backbone of your career. >> reporter: if music's the backbone, then it's the collaboration that keeps duran duran ever been. we are family. >> reporter: ifou the yacht, you know the ones i'm talking about? what would you say? >> it's all going to be okay. hang in there. >> yes. absolutely. >> that was jen gentlemna bush d had her undivided concentration. >> i never concentrated during this show than i did during that piece. >> carson reminded me, remember when they were on their show? no, no, i'm kidding. never mind. >> we don't need to remember that. >> their concert runs through the end of the year. >>> when we come back, we'll see if we hit our 10,000 miles river. first this is "today" on >>> we're back now on "today" on this thursday morning. people still riding on the plaza. she hasn't stopped. >> i know. >> unbelievable. >> natalie and al took off. ready for the next hour of the show. savannah's still here, carson's still here, lester and me. meanwhile, natalie took off for a ten-mile run. >> exactly. >> we have the mileage counter. we're getting close. not there they've been amazing. they

duran duran's managers. they said, we're looking for kind of james bond videos on location, and their managers are the ones that went to the band members and said, look, we really need to up the ante with these clips. we need to give this channel something they've never seen before. ♪ >> there are some that have accused you of videos being soft porn. >> well, excuse me! >> we like to call them tastefully smutty. ♪ her name is rio and she dances on the sand ♪ just like that river twisting through the dusty land ♪ and when she shines. >> when i first met duranought they looked like rock stars, so why not become rock stars? ♪ don't stand, don't stand so, don't stand so close to me ♪ >> why do you think we're so popular over there? >> i think there is a tradition that goes back over the past 20 years from the days of the beatles and the rolling stones where british bands seem to be better at it than americans. >> the police have sold 4 million albums in one year. rolling stone shows them as best new band of the year, taking note of the swirling, dreamy, soaring quality of the sound. ♪ >> it was incredible to see them, and i couldn't believe what i was hearing. out of three people! i was shocked. >> i once read that you were called the pink floyd of the '80s. what do you think of that? >> not at all. we're the cure of the '80s. ♪ i don't know what's wrong ♪ that it could have been >> the whole trinity of alternative british music is the cure, depeche mode and the smiths. all three started out as these bands that in the end of the '80s were sel

. >>> i do remember the 80s, duran, duran. the announcer is mike breen, with a b. cnn has -- espn has a mike green. >> i stayed up to watch the game, i wastelling everyone -- telling everyone in the newsroom. i stayed up for the game and i'm not tired. >> not yet. >> we're talking 6:30. >> you will be sleeping in the parking lot. >> there's coffee and there's adrenaline from a wonderful win. >>> let's look at the bay bridge toll plaza. that's light, a lot of people who are up now are not expecting a lot of slow traffic. traffic looks good going into san francisco. 880 is looking good. if you're driving into south bay, a nice looking commute. we can go do the maps. i can show you the traffic is off to a good start. it's 4:02. >>> we have new developments in the case of the three suspects charged with killing a canadian back packer. that is being delayed four months. two of the suspects were in court yesterday. this is what they look like when police found them last october. the third suspect agreed to deaf against the other two. outside the courtroom a friend of vic

duran duran, u 2, guns and roses. one of the biggest bands of the decade and decade before and since, kiss. co-founder, bass player gene simmons joins me now. great to have you back. let's talk about the eighties. you decided to remove the makeup the bond had worn, it was a huge deal. you said at the time it felt good. were you nervous, worried how fans would react? >> i was scared to death. i mean, we started off defying the odds. we decided to put together the band we never saw on stage. we were four knuckleheads off the streets of new york who didn't have a clue what marketing was, what it all meant and all that, we had this bizarre notion. and on day one, we put on the makeup that would become our trademark. here we are 42 years later, america's number one american gold record award winning group of all time. but during the eighties, it was a period of flux, nobody really knew what was going on. more and more bands played guitar became sort of heavy metal big hair bands, bon jovis and so on. in my opinion fluff and sugar coating took the place of danger and in my opinion rock lost its soul. >> when you hear the term, i remember all my friends being in the kiss army. i was not cool enough to be drafted into the kiss army unfortunately, but when you hear the term eighties music, what does it mean to you, what do you think of when you hear that term. >> flux. it was a time lots of things were going on at the same place. for me, madonna was there, duranday, god bless her. prince was an anomaly, not since jimi hendrix had i witnessed anything that an artist has has the stage craft and ability to combine blues, soul, rock. if prince was only a guitar player, lead guitar player in the band, everybody would say who is that kid, that guy has the goods. he was a multi instrumentalist, wrote his own stuff, did the whole thing. out of the eighties, rap, hip-hop became the big musical genre that continues today, but it was prince himself as a stand-alone musical person that defied all the definitions of what you were supposed to be. rock acts here and there and prince rode above all that stuff. an anomaly. >> still hard to believe he's gone, david bowie, so many people we lost, so many incredibly talented singers, musicians. gene simmons, great to talk to you always. thanks so much. appreciate it. >> duck face. >> thanks. >> cnn original series the eighties airs in a few minutes at the top of the hour. rock on. >>> after the break, ken starr

