Wild Boy on Sirius Radio

I was flipping through the various Sirius Satellite Radio channels on Saturday and stumbled upon a special presention about Andy Taylor’s new memoir, Wild Boy: My Life in Duran Duran. Taylor, the guitar player for Duran Duran, the Power Station, and few solo songs, writes about his childhood, the incredible fame of Duran Duran, the years after leaving the band, the recent reunion tours, and his current family life in Ibiza.

Host Martha Quinn led several people through readings of the book, most notably Michael Des Barres, who performed with Taylor in Power Station. Then, Taylor read the closing paragraph and was interviewed by Quinn.

The whole show was a great example of marketing to your audience. Quinn’s show appears on Sirius’s Big 80’s channel, so you know the listeners are into Duran Duran’s music… and possibly interested in Taylor’s book. And drawing on others to read to the book provided a nice variety. This strategy isn’t going to broaden the book’s appeal. I doubt a Slipknot fan is going to pick it up because of this marketing technique. But fans of the genre will definitely be interested.

My own take on Wild Boy was mixed. Taylor’s childhood was interesting enough, and stories of meeting Princess Diana and Keith Richards and other luminaries always get attention. But I thought Wild Boy lacked the detail to truly make it seem real. Taylor discusses the band’s drug use, the groupie scene, and their musical performances, but in the most general terms. Those descriptions didn’t seem grounded enough in detail to really provide an intimate depiction of the life.

Nonetheless, I applaud Taylor and his team at Grand Central Publishing for the strategy.