Seven and The Ragged Tiger

Updated 2/3/2022

Do you remember when your love affair with music began?

I do.

The early 1980s were the beginning of a new phase of life for me – I started developing my own preferences in music. Gone were the days of listening to the music of my siblings.

Goodbye Elton John and Queen – hello Duran Duran and New Wave!

Listening to Cleveland’s top pop music station, 98.5 WGCL, I heard a lot of Duran Duran along with other rock and new wave style bands. I was hooked!

For many years, the radio provided me with my music fix, but I wanted more. I didn’t want to wait anymore for my favorite songs or artists to come over the airwaves so I could press record on my tape player.

The first album I bought with my money was Duran Duran’s epic third album released in 1983, Seven and the Ragged Tiger, which is still my favorite album by Duran Duran.

I listened to it over and over in my bedroom on my little disco light record player. I memorized every single lyric and sang it loud and proud – whenever the parental units were gone, that is.

When my parents weren’t home, I loved graduating from the record player in my room to the one dad had in our living room: Hi-fi stereo sound! The Reflex never sounded better on that stereo. I would dance around the living room, singing to the cats on our couch. I lived for my afternoons alone in the house.

I wanted to learn to play bass guitar because of John Taylor – one of my favorite bassists to this day.

My best memories are from when I would spend the night at my best friends’ house and we’d put on “concerts” in her room for her dogs. John’s bass guitar became a tennis racket and Simon’s microphone, a hairbrush. We played Duran Duran’s albums loud and sang along even louder. In our young and dazzled eyes, we were the biggest and best Duranie’s out there.

My brother, who is 10 years older than me, bribed me to babysit my nephews at his home with copies of Sing Blue Silver, As The Lights Go Down, and Dancing on the Valentine on VHS, and of course, all-I-could-watch MTV. At home, we didn’t have cable TV and didn’t own a VCR, so I always jumped at the chance to indulge in something that was commonplace to all of my peers – it made me feel somewhat normal. My soul thirsted for music and videos.

Seven and the Ragged Tiger started my lifelong love affair with Duran Duran. It didn’t take long before all of my friends and family knew I was a proud Duranie! I lived and breathed Duran Duran. Their music helped my bleak pre-teen and teenage years gain some happiness.

As I sit here writing these precious memories, I am listening to Seven and the Ragged Tiger. The music transports me back to much simpler days when my life revolved around music, fashion, and boys.

I might be almost 50, but when I hear the melodic tunes of Duran Duran, I close my eyes and pretend I am twelve years old again. In my mind, I am dancing and jumping around like a fool, singing at the top of my lungs with no cares in the world.

Ah, to be young again…

And now this amazing band, who just released their 15th studio album, Future Past, in October 2021, has finally made the list of nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! I can’t even put into words how awesome this is! 

Perhaps they will play at the induction ceremonies (because they WILL be getting in, dammit) and I will finally get to see them live. Yeah, I know, I’ve loved them for decades and never got to see them live. That’s another story completely. I’ll edit and repost that one soon. 

In the meantime, go and vote for your top 5 for the Rock Hall – and be sure to add Duran Duran to that list! You can vote once daily till April 29, 2022.