I finally got time to read your excellent journal with a fantastic title. We have two things in common: I love Memphis Tennessee and I love the Talking Heads. I've been to Memphis and visited Graceland, Beale Street, Sun Records and Stax Records which was the greatest independently owned R&B label in the history of American music. Memphis is one of the great world class music cities and hometown of musical greats like W.C. Handy, Al Green, BB King and Alex Chilton.
I'm old enough to have seen the Talking Heads live on a few occasions. I first saw them at club in Central Square in Cambridge MA at the corner of River St. and Massachusetts Avenue right near the campus of MIT when I was a college freshman in Boston in the fall of 1976. The club was one of those places that kept changing it's ownership and it's name about once a year. I think it was just called The Club when I saw the Talking Heads there. The Club was always a dump, no matter what name the new owner called the joint. The first time I saw the Talking Heads I thought they were amatuerish and pretty awful musically but I liked David Byrne's quirky stage personnae and was impressed by their ambitous musical vision.
At the time I first saw the Talking Heads, most of the bands on the East Coast punk scene were playing three chord anthems like the Clash and the Ramones but the Talking Heads were playing complex tunes using minor chords, with odd time signatures that had a sparse minimalist sound. From around 1977 until 1980 the Talking Heads improved dramtically primarily because Chris Franz (the drummer) and Tina Weymouth (the bass player) improved dramatically as players.
I saw the Talking Heads for the last time in 1980 as the headliner at the Orpheum, Boston's premier mid-size concert hall venue. They were touring in support of Remain in Light and had added a group of former P-Funk players like Bernie Worrell and Busta Jones. The ensemble of of nearly a dozen musicians played one of the most high voltage sets of funk I've ever heard.
The Talking Heads held together for years after Remain in Light but David Byrne lost interest in touring and only reconvened the group to record an album every few years. I'm pretty certain that the 1980-81 Remain in Light tour was the last Talking Head's last tour because in the decade from 1981 until 1991 when the breakup became official, David Byrne was only touring with his Brazilian ensemble and Chris & Tina were only touring with the Tom Tom Club.
There's quite a few folks who diss the Talking Heads but their first two self produced albums Talking Heads 77 and More Songs About Buildings & Food, and their 3rd and 4th Eno produced albums Fear of Music and Remain In Light contained some of the most forward thinking and visionary music of that era.
David Byrne never apologized the commerical success of the band, I don't think he cared one way or another if the Talking Heads sold millions of records or remained a cult band. Those who call Byrne a sell out are at a loss to explain why he walked away from the Talking Heads at the peak of their success to spend the next 20 years making albums of obscure Brazilian music and a string of experimental albums that tanked in the marketplace. By the same token, Byrne feels no need to apologize for his lack of commerical success with his solo career and has resisted all overtures to "cash in" with one last Talking Heads reunion tour.
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