Talking to Girls About Duran Duran

Talking to Girls About Duran Duran
One Young Man’s Quest for True Love and a Cooler Haircut
by Rob Sheffield
★★★☆

I was born in 1984. So for me, the ‘80s mainly consisted of a lot of My Little Pony, diapers and learning how to write my own name, but not a lot of concert going and head banging. I grew up on a steady diet of ‘90s, but was only in kindergarten when the infamous “hair” decade came to a close.

This does not mean I can’t appreciate some good ‘80s references though, I was a huge fan of the original I Love the ‘80s show on VH1. I just didn’t experience the decade in the same way as others who were teens during that era.

In Talking to Girls About Duran Duran, Sheffield explores his own experiences growing up with a bunch of sisters in the 1980s. As a writer for Rolling Stone, his love of music has only grown over the years, but it was just in its infancy when he was introduced to the music of Madonna and Prince.

Sheffield’s candor throughout the book makes it feel like you’re chatting with a friend and reminiscing about your years spent discovering who you are. The chapters, each titled with a hit song, tell disconnected stories from his life. Some are sweet, others funny; there’s a great bit about his love of karaoke, another about the horrible things we do for the people we love (when he’s living with his grandpa).

My favorite chapter was “Enola Gay” which covers Sheffield’s time in Spain. I couldn’t stop laughing at a section where he describes seeing the movie Airplane! with friends who had never seen it. A lot of the humor is lost in translation and he finds himself howling at the jokes he knows so well, while the other wonder why characters keep saying, “Me llamo es no Shirley!”

The book’s main strength was also its main weakness. The stories are disconnected, which makes it easy to pick up and put down, but also makes it feel a bit too episodic. It veers from funny to sad, so the book doesn’t have a consistent mood. It feels like a collection of short stories or memories that have been strung together under the pretense of “’80s music.” It’s a fun summer read, but I liked it, I didn’t love it and wouldn’t re-read it.

"Sometimes it's a lonely thing to devote your heart to a song, especially when it's a song that literally nobody can stand."