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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
The great thing about Rob Sheffield is that he really likes women and girl culture. This might be the first male music critic/record snob memoir I've read in which the author's influences are so clearly defined by the women in his life and the stuff they like. The 80s are the time period this book talks about: Duran Duran, the New Romantic groups of the early 80s, the Go Gos, early MTV and dancing with groups of girls feature strongly in his junior high and high school memories. He argues for the continuing significance of 80s teen culture in movies and music (as opposed to 80s adult culture, which he remembers as overly serious, dreary, and pretentious) Some of his opinions I strongly agreed with - the cassingle format was made for Tone Loc - and some of them left me cold, but that's typical of this type of book.
alas, the text didn't live up to the totally awesome title. how sad it is when that happens ... as i mentioned whilst reading, the intro starts with some fairly stupid broad gender statements that i hoped would be limited to the introduction. sadly, not so much. the habit of saying things like "girls like this" and "boys do that" is repeated frequently and it was never not-annoying. i get it: you're making a joke. i think. unfortunately, it's not really funny. and that's maybe why, or at least an example of why, i think writing funny books is the hardest writing out there. and too often it seems authors just resort to painting with the widest brushstrokes in the world and throw tons of jokes out and hope that a few of them stick. and a few of them do, i guess, but a lot fall flat and make you look dumb for trying so hard. and that was totally the case here, which makes me sad because rob seems like a pretty okay guy.
and, being like a queen of nostalgia, there were totally a few moments that got me and even made me giddy. because what other book is going to namecheck the kenny rogers + orphans + stock car racing "six pack" which i had a total thing for as a kid and would watch whenever it was on hbo? which, was a lot. unfortunately, that's not enough to make up for meh stories, stupid jokes, gender stereotypes and too many words justifying crap songs. also, overuse of the term "new wave," of which my definition of is way different than sheffield's. i know he's the professional and all, but i'm going to stick with mine.
and, being like a queen of nostalgia, there were totally a few moments that got me and even made me giddy. because what other book is going to namecheck the kenny rogers + orphans + stock car racing "six pack" which i had a total thing for as a kid and would watch whenever it was on hbo? which, was a lot. unfortunately, that's not enough to make up for meh stories, stupid jokes, gender stereotypes and too many words justifying crap songs. also, overuse of the term "new wave," of which my definition of is way different than sheffield's. i know he's the professional and all, but i'm going to stick with mine.
A lot of fun. Similar in tone to Love Is a Mix Tape, but without the tragedy.
This collection of essays has it's moments. I enjoy Rob Sheffield's writing because he is a fan of music- he doesn't disparage a certain type or genre or era, he recognizes that even sappy silly pop songs can be transcendent. This book is set up in chronological order with the title of an important song as the title of the essay, and tying each song or band to some story about his life. Some of the essays are better than others, and I know am slightly below the age group I this is aimed at, but I enjoyed this book & would definitely recommend it to a few of my friends & siblings.
Being straight doesn’t seem that hard, idk why men can’t seem to get the hang of it.
I love Rob Sheffield's writing. It's like opening up a diary you wrote as a child and completely forgot about. Everything he talks about is utterly relatable, even if you weren't alive when it happened. I loved this book.
cute memoir couched in 80s pop culture about coming of age in a simpler time and growing up in an increasingly complicated time. I wonder what an early ‘00s version of this would contain? I think I lacked connection to the plot because I lacked connection to the music.
This book started a bit slow for me, maybe it's because I don't have as many solid memories attached to 80s tunes or maybe it's just because I wanted it to be Chuck Klosterman. But it picked up and I found some of the anecdotes really relatable and funny. I too have some vivid memories (as we all probably do) attached to certain songs and its a cool idea to explore your youth in this way since its unlikely music will ever play such a major role in so many key moments in your life again. A nice light read that's easy to put down and come back to.
Having read Love is a Mix Tape, I figured that Talking to Girls About Duran Duran would be an enjoyable read, even if it didn't have the previous book's poignancy. In a way, that was ok with me, because, honestly, I thought that first book was pretty hard to take. I guess I just relate a little too strongly with the music nerd who feels immensely lucky to have found a fitting partner. To bear literary witness to the too-soon loss of that love has stuck with me, years after I read it.
This book is similar, but not sad. It's funny, it's got some good music nerd fun, and it's got a lot of great bits about the love and admiration he has for his sisters. I think that anybody who has a large family with whom they get along will see themselves in this. It's not a "great" book, but it IS a quick, enjoyable read. With interesting things to say about Paul McCartney, a topic I'm fairly certain everyone enjoys.
This book is similar, but not sad. It's funny, it's got some good music nerd fun, and it's got a lot of great bits about the love and admiration he has for his sisters. I think that anybody who has a large family with whom they get along will see themselves in this. It's not a "great" book, but it IS a quick, enjoyable read. With interesting things to say about Paul McCartney, a topic I'm fairly certain everyone enjoys.
Awesome. I would love to talk to him about Duran Duran, if only to talk to him about an 80's band. I really liked this book. :)