There are Duran Duran covers that politely tip their hat to the original… and then there’s Neurotic Outsiders doing Planet Earth like they took their hat off and beat you with it.
Back in 1981, Planet Earth landed as Duran Duran’s debut single — all art‑school weird and dance‑floor cool. The riff in the Outsiders’ version? Low‑key kind of fire (as in, “don’t get too close or it will melt your face”…). And then there’s our boy John Taylor who shows up on vocals sounding like he wandered into a punk‑metal open mic night and just… committed. It’s raw, it’s unvarnished, it’s aggressively un‑Duran, especially the slightly‑cringe spoken section that probably seemed like a good idea at 2 a.m., long before rehab was a recurring calendar event.
A New‑Wave Classic Gets Its Teeth Kicked In
The Neurotic Outsiders were basically a support group for musicians who’d already survived extremely famous bands. Mid‑90s lineup: John Taylor, Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols, and Matt Sorum and Duff McKagan from the Guns N’ Roses / Velvet Revolver universe. Not exactly a knitting circle. Their natural habitat was places like The Viper Room — small, dark, slightly cursed, and perfect for a band that was never aiming for well-behaved longevity.
So, no, this isn’t a version of Duran Duran’s Planet Earth that is faithful to its roots. It’s more like four loud and unhinged guys who decided to drag a sleek new‑wave classic through the alley to make a man of it.
WOW…
