see it, did you see it?” But unlike some of the other New Romantic bands we felt we still had a rock edge, and at first we thought we’d reach a much more rock-based audience than we did. EMI obviously had other ideas, and they had a publicity plan already worked out for each of us.
“We are going to promote John first because he is the most photogenic,” they explained. “And we are going to start with him in Japan.”
I sensed this strategy would secretly wind up Simon because, as the singer, he was naturally expected to be the front man. It was the shape of things to come, and there were many times when Simon and John would be vying for attention, often with hilarious results. It would irritate Simon that John attracted the most fuss from female fans, but when it came to photo shoots it would irritate John that the photographers always wanted the singer to stand in the center. Sometimes there was a lot of shuffling to see who stood in the middle. The simple fact was that John
was
incredibly photogenic but he
wasn’t
the singer, so that caused problems between them straightaway.
Nick, meanwhile, who loved talking about pop art, was obviously going to enjoy doing a lot of interviews, so the record company had plenty of plans for him. As for me, Dave Ambrose had some interesting advice.
“When we get to America, your role will become really important,” he told me. “Over there all the attention is always on the lead guitarist, and you will be the one who does all the interviews when we get to the States. You can’t break the States without a good guitar player, and the last band who did it were Queen.”
It was a lot to live up to, but the record company seemed to have everything worked out, and, as always, what would really make or break us would be the music. “Planet Earth” had done well, but instead of capitalizing on it EMI next released a single called “Careless Memories,” which made only number thirty-seven. It was the record company’s choice, but everyone else around us said, “Why didn’t you release ‘Girls on Film’ instead?” It was a bit of a wobble that knocked our confidence, and after that we always made sure that we dictated which songs were released. But we needn’t have worried; on July 25 we released “Girls on Film,” and it really lit the touch paper. It got to number five and stayed on the charts for eleven weeks. Suddenly everyone wanted to meet us—and the female attention started almost immediately. Never mind “Girls on Film”—there were crowds of screaming girls almost
everywhere
we went, and it wasn’t long before the press picked up on it. We developed such a big female following largely as the result of a conscious effort on EMI’s part. They had a clever marketing plan based around what they learned from promoting the Beatles in the sixties—and the girls loved it.
“It’s been so wild that we have even had to be smuggled out of our gigs in a Black Maria,” complained Simon in a
Daily Star
interview. “There have been times when I’ve gone back to my hotel room to find fans sitting on my bed.”
Within a few months things had gotten so crazy that some of the venues we visited had to call the police because they were afraid they’d be overrun by marauding teenage girls. The tabloids got to hear about one incident in Sheffield when the cops had a real battle to get us out the stage door and Simon got mobbed.
“Lead singer Simon Le Bon is recovering from almost being throttled when a girl grabbed the scarf around his neck and wouldn’t let go,” reported the
News of the World,
which also quoted Simon as saying, “I think she wanted to take my head home with her.”
Simon got quite badly ruffled, but he loved it. Secretly, we were all loving the attention—and so were the record company, as it looked like their cunning plan was working. They made sure we appealed to the female audience through publicity in publications like
Smash Hits
.
“We are going to promote John first because he is the most photogenic,” they explained. “And we are going to start with him in Japan.”
I sensed this strategy would secretly wind up Simon because, as the singer, he was naturally expected to be the front man. It was the shape of things to come, and there were many times when Simon and John would be vying for attention, often with hilarious results. It would irritate Simon that John attracted the most fuss from female fans, but when it came to photo shoots it would irritate John that the photographers always wanted the singer to stand in the center. Sometimes there was a lot of shuffling to see who stood in the middle. The simple fact was that John
was
incredibly photogenic but he
wasn’t
the singer, so that caused problems between them straightaway.
Nick, meanwhile, who loved talking about pop art, was obviously going to enjoy doing a lot of interviews, so the record company had plenty of plans for him. As for me, Dave Ambrose had some interesting advice.
“When we get to America, your role will become really important,” he told me. “Over there all the attention is always on the lead guitarist, and you will be the one who does all the interviews when we get to the States. You can’t break the States without a good guitar player, and the last band who did it were Queen.”
It was a lot to live up to, but the record company seemed to have everything worked out, and, as always, what would really make or break us would be the music. “Planet Earth” had done well, but instead of capitalizing on it EMI next released a single called “Careless Memories,” which made only number thirty-seven. It was the record company’s choice, but everyone else around us said, “Why didn’t you release ‘Girls on Film’ instead?” It was a bit of a wobble that knocked our confidence, and after that we always made sure that we dictated which songs were released. But we needn’t have worried; on July 25 we released “Girls on Film,” and it really lit the touch paper. It got to number five and stayed on the charts for eleven weeks. Suddenly everyone wanted to meet us—and the female attention started almost immediately. Never mind “Girls on Film”—there were crowds of screaming girls almost
everywhere
we went, and it wasn’t long before the press picked up on it. We developed such a big female following largely as the result of a conscious effort on EMI’s part. They had a clever marketing plan based around what they learned from promoting the Beatles in the sixties—and the girls loved it.
“It’s been so wild that we have even had to be smuggled out of our gigs in a Black Maria,” complained Simon in a
Daily Star
interview. “There have been times when I’ve gone back to my hotel room to find fans sitting on my bed.”
Within a few months things had gotten so crazy that some of the venues we visited had to call the police because they were afraid they’d be overrun by marauding teenage girls. The tabloids got to hear about one incident in Sheffield when the cops had a real battle to get us out the stage door and Simon got mobbed.
“Lead singer Simon Le Bon is recovering from almost being throttled when a girl grabbed the scarf around his neck and wouldn’t let go,” reported the
News of the World,
which also quoted Simon as saying, “I think she wanted to take my head home with her.”
Simon got quite badly ruffled, but he loved it. Secretly, we were all loving the attention—and so were the record company, as it looked like their cunning plan was working. They made sure we appealed to the female audience through publicity in publications like
Smash Hits
.
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