Talking to Girls About Duran Duran

And I'm back!  After an absence devoted to job hunting, seasonal retail training (one field in which there will always be jobs, even if only for two months), and generally milling around, I completed the rather lighthearted task of reading Rob Sheffield's new book Talking to Girls About Duran Duran.  Some of you may know Sheffield from his current role as a contributing editor at Rolling Stone; others may have read his previous memoir Love is a Mix Tape; and the rest of you would probably recognize him from his frequent commentary on VH1's I Love [insert decade of choice here] series.

If you happen to be a fan of that I Love the 80s style nostalgia, Talking to Girls About Duran Duran will be right up your alley.  Sheffield takes us through the decade one song at a time, recalling how 80s pop influenced his relationships with the women in his life during his formative years and beyond.  Obviously, Duran Duran plays a key role in Sheffield's development, but he doesn't stop there, devoting chapters to Chaka Khan, Prince, David Bowie, and Hall & Oates, among others.

The book is filled with humorous 80s staples -- bad hair, John Hughes movies, cassingles -- and witty musings on timeless issues such as which artists were able to pull off an authentic 'New Wave' transformation and why one-hit-wonders have risen up to define the decade.  But as anyone who is familiar with his work already knows, Sheffield has a way of brushing aside the stereotypical aspects of pop culture and getting at its real importance -- the way it is intertwined with our lives.  He covers all the bases of essential 1980s artists and describes not just how but why they affected him, and if you're a human being with a pulse, you'll know exactly what he means almost every time.  Really, you don't need to have lived through the 80s to relate to this book -- you just need to have heard a Smiths song at some point in your life.

Sheffield is that greatest of all music journalists, in that he's primarily a fan -- a huge fan -- before anything else.  He openly discusses the imaginary relationships he has (and that we all have) with his favorite musical artists.  He projects his own messed-up issues onto them and admits that the context surrounding a song is often significantly more important to how we perceive it than the song itself.  He's enthusiastic, willing to give just about anything a chance, and perfectly okay with admitting that he really enjoyed seeing Flock of Seagulls live.  We should all aspire to such non-pretentious musical honesty.

For a short sample, check out Salon's excerpt from the book here.  And to see Sheffield's journalistic prowess in action, read his apt review of Kanye West's new album in the latest edition of Rolling Stone.