Arcadia

In the midst of a brief break spanning the end of 1984 into the start of 1985, Duran Duran’s lead singer Simon LeBon, keyboardist Nick Rhodes, and drummer Roger Taylor launched the fleeting side project Arcadia. The ensemble delivered a more artistic take on the new wave synth pop associated with their main band. Its sole album, So Red the Rose, appeared in 1985 shortly after Duran Duran’s popularity crested. On the strength of name recognition alone, the record and its single “Election Day” both registered as hits, the latter reaching the American and British Top Ten. Once that short-lived success ended, the Arcadia participants regrouped as Duran Duran, though without guitarist Andy Taylor.