Talking Heads
The Pop/Rock group, Talking Heads were amongst the handful of legendary bands massively celebrated in the world. This group of musicians had an overall impact on the music industry by the time their collective career had ended. Since its formation in 1975 in New York City, the musicians experimented with diverse genres to become one of the most critically acclaimed bands.
Their musical style inculcated varying genres such as the following:
- American punk
- New wave
- Post-punk
- Alternative
- Dance-rock
The American rock band had a classic line-up of multitalented band members consisting of the following:
- David Byrne
- Christopher Frantz
- Jeremiah Griffin Harrison
- Martina Michele Weymouth
Accolades
They are widely renowned as one of the groups to have pioneered the broad music genre of new wave music. As a result, there are numerous accolades they have earned for themselves. Talking Heads recorded and released eight Studio albums, two live albums with nine compilation albums, one video album, fifteen music videos, a remix album, and thirty-one singles.
The American band earned several album certifications from the Recording Industry Association of American, RIAA Gold & Platinum certifications as well as the British Phonographic Industry, BPI, and Music Canada certifications.
Their albums More Songs About Buildings and Food (1978), True Stories (1986), and Naked (1988) earned RIAA and BPI Gold certifications.
Furthermore, their 1984 and 1985 albums, Stop Making Sense and Little Creatures also earned them RIAA 2x Platinum and BPI Gold certifications.
Extraordinarily, their albums Remain in Light and Speaking in Tongues got the RIAA Gold-BPI Gold-MC Gold and RIAA-Platinum-BPI Silver-MC Platinum certifications respectively. Three of their compilation albums also won the British Phonography Industry’s Gold certification.
Four of the band’s albums earned spots in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time.
Two of their singles also made the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame’s list of 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. As artists, they were honored in Video Hits One (VH1)’s 100 Greatest Artist of All-Time and Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Artists of All-Time.
They received two Grammy nominations for Best Concept Music Video for their song Talking Heads: Storytelling Giant and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in 1989 and 1984 respectively.
The group was awarded the Best Group Video and Best Video from a Film during the MTV Video Awards in 1987 along with seven nominations from the same scheme. To cement their musical success, they were inducted into the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.
Facts about Talking Heads
Aside from having a blissful career spanning about 16 years, certain spectacular events and mysterious details certainly contributed to the biography of the band. Below are some fascinating facts about this rock band.
The band name Talking Heads was inspired by a television head. The group did not select the name because of their individual talkative natures, but after the term used to characterize a newscaster or personality speaking on camera in the television scene.
Lead Vocalist David Byrne was featured in the American animated sitcom, The Simpsons, playing the role of a music producer.
American Singer Selena Gomez’s hit song Bad Liar featured a sample of the band’s song Psycho Killer. Music fans and critics have attributed the success of the hit song to the tune of the band.
Byrne once shaved his beard on stage during a performance. Byrne was a student of an art school in New York and while performing at one of the school’s shows, he shaved off his beard using a bottle of beer as shaving foam.
David Byrne once woke up to an armed robber in his bedroom. This happened during one of the band’s recording camps for their tune, Fear of Music.
The band members had very personal conflicts with each other.
The group’s fourth studio album Remain in Light was greatly influenced by the afrobeat musical style of legendary Nigerian bandleader, Fela Kuti.
After the recording of Remain in Light, all the band members decided to put their names down on the back of the cover. They were however amazed to discover after the album release that their names were omitted, leaving just David Byrne and Bryan Eno.
David directed his first movie in 1985 which featured some of the band’s songs.
The group disbanded in December 1991.
It is speculated that the group’s disbandment was caused by David leaving the group. Contrary to popular belief, the breakup was not because of any managerial or interpersonal issues faced by the group. After David Byrne unexpectedly left to pursue his solo projects, the group never re-united to play as an active band.
Conclusion
Described as the innovators of the rising new wave genre in the late 1970s, this American band contributed to the major success of the pop and rock music scene in America and the rest of the world. Their commercial success and long-lasting impact is yet to be erased from the minds of their fans and music critics. Talking Heads clearly represented everything admirable about art-school punk.
Though the group broke up in 1991, they released albums and worked on a few projects in the early 1990s, but never actively played together as a band. Each band member has pursued their solo career and continues to do so.
