60 Simon Greats
Back on 27 October, Cherry Lipstick celebrated the 60th birthday of our Dear Leader, Simon le Bon, with a list on Twitter of '60 Reasons We Love Him'. For those not on Twitter, or for those who want to see it all in one place with some bonus witty commentary, here are those 60 moments again.
The list was completed by deliberately mixing up the chronology and significance of the moments. However, the final 7 did seem to be in ascending order to provide a 'big finish'.
60 "My names Bon, Simon le Bon." Too obvious to avoid, too classy for words.
59 Planet Earth dancing
58 All You Need Is Know beard
57 "Is anybody hungry?"
56 Follow in my Footsteps: "I am the medicine." This song has to be one of the top 'hidden wonders' of the Duran catalogue. Check it out here.
55 Pavarotti duet. This must be a personal top-10 career highlight for SLB.
54 Notorious live
53 "I was born with my instrument."
52 Arcadia hair cut. Mmmmm. Rather like #58, very associated with a particular album and then never seen again.
51 Frilly New Romantic kit. It takes some big balls to go out in public like that.
50 Rapping on 911 is a Joke. Rather like #51, SLB sees the danger and dives straight in. “Ridicule is nothing to be scared of.”
49 Going to Medazzaland (on Midazolam)
48 Band Aid grey jacket
47 Yasmin+kids (and grandson, but that didn't fit on Twitter). An obvious top 10 entry if we were doing this in order.
46 writing Secret Oktober in 10 minutes
45 Notorious video tambourine playiing
44 Hungry Like The Wolf video table throwing – naughty!
43 Venice Drowning lyrics – naughtier!
42 Careless Memories video
41 Surviving Live Aid. This is a strange one. As it happens, this stick that has become a go-to way for beating him by the ignorant was not immediately evident during 1985. It is a personal irritant to Simon, and there are quotes about him from it here.
40 Perfect Day video gold suit - the inspiration for 'Hallucinating Elvis'
39 Doing the star jump on Sing Blue Silver
38 "I know we'll make it with that pop trash - yeah!"
37 Wild Boys video
36 Doing the introducting of the band live
35 Our team captain on Pop Quiz '84
34 BIG '84 hair
33 That Persil ad
32 Hungry Like The Wolf live '95 – pure punk-Duran
31 mic sharing with Andy
30 Missing vocal: "Where can I find you?"
29 Being the Glamfather
28 Surviving Drum
27 Out Of My Mind video
26 Pressure Off video
25 Skin Trade video (the eyes!)
24 The Chauffeur lyrics and vocal
23 The Kibbutz year lyric writing. That's how to spend a year off and set up the rest of your life, guys!
22 Crazy Big Thing hair
21 Falling Down video (max perving)
20 Breath After Breath (those shorts!)
19 My Antarctica
18 Classy bow tie when meeting Diana at the Bond premiere in '85
17 Sneakily standing on a box at the back to be the tallest in the Rio inner sleeve photo
16 Talking John into rejoining Duran in 2000
15 "They go for the money shot"
14 Palomino: "Hey hey!"
13 Nightboat live with Smashing Pumpkins in '98
12 Playing the guitar on Save A Prayer in Sing Blue Silver
11 Hold Back The Rain lyric (he used to say it was his favourite)
10 Do You Believe In Shame bandana (see #51)
9 The vocal end of Being Followed (“why yi yi yi yi yi yo!)
8 New Moon On Monday video saviour antics
7 Ignoring the critics. Again and again and again. And coming out on top.
6 "We're the band to dance to when the bomb drops"
5 Election Day video
4 Riding the Rio yacht
3 Ordinary World
2 Being our leader
1 The 1980 audition!