duran duran, u2, guns n' roses burst on to the scene, kiss, co-founder and base player gene simmons joins me now. it's great to have you back on the program. let's talk about the '80s. you decided in the '80s to remove the makeup that the band had traditionally worn which was a huge deal. i me you said at the time it felt good. were you nervous at small were you worried how your fans would react? >> oh, i was coast guard is to death. we started off defying the odds. we decided to put together the band we never saw on stage. we are we were four knuckle heads off the streets of new york who didn't have a clue what marketing was, what it meant. and here we are 42 years later, america's number one american gold record award winning group of all time. but during the '80s, you know, it was a period of flux. nobody really knew what was going on. more and more bands that played guitar became sort of heavy metal big hair bands, the bon jovis and so on and, you know, in my opinion fluff and sugar coating took the place of danger and in my opinion rock lost its soul. >> when you hear the term -- i remember all my friends this is the kiss army, i was not cool enough to be drafted into the kiss army, unfortunately. but when you hear the term' "'80s music" what do you think about? >> flux, it was a time when lots of things were going on at the same place. the most important thing that came out of the '80s for me, yes, madonna and duranan, they were popular and madonna continues today and god bless her, but prince was an anomaly. not since jimi hendrix had i ever witnessed anything that an artist that has the stage craft and the ability to combine blues, soul, rock. if prince was only a guitar player, lead guitar player in a band everybody would say "who's that kid? that guy's got the goods." so he was a multiinstrumentalist, wrote his own stuff, did the whole thing. out of the '80s, rap, hip pop, became the big musical genre that continues today. but it was prince himself as the stand alone musical person. prince road above rap acts. an anomaly. >> still hard to believe he's gone, david bowie, so many incredibly talented musicians and sicker singers. gene simmons, great to see you. >> suck face. >> the cnn oorj aloriginal seri "the eighties" continues at the top of the hour. >>> baylor university is taking action against ken starr. details next. don'tlive in paris. when you airbnb, you have your own home. so, live t

laker girl and i went on to choreography the likes of george michael, aretha franklin, zz top, duran duranoyd and the oscars. incredible times and of course coming to america and jerry mcguire, i transformed val kilmer to become jim morrison in the doors movie. >> i did not know about "coming to america." now you're even more of a star in my mind. >> we're showing video of it for our viewers on the side of the screen. let's talk about what you were doing at the white house. you're there to bring attention to something that is an issue that is very important to both john and i. we were talking about it just this morning, bringing high quality arts programs to schools and children to school age kids across the country. understandable why this is near and dear to your heart. but what are you hoping to do? >> there are over 6 million youth students that don't get to experience any arts education in their schools and thanks so much to the first lady's support and initiative, turnaround arts is doing just that. and i adopted a school in brooklyn, ps165, and i've been working with these incredibl

. >> with duran, duran. >> your face turned night. >> did you say difference or pimps?. >> looks like a spot perm. >> it was curly. i don't get it well now that that's happened for everybody to see, going to talk a little bit about the weather. in fact, guys, it's warming up out here. i think this year instead of the great american "fox & friends" bass pro shops racing i do yacks it needs to be on the paddle board. get ready for that. nice start to the day for everybody in the country. troubles across areas of the northeast. storms across parts of the mid-atlantic. kind of a washout from d.c. to baltimore to philadelphia. and most of this is going to then stay kind of in that mid-atlantic. see some showers also late in the afternoon across the northeast. down in southeast florida more rain again at times especially in the after. we're going to see some storms fire in the afternoon across the panhandle of texas and oklahoma. some of those could be severe. mostly some strong winds and some hail. in across the northern plains, take a look at this. wisconsin, up of michigan

duran praising hisg mom aft he was named the mvp. that story is come to goome to lifetime television this weekenw for mother's day.ay wanda duran the inspirationpirane movie joins us now un talk all about it. i good to see you this morning.org >> thank you.>> thanks for having me. f >> i know you're still a local.l >> yes, i am. >> not a far commute for youmutu this morning.this great to have you stop by. by ma'am, tell us what you werehat thinkinthinking when he was sayn and just praising you in front of all of those eyes?yes? >> well, i wasn't expecting itti at first. i was really emotional because i had seen him work so hard to geg to that point and so i was was reallily happy for him and proup of him. but when he turned the attention me, i wasn't expecting it but then i started thinking aboutin the things that he was referencing.ing. and how much it meant to me that it is a part of the foundationnn he's created for himself. himse. >> were you actually havingav those thoughts while you were ye hearing those words from kevinrk on stage?ta? you could see my response.espo i was just nodding my head andda saying, i remember that, yes.. >> getting al