Talking to Girls about Duran Duran, Rob Sheffield

I can’t imagine anyone who didn’t grow up in the ages being interested in this book, but being one of those who did, I enjoyed it and it more often than not brought a smile to my face.  This is not a book about Duran Duran, per se.  This is the memoir of a writer for Rolling Stone of coming of age in the eighties and the impact of music on him and the time.  Each chapter is a vignette of his life, then or now, and the impact of music on that life.  Either that or it is a dissection of the music or the musicians he was listening to.  Any of us can think of similar moments in our lives, connected to music.   Those of us who grew up in the eighties can do it with the songs he discusses.  Often I would smile just at the chapter title, for example Purple Rain, remembering the impact of that song and that album and the moments in my life when it was extremely relevant. 

The problem is that, while each of the chapters is interesting in their own right, as a whole the book doesn’t add up to a cohesive story.  Some chapters are more about the author, like the Prince chapter, some are more about the music or artists, like the Paul McCartney.  Each are entertaining in their own right, but what is the ultimate message?  That it was hard to grow up in the eighties?  That music plays a big part in our lives?  I’m not sure what the ultimate message is.  It seems to me that the author was successful with his first book, Love is a Mix Tape, about his wife and her sudden death, and he was asked to write another.  This seems to be the classic, well, what else can I tell you about myself.

This is not to say that I did not enjoy this book, I did very much.  But this is because it brought me back to my youth in the eighties.  As he mentioned songs and albums, they brought me back to the moments in my life that I was listening to them.  Dancing with a boy to Purple Rain, rocking out in the car to Kiss (the song, not the band).  I remembered stalking the record store and asking Rod what should I buy next.  Having the same love affair with music that he did.  One that has long mellowed.  I don’t remember the last time I bought a full album, but then who does anymore?  I haven’t even bought all that many singles lately.  But as with Rob Sheffield, these songs defined my youth, and it is engaging to read how they defined his.