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219 reviews for:
Talking to Girls About Duran Duran: One Young Man's Quest for True Love and a Cooler Haircut
Rob Sheffield
3.54 AVERAGE
219 reviews for:
Talking to Girls About Duran Duran: One Young Man's Quest for True Love and a Cooler Haircut
Rob Sheffield
3.54 AVERAGE
"Talking To Girls About Duran Duran" is one of the most fun books I've ever read. Sheffield crafts beautiful vignettes of his journey as an 80's geek traversing the wilds of meeting girls and connects them to the songs and artists that meant the most to him. I laughed out loud throughout the entire book and Sheffield brilliantly ties the stories together in the end with a beautifully heartfelt conclusion. If you have any love for the 80's, New Wave, or if you're a guy who wasn't exactly the star quarterback, this book is for you.
This book was the opposite of Love is a Mix Tape in tone, and that's just fine. While this title kept things on the sunny side, there were still many great and hilarious observations about music and life, and plenty of laugh-out-loud moments.
I was obsessed with getting a copy of this book, and every time I couldn't find it I grew more and more obsessed with it. Sadly, it didn't need all that obsession from me.
I really related to The Smiths chapter, I also fell for them hard until the spell broke off when I did the awful deed of googling them. Even if Morrissey's voice is amazing and his songs can heal my aching teen heart, he's not the greatest person, as all musicians are. I owe it him that I don't google bands and singers anymore.
The chapter where Rob talked about his grandpa almost made me cry, I was reading it last night in a dinner at my uncle's where no one was paying me any attention, and I remembered that my father told me one of the things that bothered him most about growing up was that it was getting hard to cut his toenails. I felt a very strong connection at the moment, and tried to tell my father about what I felt but only managed a "How are you?" with no apparent emotion. I hope he knew what I meant.
I read a quote once: "While live happens, there is a song playing in the background, and while a song is playing, live is happening in its background." I think it sums up the point of the book. It's not about the music, not about the life, but about how they are each other's companions.
I really related to The Smiths chapter, I also fell for them hard until the spell broke off when I did the awful deed of googling them. Even if Morrissey's voice is amazing and his songs can heal my aching teen heart, he's not the greatest person, as all musicians are. I owe it him that I don't google bands and singers anymore.
The chapter where Rob talked about his grandpa almost made me cry, I was reading it last night in a dinner at my uncle's where no one was paying me any attention, and I remembered that my father told me one of the things that bothered him most about growing up was that it was getting hard to cut his toenails. I felt a very strong connection at the moment, and tried to tell my father about what I felt but only managed a "How are you?" with no apparent emotion. I hope he knew what I meant.
I read a quote once: "While live happens, there is a song playing in the background, and while a song is playing, live is happening in its background." I think it sums up the point of the book. It's not about the music, not about the life, but about how they are each other's companions.
I grew up at the same time as the author and thought I would be able to relate. Unfortunately I could not! :)
Though dedicated to his second wife, the book is more about Rob's love for ('80s) music and his sisters, above anything else. I can totally understand his obsession for '80s, music since I'm a sucker for it myself (I can totally kick your ass at SongPop when it comes to '80s and '90s, thank you very much).
I envy people who can identify themselves with a musical decade. I can't call myself a kid of the '80s, since I was still a bit too young to listen to their music on purpose (let alone what was available in communist Romania), a kid of the '90s is not exactly realistic, since I was not a kid for too long in the '90s. Oh well, I am what I am, my generation boy band was New Kids On The Block (and Jon was my favourite for some reason) but my heart belonged to Freddie the moment I first saw Miracle on TV, which was summer of 1990. To this day, it is probably still my favourite Queen song of all times.
1986. Probably one of the best years in history. At Close Range. Stand by Me. Top Gun. The Name of the Rose. Aliens. Highlander. Rock me Amadeus. The Final Countdown. Live to Tell. Who Wants to Live Forever. Land of Confusion. Nikita.
I envy people who can identify themselves with a musical decade. I can't call myself a kid of the '80s, since I was still a bit too young to listen to their music on purpose (let alone what was available in communist Romania), a kid of the '90s is not exactly realistic, since I was not a kid for too long in the '90s. Oh well, I am what I am, my generation boy band was New Kids On The Block (and Jon was my favourite for some reason) but my heart belonged to Freddie the moment I first saw Miracle on TV, which was summer of 1990. To this day, it is probably still my favourite Queen song of all times.
1986. Probably one of the best years in history. At Close Range. Stand by Me. Top Gun. The Name of the Rose. Aliens. Highlander. Rock me Amadeus. The Final Countdown. Live to Tell. Who Wants to Live Forever. Land of Confusion. Nikita.
Nearly four stars for this musical memoir from Rob Sheffield that is based on music and stories connected to that wonderful time known as "the '80s." I enjoyed Sheffield's other memoir about loss and music through the mix tape philosophy a bit more than this but that's not to say there's not a lot to enjoy for music fans here. Sheffield defends his stance on a lot of cringe-worthy bands from the era--Hayzee Fantayzee for one!-- while writing about a lot of bands that I actually like and listen to still: Go-Gos, Human League AND Duran Duran. Some times the off-shoots away from the music weaken the essays--but this is a memoir and if it was just Sheffield writing about bands it would have lost the personal touch that he was aiming for. Could have used more Depeche Mode, ha. Plus, Sheffield goofs up and claims Dave Gahan sings "A Question of Lust" when anyone with a seed of knowledge from the music of the era knows it was Martin Gore on the vocals to this DM classic! Come on Sheffield, get it together, ha.
Some parts of this book were really, really funny and I'd give them a 5. Funny enough that I called a couple of people to read them a paragraph here and there. Problem is, I didn't care for the rest of the book that much. I definitely preferred the first half of the book, it was the second half where it started to drag. It wasn't terrible at all, just so-so overall.
Wasn't as good as his first book, although still very well written. I just don't think I'm passionate enough about music for this book. Also, I barely remember the 80's.
I love Sheffield's writing- laugh out loud, poignant, nostalgic…and it combines enjoyable writing with another topic dear to my heart- music. Add in the fact that this incorporates the memoir genre as well and I was a happy reader. This book made me want to read whole paragraphs out loud to people while I was reading it!