Talking Heads
At the start of their career, Talking Heads were all nervous energy, detached emotion, and subdued minimalism. When they released their last album about 12 years later, the band had recorded everything from art-funk to polyrhythmic worldbeat explorations and simple, melodic guitar pop. Between their first album in 1977 and their last in 1988, Talking Heads became one of the most critically acclaimed bands of the '80s, while managing to earn several pop hits. While some of their music can seem too self-consciously experimental, clever, and intellectual for its own good, at their best Talking Heads represent everything good about art-school punks.
And they were literally art-school punks. Guitarist/vocalist David Byrne, drummer Chris Frantz, and bassist Tina Weymouth met at the Rhode Island School of Design in the early '70s; they decided to move to New York in 1974 to concentrate on making music. The next year, the band won a spot opening for the Ramones at the seminal New York punk club CBGB. In 1976, keyboardist Jerry Harrison, a former member of Jonathan Richman's Modern Lovers, was added to the lineup. By 1977, the band had signed to Sire Records and released its first album, Talking Heads: 77. It received a considerable amount of acclaim for its stripped-down rock & roll, particularly Byrne's geeky, overly intellectual lyrics and uncomfortable, jerky vocals.
For their next album, 1978's More Songs About Buildings and Food, the band worked with producer Brian Eno, recording a set of carefully constructed, arty pop songs, distinguished by extensive experimenting with combined acoustic and electronic instruments, as well as touches of surprisingly credible funk. On their next album, the Eno-produced Fear of Music, Talking Heads began to rely heavily on their rhythm section, adding flourishes of African-styled polyrhythms. This approach came to a full fruition with 1980's Remain in Light, which was again produced by Eno. Talking Heads added several sidemen, including a horn section, leaving them free to explore their dense amalgam of African percussion, funk bass and keyboards, pop songs, and electronics.
After a long tour, the band concentrated on solo projects for a couple of years. By the time of 1983's Speaking in Tongues, the band had severed its ties with Eno; the result was an album that still relied on the rhythmic innovations of Remain in Light, except within a more rigid pop-song structure. After its release, Talking Heads embarked on another extensive tour, which was captured on the Jonathan Demme-directed concert film Stop Making Sense. After releasing the straightforward pop album Little Creatures in 1985, Byrne directed his first movie, True Stories, the following year; the band's next album featured songs from the film. Two years later, Talking Heads released Naked, which marked a return to their worldbeat explorations, although it sometimes suffered from Byrne's lyrical pretensions.
After its release, Talking Heads were put on "hiatus"; Byrne pursued some solo projects, as did Harrison, and Frantz and Weymouth continued with their side project, Tom Tom Club. In 1991, the band issued an announcement that they had broken up. Shortly thereafter, Harrison's production took off with successful albums by Live and Crash Test Dummies. In 1996, the original lineup minus Byrne reunited for the album No Talking Just Head; Byrne sued Frantz, Weymouth, and Harrison for attempting to record and perform as Talking Heads, so the trio went by the Heads. In 1999, all four worked together to promote a 15th-anniversary edition of Stop Making Sense, and they also performed at the 2002 induction ceremony for their entrance into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Through the 2010s, Byrne released a number of solo and collaborative projects. Tom Tom Club continued to tour, while Harrison produced albums for the likes of No Doubt, the Von Bondies, and Hockey.
© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo
Similar artists
-
Burning Down the House / I Get Wild / Wild Gravity
Pop - Released by Rhino - Warner Records on 1 Jan 1983
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Talking Heads '77
Punk / New Wave - Released by Warner Records on 1 Sep 1977
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
More Songs About Buildings and Food
Punk / New Wave - Released by Warner Records on 14 Jul 1978
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Speaking in Tongues
Punk / New Wave - Released by Warner Records on 31 May 1983
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
-
Radio Waves 1978-1983: Psycho Killers, Vol. 2 (Live)
Rock - Released by Anglo Atlantic on 1 Jul 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
FM Broadcasts Talking Heads & Blondie (Live)
Rock - Released by Lockdown Music on 29 May 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Talking Heads - Real Live Wires (Live)
Rock - Released by Self Destruct Records on 5 Nov 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Talking Heads Live, Boarding House, San Francisco (Live)
Rock - Released by Polyphone Heritage on 6 Mar 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
Living In The Future (Live)
Rock - Released by Forest Head on 15 Oct 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Land Of Shadows (Live 1979)
Alternative & Indie - Released by Tanuki on 16 Mar 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Talking Heads: Boston Tea Party Live (Live)
Rock - Released by Polyphone Heritage on 6 Mar 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
It's Not Yesterday (Live 1978)
Alternative & Indie - Released by Sunfish on 22 Mar 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
FM Broadcasts Talking Heads & Smashing Pumpkins (Live)
Talking Heads, The Smashing Pumpkins
Rock - Released by Lockdown Music on 4 Jun 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Still Don't Make No Sense (Live)
Rock - Released by FMIC on 4 Sep 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Archives
Alternative & Indie - Released by The Broadcast Archive on 17 Nov 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Talking Heads - Westwood One FM Broadcast The Mecca Auditorium Milwaukee WI 25th January 1984.
Rock - Released by Symbol on 10 Aug 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Live in Chicago '78 (Live)
Alternative & Indie - Released by BBM on 11 Nov 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo