During their peak commercial success in the mid-1980s, Duran Duran experienced severe internal strain from touring exhaustion and conflicting attitudes toward substance use among members. This friction led to the formation of two rival side projects—The Power Station and Arcadia—that drew band members away from their core group and threatened permanent dissolution.

The turning point came when Mick Jagger offered Nick Rhodes crucial counsel, emphasizing the importance of maintaining the band's unity for their future prospects. This intervention appears to have resonated with the group, enabling them to reconcile their differences and remain together through subsequent decades, despite occasional personnel changes along the way.