The Talking Heads’ debut album, which was entitled 77, was released on September 16 1977, and 40 years down the track it still sounds as fresh as a daisy. Indeed, it still sounds ahead of the curve; if some young bunch were to put this out now, critics would no doubt be praising it for its unique sound and song writing and its overall unprecedented approach.
The album, which was released on Seymour Stein’s Sire label, was not a hit. It barely scraped into the Top 100 in the US, and only made it to #60 in the UK, where media sympathy to punk and new wave was fairly strong. But it was the beginning of something – something truly idiosyncratic and ever changing - that saw the band develop a massive following within a few years, despite, it has to be said, their own ambivalence towards ‘making it’.
The band’s early music was not completely without precedent of course. Very little truly is. And whilst the Velvet Underground is a frequent and fairly obvious reference point to the early Talking Heads music, there were others.
Let’s have a look at a great live version of “Psycho Killer” from the Old Grey Whistle Test, then listen to a few rare early live tracks that shine a bit of a light on where the band was coming from.
“Psycho Killer” (Old Grey Whistle Test)
One of the first band’s to follow the Velvet Underground’s lead was Boston’s Modern Lovers, who were formed in Boston in 1971 by Jonathan Richman and his 15 year old neighbour John Felice. Richman was a true one off – shorthaired in a sea of long hairs, anti-drugs, anti-free love and decidedly childlike. Some would say neurotic. While the band was a big influence on punk, their music wasn’t actually released until well after the band had split. The original 3-piece Talking Heads were obviously fans, as can be heard in this 1976 Max’s Kansas City performance of the Modern Lovers’ “Pablo Picasso”. The lovely thing here is that, when the band’s classic 4-piece line-up would eventually coalesce, the fourth member was none other than original Modern Lovers keyboard player Jerry Harrison.
“Pablo Picasso”
Minimalism and neuroticm went back further than the Velvets and the Modern Lovers of course. One of the most striking bands of the ‘60s British invasion, the Troggs, hit upon a unique aesthetic approach – one that belied their brickie backgrounds and the raunch that Hendrix and others would later imbue in “Wild Thing”. In the Troggs’ hands, any song about sex sounded awkward and childlike, and it was this aspect I think that inspired the Talking Heads (and also Manchester’s Buzzcocks) to perform their “I Can’t Control Myself” early on.
“I Can’t Control Myself”
Like the Troggs, the whole genre of ‘60s bubblegum music mixed sex and innocence in a unique way, and the Talking Heads dug it. The message in the 1910 Fruitgum Company’s “1-2-3 Red Light” is pretty clear, but obviously belied by the gummy tune and boyish delivery of the original. This was a regular in the Talking Heads’ set in the early years -here David Byrne sings it like he’s the guy in “Psycho Killer”, making the frustration and menace a bit more apparent.
“1-2-3 Red Light”
The Ramones of course also dug bubblegum. (They covered the 1910 Fruitgum Company’s “Indian Giver” in the ‘80s. ) Their most bubblegummy early song of course was “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend”, which appeared on their 1976 debut album. The Talking Heads for a fair bit quieter and a whole lot more neatly dressed, but they were obviously fans.
“I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend”
You can check out the Deluxe Edition of Talking Heads’ 77 here on Spotify.
-DL
