Every time I listen to “A View to a Kill” by Duran Duran, I think to myself “that drum part really sounds like Tony Thompson!” Mr. Thompson played drums on the Power Station LP, which was recorded the same year (1985). That Roger Taylor was leaving the band around this time makes me more suspicious.
The style of the drum part is the same type of aggressive bass drum/hi-hat/snare groove that Thompson is known for, and the sound is distinctly Thompson’s as well. But according to everything I’ve read, Roger Taylor is officially listed as the drummer on the track.
Is it possible that Tony Thompson was hired as the ghost drummer for Roger Taylor on “A View to a Kill”?
Compare these examples of the two drummers’ styles:
Tony Thompson:
Madonna - “Material Girl”
David Bowie - “Modern Love”
Roger Taylor:
Duran Duran - “Rio”, “Hungry Like the Wolf”
I’d be especially interested in hearing from other 80’s music nerds/musicians on whether they think the track sounds like Tony Thompson, or from anyone who can actually find any information on the matter.
Paul Yeah
Yes, I know I have way too much time on my hands, TYVM.
The answer is an unequivocal NO. Thanks to a very dear friend who is willing to feed my rather sick and somewhat unbecoming semi-obsession with Duran Duran which began in 1983 and continues unabated to this day, I have a series of photos (some autographed) from the recording session which yielded AVTAK.
The song was recorded in mid-1984, not in 1985. John and Andy Taylor went into the studio with Tony Thompson and Robert Palmer to create The Power Station album in December, 1984.
However, in mid-'84, Nick Rhodes, Simon LeBon and Roger Taylor were all in France, working in the same studio in sessions which would create the basis for what they would come together in February 1985 to complete – the Arcadia CD “So Red the Rose.”
Andy & John Taylor travelled to where their other bandmates were, in France, to record AVTAK, which was done in about two day’s time. A week later, they filmed the infamous Eiffel Tower-based video for the track. The band then went their separate ways, reunited briefly to play Live Aid in July, '85, never to perform in that line-up again until. . . 2002.
I know way too much about this stuff.
(Mods, sorry for answering this here and now, but I was afraid that if I waited for the move, I’d forget to come back to it.)
