Duran Duran feels unwanted.

It seems funny for a band that was billed as the next Fab Five after swarms of girls swooned and fainted, a band that became a pubescent icon minutes after they hit MTV with their eyeshadow and brooding faces, a band that breeded the subculture of fanatical "Duranies."

But after Seven and the Ragged Tiger, the hysteria died down. For the last several years, projects like Liberty, Arcadia and Power Station sparked little more than mild approval.

So they got mad and they got even.

Duran Duran's self-titled new release combines elements of techno, acoustic and even a dash of Latin American flavor, but anger is what ties it together.

Even though most people think Duran Duran disappeared into an early '80s abyss, bassist John Taylor said the band wasn't gone, just forgotten.

"We were in people's face every minute of the day from 1982 to 1985," Taylor said. "Then you get put on a shelf. You can't help but feel anger when you're ignored like that. There's an underlying nastiness to a lot of the songs."

There is also an underlying pessimism obviously missing in past songs like "New Moon on Monday."

"We're getting older," Taylor said. "We've had marriage, divorce, childbirth, bankruptcy. We've gone through enormous crises, and we can't keep that out of the lyrics."

Songs like "None of the Above" lament the lack of faith in a higher power. "Too Much Information," with lyrics like "Destroyed by MTV/I hate to bite the hand that feeds," is an ironic backlash to the media force that made them millions.

It was this force that inspired part of the anger, especially because the Persian Gulf War dominated the screen while the band was writing the new songs.

"The Gulf War was like watching a video game," Taylor said. "It's like, 'We'll be going back to the latest hits in Baghdad in a minute.' "

But the album was also the product of time on their hands and relief from the legions of fans.

"We never had time to be reflective in the '80s," Taylor said. "Everything was instant and gratuitous."

Living in the harsh glare of Teen Beat magazine is not something the band misses.

"They're happy they don't have the fanatical following they used to," said Rob Morgan, director of artist development at Capitol Records.

No, really.

Taylor remembers a time when looking out into the crowd was like looking into a sea of vacant faces with "one thing on their mind." Now that the crowd isn't primarily pre-teen, the connection seems more real.

"Now it's people that have lived," he said. "It's really cool. It makes me feel good. They're people that have gone through exactly the same stuff. It's called growing up."

But the popularity of Duran Duran's latest album in no way welcomes a revival of the Thompson Twins and Culture Club.

"The idea of an early '80s revival is nonsense," Taylor said. "We're not living off of nostalgia."