Talking to Girls About Duran Duran: One Young Man’s Quest for True Love and a Cooler Haircut
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- ISBN13: 9780525951568
- Condition: New
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Product Description
Growing up in the eighties, you were surrounded by mysteries. These were the years of MTV and John Hughes movies, the era of huge dreams and larger shoulder pads. Like any teenage geek, Rob Sheffield spent the decade searching for right like and maybe a cooler haircut. Talking to Girls About Duran Duran is his tale of stumbling into adulthood with a killer soundtrack. Inept flirtations. Dumb crushes. Deplorable fashion choices. Girls, every last one of whom was madly in like with the bassist of Duran Duran.
In his first book, the national bestseller Like Is a Mix Tape, Sheffield shared a heartbreaking right tale of like and grief. With Talking to Girls About Duran Duran, he returns with a smart, amusing, and emotionally pitch-perfect trip through the composition and memories of the eighties. As a confused teenager stranded in the suburbs, mowing lawns, and playing video games, Rob had a lot to learn about women, like, composition, and himself. But he was sure his radio had all the answers, whether he was driving an ice cream truck through Boston to “Purple Rain,” slam dancing to The Replacements, or pondering the implications of Madonna lyrics.
From Bowie to Bobby Brown, from hair metal to hip-hop, he loved them all. Talking to Girls About Duran Duran is a journey through pop culture of an American adolescence that will remind you of your first crush, first car, and first kiss. But it’s not just a book about composition. This is a book about moments in time, and the way we obsess over them through the years. Every song is a snapshot of a moment that helps form the rest of your life. Whenever you grew up, and whatever your teenage obsessions, Talking to Girls About Duran Duran brings persons moments to life.Amazon.com Review
Amazon Best Books of the Month, July 2010: Don’t be fooled by the title: Talking to Girls About Duran Duran may sound like a dream come right to all the women who she-bopped through the 80s, but at heart it’s the Feminine Mystique that every boy-next-door has been waiting for (and will really read). It’s something like a prequel to Rob Sheffield’s first, fantastic memoir, Like Is a Mix Tape, taking its cue this time from a musical decade so addictive and eclectic that, as he notes, “every night in your town, you can find a bar somewhere hosting an Awesome 80s Prom Night.” This hilarious and heartfelt collection of coming-of-age vignettes is arguably a much more satisfying way to spend an evening, though, particularly if you have even an ounce of the New Wave obsession that courses through it. Sheffield riffs on the songs that saw him through the rapture and misery and bewilderment of being a guy who wanted to know girls, gleefully skewering Duran Duran along the way (even as he professes his like for them) and paying tribute to tunes that captured some of his best moments. If you’re going to revisit your youth, let Rob Sheffield be your guide. Nothing compares to him. –Anne Bartholomew
Rob Sheffield’s Top ’80s Summer Cruising Songs
Reading Talking to Girls About Duran Duran is a nostalgia trip you’ll like taking: add Rob Sheffield’s exclusive playlist to the mix–featured not more than, with liner notes–and you’ll be ready for some kind of wonderful summer night. You can also sample and download these songs in our custom MP3 playlist.
“Small Red Corvette” (1982) by Prince
This was my get-in-the-zone song the morning of my driver’s test. Prince seemed to be promising me that as soon as I had wheels, all sorts of glamorously messed-up ladies would be trying to hop a ride uptown in my like machine. It didn’t exactly work out that way, but at least I passed the test and got my license. Thanks, Prince!
“Missing You” (1984) by John Waite
I spent the summer of ‘84 rolling around Boston in an ice cream truck, selling Bomb Pops and Fudgsicles and Nutty Buddys. And with all due respect to Scarface, I got high on my own supply, which means I spent the summer with one hand on the veer and another one stuffing my face. I was also listening to the radio 18 hours a day, so I got obsessed with this song. I still get choked up at the “heartbreak overload” part.
“Never Let Me Down Again” (1987) by Depeche Mode
It’s weird how bizarre sexual tension fits so well with operating a motor vehicle–you really shouldn’t try to drive and feel tragic at the same time, right? But they go hand in hand. No song captures that feeling like this one: just you and your best friend, riding high, leaving the rest of the world eating your dust.
“Is There Something I Should Know?” (1983) by Duran Duran
One summer I worked on a garbage truck on the southeast expressway into Boston, alternative up trash on the side of the road: burger wrappers, soda cups, porn mags, the occasional pair of pants. Duran Duran helped get me through it, although I never did figure out what they meant by “You’re about as simple as a nuclear war.”
“It Takes Two” (1988) by Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock
This brings back fond memories of 1988, when “It Takes Two” was pumping out of every car down my street, with the same “Whoop!” “Yeah!” “Whoop!” “Yeah!” James Brown sample rolling on all summer long. Roxanne Shante’s “Go On Girl” had the same sample, so by the end of the summer it was hard-wired into my neurons.
“Our Lips Are Sealed” (1980) by The Go-Go’s
This song puts anyone in serious danger of a speeding ticket–Gina Schock had to be one of the greatest punk rock drummers who ever banged a gong. I’m sad the Go-Go’s had to cancel their farewell tour–but hopefully that just means they’ll stick together a small longer.
