I was lucky to hear Talking Heads for the first time when CD shopping was still in fashion. People would buy a CD for the one song they'd heard by the band, and in my case, it was "Burning Down the House." I bought "Best of Talking Heads" and often skipped to track #13, my heart beating in anticipation of the moment where David Byrne would say, "Watch out, you might get what you're after" in that catchy voice of his. By "All wet, yeah you might need a raincoat," I was beside myself.
One of the best things about the CD era was that people were encouraged to get their hands on a tangible product and get their money's worth by listening to the rest. Now we can download one song and disregard the rest of the album. I know this is a shame because "Burning Down the House" is not the best song by Talking Heads. I realized that when #13 was played out and I started getting the other tracks stuck in my head.
The other day, a friend introduced me to "Stop Making Sense," the Talking Heads live performance on DVD. My world was shaken as much as the first time I heard David Byrne's voice, but this time I was captivated by his oddball dancing, which is just as wonderfully weird as the music. He is crazy in the best possible way. And don't even get me started on Tina Weymouth, the bass player. She is so freakin' cool. Anybody who has only heard Talking Heads on the radio needs to expand their horizons, immediately.
The "Life During Wartime" performance is my favorite. I also embedded it below for your viewing pleasure.
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