D is for Duran Duran. And David Bowie. Oh! And Def Leppard

I spent a good portion of my youth pining over Rikki Rockett, the drummer for the band Poison (and now burying my head in shame.) Hey, I was young...and he played (plays?) the drums. But I wasn't the only one with a rockstar crush...

Jessica Bell and I have teamed up for the A-Z blogging challenge this year to talk about our musical muses - a band/artist or song that has inspired, or affected us.  (Oh, and in case you thought I was just about to dish about Jessica's rock star crushes...psyche!)

DURAN DURAN didn't inspire me the same way some of the other musicians in this blogging challenge have, but the band certainly had an impact. Because while I was crushing on Rikki, my childhood best friend, Cristy, was all about Simon Le Bon and Duran Duran.

Hard not to become a fan of the music with songs like this:



Back when MuchMusic and MTV played more music videos than other stuff, the video for this song became one of my favorites - and may have been the original catalyst into my desire to write scripts. Great video, right?

But if we're talking pure inspiration, I've got another "D" artist in mind - DAVID BOWIE.

This picture is from Labyrinth, where David Bowie plays the Goblin King. (Damn, I wish I'd written that movie.)

Labyrinth ranks right up there with The Princess Bride, The Dark Crystal, Willow, and Legend for movies that pretty much defined my youth and allowed me to believe in magic. (Though, I admit to being a bit creeped out by David's crotch-grabbing tights in Labyrinth.)

While Bowie's acting leaves a little to be desired on the big screen, he lacks nothing when it comes to performance excellence in his music. I had the pleasure of enjoying the GLASS SPIDER tour, where I fell in love with songs I didn't even know he sang.

Of course, I'll leave you with a song I have always known he sang, because it comes straight from Labyrinth, Dance Magic. (You remind me of the babe...)

But I can't stop there, because those who knew me would call foul if I didn't mention the other "D" band that had a major impact on my life. DEF LEPPARD. 

While I was pining after Rikki, and Cristy was ga-ga over Simon Le Bon, another important friend in my life would have - and still would - do anything for Joe Elliott. I didn't mind Jennifer's obsession (not only because she supported mine) because Def Leppard has some amazing tracks. Including this one:



And before anyone calls me on it, yeah, maybe I changed the lyrics to this song a little when I was a kid...

"I'm outta luck, outta love,
Got a photograph, picture of,
Rikki Rockett, you're too much,
You're the only man I wanna touch..."

* cough *

Ok, enough personal humiliation. Who are your favorite musical "D" bands or artists?

Now, go check out some of the other blogs taking part in the A-Z Blogging challenge, including my Dawn Dalton blog where I'm talking about awesome YA books, and the Most-Wanted Monsters blog where Judith and I are writing poems and talking smack about some creeptastic beasties.

- Dawn