“Hysteria” (1987) by Def Leppard
This song permanently reminds me of a cool girl I hung around with in the summer of 1988. She liked setting things on fire, getting both of us thrown out of bars, and Def Leppard. It’s amusing because this is a classic hair-metal ballad, but with all these glossy keyboards, it sounds like impeccable ’80s synth-pop–it could pass for prime New Order or OMD. (Editor’s note: Song is available on baby book only.)
“Left of the Dial” (1985) by The Replacements
It was the summer of ‘86 when I road-tripped to my first Replacements show, in Providence. Paul Westerberg was standing at the bar before the show, so I stole the Kool butt out of his ashtray and mailed it to a girl I liked in Nova Scotia. She wrote back, “It stinks to high heaven.” But I guess that was the kind of stupid romantic gesture only a Replacements fan would make.
“My Prerogative” (1989) by Bobby Brown
Everybody’s talking all this stuff about him! Why don’t they just let him live! This is a perfectly badass song for prowling the streets, feeling really invincible. And if the night ends up in the back of a cop car, it makes an brilliant soundtrack to kicking out the windows, because that’s what Bobby would do.
“Wild in the Streets” (1986) by Bon Jovi
One of the amusing things about Jon Le Bon is that his career baby book, *Slippery When Wet*, is packed with cruising songs as excellent as “Livin’ on a Prayer.” I permanently reflect “Wild in the Streets” could have been Bon Jovi’s largest, bonniest and joviest hit, but for some reason they never played it on the radio; it’s the one that got away. I also like how Jon yells that nutty “rock me!” during the guitar solo. Someday I pray that Morrissey will take in this–and change it to “Wilde in the Streets.” A guy can dream.
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I bought this book because it looked like a fun summer read. Parts of it were amusing and all in all it was an enjoyable book. Just be aware that the leader has inserted his politics into copious areas of the books. If you are conservative you might be offended by this authors name calling.
Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
Rob Sheffield has borrowed the Cutsy Cusack approach to composition reviewing: have some women problems, have at least one strong sister, and have a lot of remembered teenage angst. Stir in ten years of Duran Duran and you can jest your way through pop composition reviews.
While not reasonably as excellent as HIGH FIDELITY (the book or the movie), TALKING TO GIRLS offers a breezy Cusack way to enter the 80s world of musical advice offered by songsters such as Haysi Fantaysee, Ton Luc, The Smiths and Madonna. Gentlemen, listen ever so closely to the songs women go crazy over, urges Sheffield. Only then will you be able to know what women want and perhaps learn the secrets of hand-clapping to the tunes. (clap CLAP CLAP?)
Overall, the sections on David Bowie, Hall & Oates, The Replacements and Duran Duran offer the best advice on 80s glam: the hair, the hype and the latent homosexualty. And, ignoring all of this bisexual angst, Sheffield finally did find right like; but, judging from his photo, I’m not too sure he’s establish that cooler haircut.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
It perfect i read Like is a mixtape and feel in like with the writing its just such a excellent book to read I really recommend this
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
I recently finished reading Rob Sheffield’s book, “Talking to Girls About Duran Duran: One Young Man’s Quest for Right Like and a Cooler Haircut.” I question you, what woman (who came of age in the 80’s) could resist alternative up a book with such a profound title? Probably hundreds if my more cynical counterparts are to be believed, but we won’t even chat about what large rock they were trapped under during such a really awesome time in composition history. Let’s face it, it is the only reasonable explanation for not sitting up straighter at the mere mention of DD. It is a clever book and I am once again very much grateful for Rob’s incredible ability to catapult me back to moments in my life especially memorable because of the composition playing in the background. His previous book entitled, “Like Is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time” was also an enjoyable read about how we use composition (specifically place together on a mix tape) to prompt ourselves and what we are feeling to the people we care about the most. I really like the way the book is laid out, each chapter is agreed an artist or group name, song title and a year from which to bear reference. These were especially helpful in sparking the “where was I, what was I doing” questions foremost on my mind as soon as I read the words. We’ve all had that, “oh, I was at (slot in location) with (slot in person) and we were (slot in appropriate action here)” moments when we hear a song on the radio and it was the same for me when I read them on the pages of Rob’s book. This is one man’s insight and observations of musical memories from his childhood and he treats the fragility of such recollection reasonably well.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
This book is a must read for anyone who has grown up with the composition of the 80s as the soundtrack to life, like and loss. It’s amusing, insightful and a small whimiscal supported by a harsh backbeat of immortal walkman and vinyl tracks. Talking to girls about Duran Duran is, of course grounded in the meaning of life as defined by the Fab Five; as for many of us growing up there was no life lacking them (and for some of us, that’s still largely the case!). But, the leader reaquaints the reader with some of the most quintessential composition of the 80s from Madonna to Culture Club to The Smiths. A fantastic, entertaining, simple read. Highly recommended for the Gen X in all of us.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5