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Talking Heads

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For the plays by Alan Bennett, see Talking Heads (series).
Talking Heads

Talking Heads were an American rock band that formed in the early 1970s and was based out of New York City. The group consisted of David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison. During later stages of the band's tenure, a number of auxiliary musicians were brought in on keyboards, percussion, backing vocals, secondary bass guitar and other instruments. In 2002, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The Talking Heads sound combined punk rock, pop, funk rock, art rock, and later in their career, world music. In David Byrne, they had one of the most distinctive front men of the period; they were extremely popular while they were originally together, and continue to influence many musicians to this day. Their concert film Stop Making Sense is acclaimed by many as one of the finest examples of the genre. [1]

History

1974-1977: First years

Formed in 1974 at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island, the band first consisted of three members: David Byrne (vocals, guitar), Chris Frantz (drums, percussion), and Tina Weymouth (bass guitar, vocals). At the time, David Byrne was working at a hot dog stand called the New York System, in Providence. The group was originally called The Artistics (and mockingly referred to by some in the local music scene as The Autistics), but soon after changed their name. Weymouth recalled how the group chose the name "Talking Heads": "A friend had found the name in the TV Guide, which explained the term used by TV studios to describe a head-and-shoulder shot of a person talking as 'all content, no action.' It fit."

Moving to New York the nascent Heads landed a gig, opening for The Ramones at the legendary CBGBs club. In 1976, they added one more member, Jerry Harrison (keyboards, guitar, vocals), formerly of Jonathan Richman's band The Modern Lovers. The group quickly drew a following and was signed to Sire Records in 1977. Their first album, Talking Heads: 77 was released soon afterward. Combining a taut rhythm section with David Byrne's signature neurotic vocals, '77, despite poor sales, endeared the band to the more experimental elements in New York's burgeoning punk scene. Talking Heads became one of the first bands to be labeled "New Wave."

1978-1982: With Brian Eno

It was with their second album, 1978's More Songs About Buildings and Food that the band began its long-term collaboration with art rock pioneer Brian Eno, who had previously worked with Roxy Music, David Bowie and Robert Fripp. As a producer, Eno became a virtual fifth member of the band. Eno's unusual style meshed well with the group's artistic sensibilities, and they gained the confidence to explore in a wide variety of musical directions. Though the first album's "Psycho Killer" had been a minor hit, it was More Songs' cover of Al Green's "Take Me to the River" that broke Talking Heads into general public consciousness.

The experimentation continued with 1979's Fear of Music, which flirted with the darker stylings of post punk rock. The single "Life During Wartime" produced the memorable catchphrase, "This ain't no party, this ain't no disco." 1980's Remain in Light explored African polyrhythms, foreshadowing Byrne's later interest in world music. The band toured with an expanded group, first at the Heatwave festival in August. The album's single, "Once in a Lifetime," failed to make an impression upon its release, but grew into a popular standard over the next few years on the back of its music video, one of the first signs of the power music videos would exert during the 1980s.

File:Talkingheads4.jpg
Talking Heads, Stop Making Sense, (Special release 2003.)

After releasing four albums in barely four years, the group paused nearly three more before releasing another. In the meantime, they released a live album, The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads, toured the U.S. and Europe as an eight-piece group, and parted ways with Brian Eno, who went on to produce U2.

1983-1991: Post-Brian Eno

1983 saw the release of Speaking in Tongues, a commercial breakthrough that produced the band's first American Top 10 hit, "Burning Down the House". Once again, a striking video was inescapable during the song's run. The following tour was documented in Jonathan Demme's Stop Making Sense, which generated another live album of the same name. The Speaking in Tongues tour would be their last.

Three more albums followed, 1985's Little Creatures (which featured the prominent hit singles "And She Was" and "Road to Nowhere") 1986's True Stories (Talking Heads covering all the soundtrack songs of Byrne's musical comedy film, in which the band also appeared) and 1988's Naked. The sound of Little Creatures and True Stories were much more American pop rock, while Naked took heavy Latin influence with polyrhythmic styles like those seen on Remain in Light. During that time the group was falling increasingly under David Byrne's control, and after Naked the band went on "hiatus." It took until 1991 for an official announcement to be made that Talking Heads had broken up. A brief reunion occurred, however, in 1991 for "Sax and Violins," an original single that appeared on the soundtrack to Wim Wenders' Until the End of the World. During this breakup period, David Byrne continued his solo career, releasing Rei Momo in 1989 and The Forest in 1991.

1992-present: Post break-up

Frustrated by David Byrne's lack of interest in another album, Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz, and Jerry Harrison reunited without him for a one-off album called No Talking, Just Head under the name The Heads in 1996, featuring a rotating cast of vocalists, including Debbie Harry.

Byrne has gone on to become something of a rock icon in recent years, while Harrison has become a producer of some note — his résumé includes the Violent Femmes' The Blind Leading the Naked, the Fine Young Cannibals' The Raw and the Cooked, Crash Test Dummies' God Shuffled His Feet, Live's Throwing Copper, the No Doubt song "New" from Return of Saturn and most recently The Black and White Years and Kenny Wayne Shepherd. Frantz and Weymouth, who were married in 1977, had been recording on the side as Tom Tom Club since 1981. Tom Tom Club's self-titled debut album sold almost as well as Talking Heads themselves, leading to the band appearing in Stop Making Sense. They achieved several pop/rap hits under that name, particularly in the UK; their single "Genius of Love" has been sampled numerous times, notably on old school hip hop classic "It's Nasty (Genius of Love)" by Grandmaster Flash and Mariah Carey's 1995 hit "Fantasy." They also have produced several artists, including Happy Mondays, and Ziggy Marley.

Reunion

The band played together one last time on March 18, 2002, at the ceremony of their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

There is reportedly bad blood between band members (specifically, between band members and David Byrne), so a lasting reunion is unlikely. David Byrne also states: "that's one reason, and another is that musically we're just miles apart."[2]

Discography

Main article: Talking Heads discography

Influence

Talking Heads' body of work has been influential:

Bibliography

  • Weymouth, Tina (1992). In Sand in the Vaseline (p. 12) [CD liner notes]. New York: Sire Records Company.
  • Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, Billboard Books, New York (2004).

References

  1. ^ Stop Making Sense: Rotten Tomatoes.
  2. ^ Blackman, Guy (2005-02-06). "Byrning down the house". The Age. Retrieved 2007-03-13.
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