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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
This is a fun book about the author as a teenage boy in the early 80's and how the early 80's new wave music and the arrival of MTV shaped his life. He grew up to be a contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine, so obviously music had a huge impact on his life.
While I enjoyed the stories he told, I found that I could only relate to about 25% of them. There are three reason:
1) when he turned 16 and was young and wild and free blasting music and cruising around with friends, attending concerts, etc. I was only 8 years old. The song Centerfold by The J. Geils Band was #1 on the charts. Obviously that song held different meanings for an 8-year-old girl vs. a 16-year-old boy.
2) he is so into music that he may not realize that some of the bands he mentions are way more obscure than he thinks they are. Haysi Fantazee? There is a whole chapter on that band and their songs.
3) I am at a disadvantage because I never really got into The Smiths and/or Morrissey and their/his music played a pivotal role in a chunk of the author's life.
Nonetheless, the book was a quick read and enjoyable. I savored the moments when he wrote about The Go-Go's, Culture Club, Hall and Oates, Paul McCartney, Prince, Madonna, and of course, Duran Duran.
He has a book that he released prior to this titled LOVE IS A MIXED TAPE and I will likely read that one too.
While I enjoyed the stories he told, I found that I could only relate to about 25% of them. There are three reason:
1) when he turned 16 and was young and wild and free blasting music and cruising around with friends, attending concerts, etc. I was only 8 years old. The song Centerfold by The J. Geils Band was #1 on the charts. Obviously that song held different meanings for an 8-year-old girl vs. a 16-year-old boy.
2) he is so into music that he may not realize that some of the bands he mentions are way more obscure than he thinks they are. Haysi Fantazee? There is a whole chapter on that band and their songs.
3) I am at a disadvantage because I never really got into The Smiths and/or Morrissey and their/his music played a pivotal role in a chunk of the author's life.
Nonetheless, the book was a quick read and enjoyable. I savored the moments when he wrote about The Go-Go's, Culture Club, Hall and Oates, Paul McCartney, Prince, Madonna, and of course, Duran Duran.
He has a book that he released prior to this titled LOVE IS A MIXED TAPE and I will likely read that one too.
I loved Rob's Sheffield's other book, "Love is a Mix Tape," so I was very excited to read this one. It was very much in the same vein: hilariously written reminiscences inspired by pop songs. This was a good, entertaining read - not as poignant, emotional, or affecting as "Love is a Mix Tape" (which is understandable) but good nonetheless.
Sheffield seems to be speaking to men of approximately his age who remain highly nostalgic about their teenage years. Not being in his demographic, this didn't resonate.
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
The Introduction and a couple of the middle chapters--Hall and Oates and Culture Club, especially--had me laughing out loud often enough that I'm fairly certain I was really irritating the other person in the room, my husband. In fact, I'm certainly certain of it. Anyway, I was surprised at how well these essays held together to create a story although they also probably stand alone well too. Off to read "Love Is a Mix Tape."
It took me a long time to read this book. I had to renew it twice at the library. I had friends notice I was still reading the same book and make comments about, "you're still reading that?" I have a pretty good idea why that is. I have trouble with memoirs in this format. Each chapter is a new story. In this book in particular, Sheffield ties in each chapter with a particular song from the '80s and what it meant to him in his life. Sometimes this meant an in depth analysis of the music (the chapters I enjoyed the most; this man knows music and writes about it well), and in some chapters it meant less than a paragraph's mention of the song (the chapters I enjoyed less). This is a difficult format for me to continue reading since there is no "page turner" element, and once I finish a chapter there's nothing encouraging me to go on to the next one. It's the same reason I've never finished a David Sedaris book despite generally enjoying his writing.
I love love loved Sheffield's first book, Love is a Mixtape, so I had pretty high hopes for this book. In comparison to the former, it falls flat. There are some good chapters, but they were all pretty hit or miss. As I mentioned, I more enjoyed the chapters than focused more on the music. I didn't check out this book because I wanted to learn about the author's high school wrestling career, and yet somehow I still did.... because there was a chapter about it.
