Arcadia

Above: magazine advertisement for Arcadia's So Red The Rose.

As a non-sequential post-script to yesterday’s item on “arcadia”, the word was adopted as the name of a 1980s pop group formed by Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes and Roger Taylor (all from Duran Duran). The name of the band was supposedly inspired by the Poussin painting The Arcadian Shepherds (in the Louvre). The band only produced one album So Red The Rose, described as “the most pretentious album ever made”.

The Arcadia initiative seems to have been entirely stylistic. No touring ever took place, and only a few television appearances. The success of this “concept band” shows the power of visual image and emotional involvement in cultural concepts.

Image, fashion and film were at least as important as the music (which seems to have been constructed from disparate elements chosen for their glamour status rather than any intrinsic musical value).

Promotional videos were directed by Roger Christian, Marcelo Anciano, and Dean Chamberlain.



Above: screenprint from a website selling Duran Duran ephemera.

Drummer Roger Taylor withdrew from most of the stylistic publicity created around the Arcadia project. This is consistent with other reports that he is wary of publicity. In most Duran Duran videos he looks away whenever a camera is pointed at him.