I'd be honored if some Talking Heads fans would take a listen to my acoustic piano & vocal performance of THIS MUST BE THE PLACE (re-interpreted as a ballad) on my YT channel in tribute to one of the most unique & iconic bands of the late 70s/early 80s era. Live acoustic with no autotune or digital editing. Thanks and everyone stay safe.
Saw them at a wild-ass Halloween party in the gym of an art college in '77. They played essentially the first album. They were new to everyone--I don't think I'd ever heard of them--and the crowd LOVED them. Great experience.
Same here. Except it was 78 and I saw them at a club in Toronto. I'd never heard their music before those 2 nights. I ended up with quite a few TH albums over the years.
Hmm. To paraphrase John Lennon responding to being asked if Ringo was the best drummer in the world, Tina is not the best bassist in TH. She couldn't play the instrument at all when she joined the band, she just happened to be Chris Franz's girlfriend. I'm a very poor bassist but I can play TH riffs because they are kept simple to accommodate Tina
@@atakd Three's so much more to being a musician than being technically gifted. There were kids I went to school with that could play Hendrix when they were nine. But where did they end up? I find many incredible musicians really dull. Tina's bass lines are simple and clear. Some of them have motown roots. They drive the rhythm which is what the bass is supposed to do. They are part of what makes Talking Heads unique. It's also her choice of basses and amps and her fingers which are part of the Talking Heads sound. She can also sing and play the bass really well which is NOT easy.
Jerry was so much more self-assured than the other three. Tina was and is an utterly beatific marvel of humanity. It's amazing that this doc is pre-massive fame etc. They were already such a buzz. I still marvel how they were so goddamned funky, despite being SO white 😂 even pre-Bernie Worrell
Not only is this a great band or general pop music history documentary, it's also a great socio-cultural snapshot of what it was like to live in America as the '70s were coming to an end and we were approaching the dawning of the '80s!
@@brianfergus839They were best when they created wholly in the studio and brought their creations to the stage in any form. Their best albums, not design to the performed as only a 4 piece, demonstrate that they were best in that capacity. Remain in Light and Speaking in Tongues are clearly their best and more influential albums. Not geared to be for them 4 only no matter what you want others to believe.
Weymouth, Frantz and Byrne first played under the name The Artistics. They had an idea of “combining conceptual and performance art with popular music (their sound earned them the nickname The Autistics).” Then a friend suggested the name “Talking Heads” lifted from the TV Guide-which appealed as it had no genre defining angle. Dressed in button down shirts, sensible shoes and corduroy in amongst the ripped T-shirts, leather jackets of New York’s punk clubs, Talking Heads was a vision of the future, belonging to no genre or scene, ultimately. This became more than evident through the eight studio albums the band produced between 1977 and 1988. Fear of Music was Talking Heads’ third studio album-a powerful rich and diverse record that was rightly voted album of the year by the NME in 1979. It was also the bridge between More Songs About Buildings and Food (1978) and the gold standard of Remain in Light (1980). A necessary footnote-The South Bank Show has produced many of the greatest arts documentaries of the past five decades-all of which has been under the editorship of producer and presenter Melvyn Bragg, who has been the single most important figure in the dissemination of great artistic culture to all-long may this tradition continue.
It's easy to forget how innovative and even radical the Heads were in the late 70s and early 80s. They were like REM in wanting to diverge from the status quo and make their own sound, consciously diverging from the formula that sells albums and singles on FM radio. And in so doing built a huge fan base. Thanks for posting. A real blast from the past.
@@guywoodhouse4684 ..someone is musically begoated.... But that's ok, it just shows how much you really understand what's up here. Only us that are musically begoated can see that🤘
@@crapple009 hate to open myself up to the same criticism but I couldn’t agree more with the brow beaten guy. But I’m gonna blame it on myself - I probably just “don’t get” REM or Phish - I’m sure they are good bands but definitely not on my playlist
@@davidhoward4715 $7.00 in a nice 2000 seat music hall. B52's first album and Fear of Music was released a month earlier in August by the Talking Heads.
Fascinating insights. A band that wanted to appear like joe normal, no rockstar personas, etc. and yet produced some of the most unique one of a kind type music ever.
They wanted to appear "normal" for the irony. Their music presents so-called "normality" as anything but normal. Most of their best loved songs are satires of "normality".
When the past was ambitiously singing about what was then a terrible present and realizing now from this once-considered- the-unknowable future that it was a Golden Age of American creative genius that has never been surpassed and will never come again.
