At various points in the 1980s, you could not be a serious music fan and publicly acknowledge your enjoyment of Duran Duran or INXS or George Michael. These were not serious musicians. These were preening prettyboys who made music for adolescent girls -- who, everyone knew, did not make their own aesthetic decisions when figuring out which music they liked. This entire line of thinking was regressive, exclusionary, self-defeating bullshit. Duran Duran and INXS and George Michael were all smart, canny, gifted performers and songwriters, and they all had curious and frisky takes on pop music. They found fun ways to play with their personas while delivering songs that have held up as absolute solid-gold pop classics, and all the people who dismissed them look pretty fucking stupid right now. And that line of thinking remains bullshit right now. Consider the case of the 1975.
Album Of The Week
Album Of The Week: The 1975 I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it
