Duran Duran: Pop Trash : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Call it the Justine Bateman principle: If you were famous in the Eighties, you will never, never be unfamous again. Back in the day, Duran Duran and Motley Crue were ringing tubular radio bells, shaking their heroic hair and cranking out pop hits. It didn't look like we would remember either band two decades later. But here we are, and there they are. Duran Duran, their place in history secure, have aged fabulously into despotic dowagers. The well-named Pop Trash shows off their jaded hooks and nasty wit; it's for fans only, but those of us who still crumple at the opening hiccups of "Hungry Like the Wolf" will be glad for another fix. Like Duran Duran, Motley Crue have lost a key member. While the Durannies boogie on without bass stud John Taylor, the Crue are barely even Motley without original drummer Tommy Lee. Still, New Tattoo proves that has-been status has been good for their muse, teaching them about the downside of Hollywood decadence. Courtney Love would trade Donatella Versace's beeper number for the sordid slam of "Hell on High Heels," "Dragstrip Superstar" or the touching "Punched in the Teeth by Love." The guitars are bland, and "Treat Me Like the Dog I Am" is false modesty -- you don't pay a dog $17.98 to take a dump on your lawn. But Motley Crue, like Duran Duran, stand unrepentant amid the wreckage of fame.