Wonderful footage here. Really awesome to see them at this time of their career, still going at it out of a loft in NYC. Historic in my opinion. Thank you for sharing.
Garreth Boland I believe that loft/rehearsal space was a spare wing of Tina’s older brother’s loft in Long Island City. Yann Weymouth was, at the time, an architect with I. M. Pei and had done much of the design work on the Mellon Wing of The National Gallery.
In chrus’ book that loft had heat, the first one near CBGB did not, In life during wartime I see david’s breath it’s so cold in that room leading me to think this maybe is the first loft(though much nicer than he describes in the book so maybe it is Yann’s Nextdoor place ?) just a guess
Tavy@ when i first seen there stop makeing sense concert in 1985 a year after it came out. I remember saying to myself and to my pals the next day "that is by far the best music AND concert i have ever seen and heard. No one even comes close to that concert. Its in a leauge of its own" And 35 year later it still is. Talking heads is just sheer class. Genius and then some!!! Its a pity they didnt play on going into the 1990s. I was disappionted they didnt. They had alot more to give! 'stop makeing sense' is my favourite talking heads album. 'more songs about buildings and food' is my second. And 'Little Creatures' is my third.
640 TAG Nice to read someone else articulating my own feelings. They just stand out for me, too, as the pinnacle of the greatest movement in ‘rock’. Some called it New Wave, some Punk (late-punk surely, if you listen to the Stooges, or MC-5) but it was when the music became the absolute art-form it could be. I haven’t yet seen anyone to rank alongside TH. To be 16,17,18, as I was when their first albums emerged felt like witnessing the next Renaissance, and Byrne was easily it’s Da Vinci or Buonarroti. I’m glad to say my son is now wearing a ‘Fear of Music’ T-shirt to university, and it feels like it at least had lasting reverberations. But to be young then was very heaven...
I saw them in OKC w TomTom Club as the opener. It has always been one of the mist memorable shows I've ever seen. When TH did once in a lifetime Byrne ran around the entire zoo ampitheater dinging the tune. I wish I could see this show again being older . Btw punk was in full swing in OKC there were numerous peeps there w blue,pink etc hair w safety pins through their skin on their face. Even one guy in a full suit w a powder puff face and yellow hair. It was a event for sure.
Massive Talking Heads fan, from the UK and i have never seen that before. That was utterly tremendous. Great stuff - and then they released Remain in Light - WOW. Just WOW
really really really very good :) One of the best, most intelligent, original bands of the era. There is so much to be learned from this one documentary. So much insight in to modern life and music and it's also very entertaining. RU-vid top pics.
The way describe their thought process on what goes into their songs shows you how how smart and creative these people are, and really explains why it's pure genius
I was lucky enough to see them three times in Chicago in late 70s. I could sing along with every tune. What a great music time that was. Saw David Johansen three times, too.
Thanks for posting this online Talking Heads on the South Bank show 1979.I saw Talking Heads 4 times during the 1980s. The best time was at the Brixton academy in London with the B52S 1984. One of the best gigs I when too. Nice one
Thanks for posting. I'd never heard of this documentary before. Very interesting point in time for them when they still had a foot in the ooze from which they were formed. I love seeing the germ of a band, and this doc shows it. Later interviews try too hard to explain, to deal with the cognitive dissonance between past and present. When you're there, it isn't necessary.
Gorgeous to see this again - “Fee-yuls” - a longer documentary if I remember, I recorded it on VHS when it first aired, borrowed it to a friend & it was stolen soon after by a thief who hopefully enjoyed their spoils as much as I and many others enjoyed the programme, a real pleasure to see again..
to hear the bandmates interviewed u can hear their thoughtfullness and intelligence..hearing david byrne u can tell the genius..hes just on a level above most ppl..me included..thx to whomever produced this and who posted..an excellent snippet of the heads in their heyday...
I like how the NY Hipsters were looking at them and trying to decide if they were cool or hip enough to follow. Once they decided they were cool, success was assured. Because the Heads had so many quirky, catchy pop songs. And Psycho Killer was the anchor. That first big hit song that every new band needs to make it big.
Have a copy of that book. It is a brilliant assessment of the evolution of music in terms of how it has been created since roughly the Enlightenment period. The idea is that the music has always been made to fit the venue being presented in. Which makes total f'ucking sense If you think about it..
