David Byrne and fellow Rhode Island
School of Design students Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz formed a trio
in 1974. After rejecting names such as The Portable Crushers and The
Vague Dots, the band opted for Talking Heads after seeing the term in
an issue of TV Guide. Their debut gig took place at New York's
CBGB's club in 1975, supporting The Ramones.
If any band defined the energy and angst
of New Wave, it was Talking Heads. David Byrne became a figurehead for
all those outsiders who despised hippies and heavies but didn't have
the front to cut it on the Bowery.
The Brian Eno-produced 1978 album More
Songs About Buildings and Food went Top 30 on both sides of the
Atlantic. Working with Eno until 1980, the band crafted dense,
paranoid, near-dance albums that encapsulated New Wave's nerdy,
end-of-days panic. As Huey Lewis later observed, it was suddenly hip
to be square.