My other main complaint is the heavy reliance on gender role stereotypes. I suppose I should have been prepared for this with the title of the book, but I didn't expect it to be such a reoccurring theme. The way Sheffield views Duran Duran as being different for men vs. women might have some validity to it, but he extends this belief into other music and other gender roles throughout the book, and it gets tiresome. I might feel differently if I, too, were a man with three sisters and no brothers. However, I'm not, so the constant "girls look at such-and-such THIS way while guys look at it THAT way" in such matter-of-fact black and white statements rubbed me the wrong way.
All this being said, I did finish the book. I didn't have to return it to the library incomplete, so there was something that kept me going. Maybe it was the fact that it almost always sparked conversation with people when I was reading it in public, maybe it was that I found myself in a lot of situations where I needed a book to read this summer and this was the one I had, maybe it was that I loved the author's previous book so much that I hoped it would live up to the high standards I had for it, or maybe I still just really enjoy his writing in general. Whatever the reason may be, I read it, and then I wrote four paragraphs about it when I haven't written a lengthy review on goodreads in years, so that must mean something :o)
I love love loved Sheffield's first book, Love is a Mixtape, so I had pretty high hopes for this book. In comparison to the former, it falls flat. There are some good chapters, but they were all pretty hit or miss. As I mentioned, I more enjoyed the chapters than focused more on the music. I didn't check out this book because I wanted to learn about the author's high school wrestling career, and yet somehow I still did.... because there was a chapter about it.
My other main complaint is the heavy reliance on gender role stereotypes. I suppose I should have been prepared for this with the title of the book, but I didn't expect it to be such a reoccurring theme. The way Sheffield views Duran Duran as being different for men vs. women might have some validity to it, but he extends this belief into other music and other gender roles throughout the book, and it gets tiresome. I might feel differently if I, too, were a man with three sisters and no brothers. However, I'm not, so the constant "girls look at such-and-such THIS way while guys look at it THAT way" in such matter-of-fact black and white statements rubbed me the wrong way.
All this being said, I did finish the book. I didn't have to return it to the library incomplete, so there was something that kept me going. Maybe it was the fact that it almost always sparked conversation with people when I was reading it in public, maybe it was that I found myself in a lot of situations where I needed a book to read this summer and this was the one I had, maybe it was that I loved the author's previous book so much that I hoped it would live up to the high standards I had for it, or maybe I still just really enjoy his writing in general. Whatever the reason may be, I read it, and then I wrote four paragraphs about it when I haven't written a lengthy review on goodreads in years, so that must mean something :o)
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
i liked this book way more than i thought i would. however, i had to deduct a star for his annoying habit of making sweeping generalizations about gender. but it's sweet and funny and pop-y and at times poignant. my favorite story was the one about clipping his grandfather's toenails. also, i love anyone who writes a whole entire chapter about cassingles...
Some cute stories with great heapings of anecdotal misogynistic stereotypes of how women listen to and care about music- "girls" don't care to discuss The Clash discography and they don't care that the song is called Train in Vain and not Stand by Me, you can only talk to "boys" about that.
Yeah, okay, Sheffield.
Yeah, okay, Sheffield.
I was not a fan of Sheffield's previous book, Love is a Mixtape. I don't know if it was that I felt I couldn't relate, or just didn't feel invested, but it didn't work for me.
This, on the other hand, really cracked me up. Felt a lot like Hornby's or Klosterman's nonfiction efforts, and had a worthwhile story to go with every song. It actually makes me want to pick up Mixtape again just to see if I picked it up at the wrong time.
Definitely recommended.
This, on the other hand, really cracked me up. Felt a lot like Hornby's or Klosterman's nonfiction efforts, and had a worthwhile story to go with every song. It actually makes me want to pick up Mixtape again just to see if I picked it up at the wrong time.
Definitely recommended.