OK for all you 80s music fans, you are going to love this book. It brought back memories of songs and bands I haven’t heard in years. Don’t get me wrong I still listen to plenty of Duran and the Human League etc. etc. but who didn’t love those obscure one hit wonders that the 80s were plagued with. Mr. Sheffield is a journalist who has written for Rolling Stone magazine for ages so he is well versed in the lore of the time. His writing is insightful and quite humourous and his take on the whole growing up Catholic with sisters is great. There are many similarities growing up in England as opposed to America in the 80s and also many differences – one is which songs made it in the charts. Everyone seems to know Duran’s song Rio but not many know Planet Earth or Girls on Film. Whatever – it doesn’t really matter, it’s just interesting.
One of my favourite groups growing up, and still today, is Madness and apart from the song ‘Our House’ most people have no idea who they are. That is shocking to me as they were huge in the UK. They still tour occasionally and fill the house and I for one would go in a heartbeat if I were living anywhere near to where they were playing. I have to admit I also went online to pull up songs I knew but couldn’t remember how they went. I will be downloading a bunch very soon. I don’t know if it makes me nostalgic or daft but I love some of that cheesy stuff. Anyway the book is well written and so fun.