KB’s Look Back at the 80s Music Scene: Talking Heads

By Karen Beishuizen

Picture This:
New York City, 1975

David Byrne (guitar and vocals) and Chris Frantz (drums) formed a band and named it Talking Heads, after they read an article about a studio boss describing a head-and-shoulder shot of a person talking.

Frantz’s girlfriend Tina Weymouth joined them on bass and they were ready for their first gig, opening for The Ramones. Jerry Harrison joined them on keyboards, guitar and backing vocals.
The debut album “Talking Heads: 77” was released in 1977 and gave them their first hit single “Psycho Killer”.

Brian Eno produced the band’s second album “More Songs About Buildings and Food” which was released in 1978. Eno’s song “King’s Lead Hat” is an anagram of the band’s name.

Their cover of Al Green’s “Take Me to the River” ended up in the Billboard Top 30.

“Fear of Music” (1979) and “Remain in Light” (1980) were the band’s third and fourth album and again produced by Eno.

The single “Once in a Lifetime” from “Remain in Light” became a huge success in Europe but not in America.

The band went on a hiatus and didn’t record for three years. Their fifth album “Speaking in Tongues” was released in 1983 and the song “Slippery People” is one of my all time favorite songs. It became a huge hit in Europe, so did “Burning Down the House” which peaked at No. 9 at the Billboard Chart.

Before the band disbanded in 1991, three more albums were released: “Little Creatures” (1985), “True Stories” (1986) with the hits “And She Was” and “Road to Nowhere”. The final album was “Naked” (1988).

Fast Forward to 2025:

Talking Heads were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.

David Byrne released solo albums and wrote music for TV, movies and theatre, receiving an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, a Special Tony Award and a Golden Globe Award. He collaborated with Sean Penn and Frances McDormand in the 2011 movie “This Must Be the Place” where he played himself and also wrote the original music. I absolutely adore this movie!

Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz formed the Tom Tom Club and the band is still recording and touring. They produced albums for several artists like Happy Mondays and Ziggy Marley.

Jerry Harrison produced albums for Violent Femmes, The Fine Young Cannibals and Crash Test Dummies.

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