to help. Brazilians love JT, and this could be a new way of reach new public, who prefere to listen Bios like this one, but in Portuguese.

P.S. I would love to listen to the ANDY TAYLOR`S ( Wild Boy, my life in Duran Duran ) book as well, I had read it , but listen to it will be an amazing form of complement this JT story !

Funny, entertaining and well worth a listen

Any additional comments?

Aswell as being a very entertaining listen, this book gives an insight into the beginnings of Duran Duran and also the music scene at the time which is interesting to hear in itself. John Taylor has done a great job.

FRIENDS OF MINE

I listened to 'In the Pleasure Groove' whilst in lockdown in the UK this past week.

I came to it because a friend sent me some photos recently from a holiday we took in France when I was 18. At that time I bore something of a resemblance to John Taylor, and Claire, my girfriend at the time, was something of a Duran Superfan. We had been to see them in concert at the Liverpool Everyman on their first UK tour, in 1981 and again around Christmas that year at Manchester Apollo. I grew and dyed my hair, started dressing like him, and half formed a band (playing bass guitar badly). Actually come to think of it I was the Superfan..

A few years later along with Claire, I eventually I used my 'credentials' as a journalist for the University newspaper and 'friendship' with the Radio 1 DJ Peter Powell, to gain us access to the recording of the "Oxford Road Show" where we got to meet and spend an afternoon in the company of the entire band backstage at the BBC studios in Manchester.

We were introduced to JT in hair and makup' as he was in the middle of having his hair washed /trimmed. Peter Powell introduced us; "John. I'd like you to meet a couple of Friends of MIne'.

We shook hands,& I said "Hi ,nice to meet you' & tried to stay and look 'cool'. Claire however was completely starstruck and tongue tied. I genuinely thought she was about to faint. . Peter Powell broke the somewhat awkward moment, and said" Guy's, we'd better let them finish up. John, catch you later "..

We turned to leave just as Simon Le Bon entered the room towelling his hair dry, and again introductions were made;

"Simon I'd like you to meet some Friends of Mine." ( Later I wondered if this introduction was a deliberate pun or in-joke, since Peter Powell obviously knew them all well , and "Friends of Mine" is one of the tracks on their debut album. He's a really tall guy I remember thinking, and glanced at Claire who still looked ashen, but she at least managed to regain some composure, & blurt out a muted 'hello',as she shook his hand and smiled weakly.

Over the course of the day, hers (and mine) anxieties lessened somewhat ,and we relaxed a litte, as we had several more opportunities to 'interact' and chat with each of the band members... keyboard player NIck Rhodes; very cool and somewhat aloof, Andy Taylor the guitarist, seemingly a chain smoker in the Keith Richards tradition, and the one who most obviously liked a drink. But it was the drummer Roger Taylor who stood out for me as being basically a nice bloke. He came across as unassuming & 'grounded'. Devastatingly handsome, he had an air of quiet confidence, and self awareness, looking on at the 'fuss' and horseplay around the band with a sort of bemused detachment. The older brother in the room if not the adult.

They do say you should never meet your heros; If I am honest my overall impression of them was slightly mixed. Duran Duran tend to split people into 2 love/hate camps.

They are/ were often accused of being 'superficial' pretentious, and affected, Manufactured Art School nancy boys. making manufactured pop, All image, flouncy clothes, and fluffy hair. And to be fair there was plenty of evidence of this on display that day.

At one point late in the afternoon, we stepped into an elevator with John Taylor ( and Annie Lennox of the Eurythmics who were also there for recording that day). As the lift doors closed, the conversation stalled for a moment as happens in lifts, and the silenced settled around us uncomfortably. Or at least it was uncomfortable for me. As we began our ascent I struggled for something to say and then noticed the lift manufacturer nameplate above the floor numbers: OTIS.

"Aha! I blurted out!!'. My Dad made this lift!" ( He used to be an engineer for OTIS). "What's his name?" said JT. "Mr. Otis?" and everyone laughed including me.

But it's a lousy joke, and I have to admit that apart from feeling a tinge of embarrassment at having been the source, I also felt a momentary flash of anger at the humiliation.

Part of me wanted to shout; "No you wanker!, his name is Ted Cummings and he's actually a really clever guy! He's made the worlds smallest 2 Stroke petrol engine, and nearly won the World Model Helicopter flying Championships."
Thankfully I kept this retort to myself.

But Duran Duran wer'e HUGE and this day was them at pretty much the peak of their fame. They were there to record 'Is there Something I should Know" which would be released a week later, & entered the UK charts at Number 1.
( at at a time when to reach number one meant something like 200K record sales a week.)

I have no idea how exactly I would have behaved if I had achieved that level of fame/success/ money in my early twenties but I think it's fair to say that it would probably have gone to my head, and warped my view of both the world and my place in it.

Listening to 'In the Pleasure Groove" now it's very clear that this is exactly what happened to John Taylor, and indeed was happening to him on the day that we met.

What is even more interesting from my perspective is how his journey continued from that day and almost inevitably spiralled dangerously close to self destruction. I can draw several parallels with my own life albeit for quite different reasons to those of excess drink and drug use, but this is perhaps a different story for a different day.

Rehabilitation clinics aren't something I knew much about, but clearly for those wealthy celebrites and others for whom money and life has lost meaning, they can actually be a life saver.

Ironically despite the title 'The Pleasure Groove - Love, Death and Duran Duran' it is only when John Taylor gets out of the pleasure groove that he begins to find salvation/understanding and perhaps even enlightenment, through the Love and Death of the books subtitle; Love of family/friends/music, & the death of his father in particular.

Rehab gives him the chance to reappraise, reflect & take stock, and of course sober up. Ultimately this leads to a re-set of his own his own values system, a chance to forge stronger relationships with those that matter, reform the band he founded, and pursue music for the live of it rather than fame, accolades, and money.

So what do the rest of us mere mortals do?

Ironically I think this pandemic may have shown us some possibilities, and given the world an opportunity for rehab.

We have all (most of us) had time to think/ reflect / recharge. It's been a time to reassess and perhaps think about changing aspects of our own life, relationships, to both friends and, and family, and 'lifestyles which are harmful to the ecology of the planet as well as ourselves.

Time in fact to rethink our own 'Pleasure Groove'?