liberty boy wrote:I don't think it's a feminist issue. Duran Duran were as naff as the metal bands that boys of the equivalent age were into.
With respect, I think it partly is. It was your comment "Well, if you're a girl you liked Duran Duran" which brought gender into the argument in the first place.
But actually, I wasn't just reacting to what you said - there's a longstanding tradition in the music press, the internet generally, and this site on occasions, of assumption that all sensible, serious musical comment is made by men, that women don't know what they're talking about when it comes to music, and that nothing brings the kiss of death to a band's serious artistic intentions like being voted "Housewife's Choice".
I think this is, to a great extent true of David. One of the reasons he has so fought to shake off the "World's Most Beautiful Man" soubriquet is because being labelled a woman's artist damaged his credibility. I also understand that this site has been dismissed in some quarters as being too female-dominated to be taken seriously. This just makes me so mad.
So it wasn't all about you, it just touched on something that's been bugging me for a while.
There isn't much scope for anyone serious about their music to be diplomatic about Duran Duran
I think I perhaps asked for this by saying that most people who know about such things would consider DD more talented than Spandau Ballet or Frankie. OK, I retract that - I don't think talent can be empirically measured, it does all come down to taste.
But I think that we've all got to be very serious about music to be on this site in the first place. There are many people on this site who are
passionate about music, they live and breathe it every second of their lives, and many of these people like DD. To dismiss them all as "girls" who can't possibly be "serious" or knowledgeable about music is not, IMO, at all courteous or fair.
But, yeah, my stupid comment about Spandau was as bad and probably provoked that. I'm sorry.