[Roll Your Own Life] The Music That Shaped Me (part 6)

Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense (1984)

There was a real spate in the 80's of TV showing cool stuff and completely changing our music listening habits. I remember there was a special night on BBC2 (I think) that looked at music videos, and they did almost an hour looking at the music videos of The Cure, and my awesome friend Coop went out the following day and bought their best of album (Staring at the Sea), and it was a slippery slope to him becoming a completist, buying all of The Cure's albums in a relatively short period of time.

For me, it was Channel 4 showing the Talking Heads movie, Stop Making Sense. I'd seen their music videos before for tracks like Once in a Lifetime, but I remember seeing a trailer for the movie's C4 screening and David Byrne's amazing oversized suit and I knew I had to watch it.

C'mon, just watch that opening sequence with David Byrne walking out onto the stage alone with a cassette recorder and an acoustic guitar to perform Psycho Killer, and you know you're watching something special.

The rest of the band gradually assemble over the following songs, and the whole thing was genius. The following week I went out and purchased the album, and like Coop before me, it was a slippery slope to buying their entire back catalogue, and I'm still a fan today.

I do have a fond memory of trying to convert a girl I was at school with to listening to Talking Heads. I had Speaking in Tongues on a cassette in my cheap not-a-Walkman, and she agreed to give it a go. She really enjoyed Burning Down The House, but when it got to the second track, Making Flippy Floppy, I think she thought I was suggesting something dirty and she stopped listening!

I've noticed that a lot of the music I'm picking are not your traditional "love" style songs... Let's face it, their second album is called More Songs About Buildings and Food - and that features my favourite Heads song (also in the movie Stop Making Sense) - Found a Job - a song about a couple (Bob and Judy) who are so bored with TV they start writing their own shows. Brilliant.