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One of the bands of the eighties, Duran Duran will perform at the Montreux Jazz Festival for the first time this summer. Formed in 1978, Birmingham’s ‘fab five’ emerged from the New Romantics, a musical and aesthetic movement associated with new wave and synth-pop. Their polished videos and melodic genius led them to become one of the foremost groups of MTV’s early years, generating teenage adulation on a par with Beatlemania. In 1982, they released their masterpiece Rio, a brilliant hybrid of synthetic experimentation and pop efficiency. It is considered to be one of the best albums of the decade. Over the years, the band’s influence has transcended generations and musical genres, being sampled or revisited by the likes of The Notorious B.I.G. and Muse. Their contribution to pop culture extends to fashion and film, having written a James Bond theme and made a concert film with director David Lynch.