Nick Rhodes is notorious for staying busy on breaks from Duran Duran. The British band's co-founder and keyboardist fills his downtime with producer gigs and side projects, including TV Mania, whose long-shelved album is due for release March 11.
In the meantime, TV Mania has become prolific on Twitter, posting several tweets per day, including such nuggets as: "Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards," posted Thursday.
Fans are speculating whether Rhodes, who doesn't have a known Twitter or Facebook account, is tweeting for TV Mania.
Says @TVManiaMusic: "Ssh. There is more than one TV Mania."
Before TV Mania, Rhodes' biggest project outside Duran Duran undoubtedly was Arcadia, the platinum-selling group he formed with Duran vocalist Simon Le Bon and drummer Roger Taylor. Arcadia's only album, "So Red the Rose" (1985), boasted such guest musicians as Sting, David Gilmour and Grace Jones.
As far back as 1983, Rhodes was working as a producer. He co-produced Kajagoogoo's hit "Too Shy" and had discovered the band as well.
Almost two decades later, he joined forces with The Dandy Warhols, producing most of the Portland, Ore., band's album "Welcome to the Monkey House" (2003) and helping bulk up the alt-rock group's synthesizer arsenal.
Also during the time Rhodes and the rest of the Fab Five were regrouping for reunion album "Astronaut," the keyboardist teamed up with original Duran singer Stephen Duffy for side project The Devils. The album "Dark Circles" featured re-recordings of original Duran songs as well as hauntingly beautiful tracks looking back on earlier days, such as "Newhaven-Dieppe."
TV Mania, meantime, is the brainchild of Rhodes and former Duran guitarist Warren Cuccurullo. Its album, "Bored with Prozac and The Internet?" promises to look decidedly toward the future, or at least a view of the future as envisioned in the mid-1990s: a culture obsessed with reality television and the Internet. If you haven't caught up yet, you will, TV Mania tells us on Twitter.
"One day soon, you too will be TV Mania."
Flackback Friday is an occasional feature appearing on the first Friday of each month and taking a look back on music, film and events from Duran Duran's more than 30-year career. If you would like to see a particular Duran moment featured on Flashback Friday, please leave a comment.
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