Saw them at the Greek in Berkeley - one of the best rock shows ever. Loved them since their first days back east - where I grew up. All great artists / musicians. Jerry Harrison from The Modern Lovers too. All these years later and all the great times are coming back to me.
It’s pretty hilarious to compare David Byrne speaking back then with him speaking today such as the RRHoF induction speech for Radiohead. Not only has he become more handsome over time, he could probably deliver all the speeches necessary to get elected mayor of NY and come off as being completely “normal”.
Why would he pretend to have a condition? Why would anyone do that? He is very obviously autistic and guess what? He still is! Saying that he put it on is just ableist and that's not cool
Noble Failures It might not be saying much, but Byrne, like most people of his and my generation, were ‘conflicted by parentage’. While not actually fighting World Wars, we were the first generation that were just fortunate enough not to have to. Most of us were anti war and still are, but we still carry those conflicts inside ourselves. No one is innocent by the time they become adults.
@Noble Failures you're a big phoney. Him making up a story about his draft card being burned by a activist priest in 68 is of no interest to anyone. The Talking Heads being one of the most creative rock bands of all time. Now that's something I can sink my teeth into. The combination of these amazing people caused some very creative music to be created. Plus he is autistic. That is just common knowledge.
Great documentary! Back when the Heads were together. There was something joyous about their music! One of the best groups ever! I love seeing the NY hipsters in the crowd trying to decide if they should like this band or not. Are they hip enough? Do they pass the test? Ok, They decided they were cool enough. Now I found out Byrne has Aspergers syndrome which explains a lot about his detached view of the world and some of the lyrics and even his strange stage persona at times. Now it makes total sense although at the time I was perplexed. Stop Making Sense! Exactly! Same as it ever was!
Saw them in '79, in Leicester's De Montford Hall. Their Talking Heads '77 & Fear of Music were hardly off my deck. Even took a few photos that weren't too shabby. Nice to re-visit Fear of Music. A classic album. Great to have a documentary of a band with something to say.
i disagree; nothing but meaningless codswallop coming from all of them. Over-educated middle class art students just desperate to be famous, jamming away for years in their loft in order to squeeze out some tunes. Not to mention Tina Weymouth here seeming to think that the Ganges is a river in China.
@@drssexy2142 hmm, interesting take, doesn't seem like it took much to "squeeze" out the tunes they were very prolific, the "jamming" seemed to do them well, obviously very successful, I don't know the people, I just enjoy there music, appears like there is some talent there
Dr Ssexy what an odd criticism. So you complain about them being over-educated (whatever that means. I mean how can someone have too much knowledge?) but complain that Tina Weymouth doesn’t know where the Ganges is. So are they too clever or too stupid for you? Seems like you’d hate them no matter how good they were, so why are you even here? Every band creates songs by jamming somewhere and they “squeezed out” a number of classic albums and were highly successful because of it.
Thank you mister Franz. I'm one of the Talking Heads earliest and most supportive. At the time upper class traveling from Eastern Long Island to lower Manhattan in the late 70s. I would have to actually taunt prod and beg friends to come with me to cbgb's. It was a blissful time to be a teenager. Along with the Talking Heads I witnessed Blondie Ramones Dead Boys The Clash six days straight slept in the alley.
Tavy@ the early stuff is brillllliant. The 1978 'more songs about buildings and food' is 1 of the best albums i have ever heard, it is awe some. And iam 46 so in a way it was before my time, so yes that means they were ahead of there time! When i heard 'road to nowhere' i thought now this is class, it was so diffrent from all the 1980s music at that time so i bought the album 'little creatures' with road to nowhere on it. Then when i heard 'stop makeing sense' from 1983 i thinck i have watched it a thousand times and it keeps getting bettttter! After that i bought ALL there albums, they are in a leauge of there own no doubt. Its hard to believe a group like that never got a number 1 album or single. A remember 'road to nowhere' peaked at number 6 in the uk charts and alot of people thought it was a certain to reach number 1 even people that whernt really fans? Sadly it never made it. There was so many great tunes that year and it was really hard to get to number 1 then. A believe jenniffer rushs 'The Power of Love' kept it of number 1 becouse it peaked at number 1 for about 9 weeks a thinck, wich was unheard of then but it was a great song. If it didnt stay for at number 1 for that long a believe 'road to nowhere' would of made it. After 'Little Creatures' wich is there biggest selling album a thinck the band whernt as good after that with there next 2 albums 'True Stories' 1986. And 'Naked' in 1988 but david byrne and talking heads you were a genious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
