Duran Duran and Power Station

Taylor joined Duran Duran in 1980 (easily the most experienced musician in the band), and enjoyed their crazy rise to fame over the next five years.
He grew dissatisfied with the band's keyboard-heavy synth pop, however, and longed to stretch out his rock muscles. During a hiatus in Duran's schedule, he joined forces with bassist John Taylor, Chic drummer Tony Thompson, and singer Robert Palmer to create the band The Power Station, which had three hit singles and played the Live Aid concert in 1985. The band was a distinct break from the New Romantic Duran Duran material as they pursued a hard-rock music style.
Taylor would later rejoin Power Station bandmates Palmer and Thompson for Palmer's first solo album since the band's formation. The resulting album, Riptide proved to be a massive success for Palmer.
After The Power Station, Taylor allowed Duran Duran to believe he would be returning to record a new album, even as he was signing contracts for a solo career in Los Angeles. Another Capitol Records group, Missing Persons was disbanding at the same time, and Andy hired Terry Bozzio and Patrick O'Hearn to work with him. This caused ex-Missing Persons guitarist Warren Cuccurullo to approach Duran Duran to fill Andy's position -- a vacancy no one in Duran Duran knew existed. Eventually Duran Duran sued Taylor to force him in to the studio to complete the album Notorious, but he ended up playing on only a few tracks before departing the band completely. He later countersued to claim some of the royalties from that album.
In July 1986, Arcadia (Simon Le Bon, Roger Taylor and Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran) released "The Flame", the final single from So Red The Rose. The accompanying music video featured a cameo by John Taylor coming out of a closet with a contract to sign. Fans have debated whether this was a thinly veiled dig at the situation with Andy at the time.