STOP MAKING SENSE: THE CULT OF DAVID BYRNE
Talking Heads' notorious concert film ‘STOP MAKING SENSE’ has been restored in 4K and sent back to cinema by production company A24, bringing with it a whole new generation of fans and further broadening the devout cult of David Byrne.
My partner ‘surprised’ me with tickets - surprised is maybe not the best word, since he told me we were going on a secret date night, then proceeded to sing Talking Heads songs all morning- and the two of us, along with a near sold out audience, piled into the HOME theatre in Manchester on Saturday night.
To be completely honest, I had not actually seen this film before, or even had a complete grasp on what it was even about. Armed with a plastic pint in one hand and bag of crisps in the other, I let go of all expectations as the opening credits rolled over the screen, listing off names of Directors, Producers and Band Members; Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison, along with Bernie Worrell, Alex Weir, Steve Scales, Lynn Mabry, Edna Holt, and of course the genius behind all of this, David Byrne.
Shot over four nights in 1984 at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre, this 84 minute film wholly encapsulates all that we have come to know and love from the Talking Heads. High energy, bizarre antics, and every member playing out of their skin.
I’ll steer from spoiling any of the film; instead just adding these key notes.
1. The cinematography was so ahead of its time it was equally as impressive as the content, shot by Cinematographer Jordan Cronenworth and Director Johnathon Demme. Truly exceptional.
2. David Byrne is nothing short of an artistic wizard. The concept of this concert, the music, the dances, the set - it's like watching a mad scientist at work who swapped beakers for synths and lab coats for oversized suits.
3. At no time was the audience still. Whether it be a neck bop, a shoulder sway, or a whole body and arms-in-the-air gyration, it was pretty enchanting to see a room full of people from all different ages and demographics, especially when you put into context that this concert took place 40 years ago.
And that is the remarkable thing about bands like Talking Heads. To anyone under the age of 30, bands with unusual blends of genres and members acting erratic isn't anything new, in fact is kind of what needs to happen if a musician wishes to create any form of legacy. But in the 1970s, this type of thing was completely alien to the mainstream world. Of course there were countless artists who pioneered this type of thing before David Byrne, and were most likely where he drew inspiration from, but it's the mainstream factor that's fascinating to me. Their mammoth popularity and impact brought forth a whole new era of pop-funk and experimentation in both music and performance ( think Blondie, XTC, B-52s, Franz Ferdinand).
From a music fan perspective too, this popularity changed things for us. A freak, so to speak, doing freaky things on stage so that other rejects of society could feel like they were being seen, in the same way that artists like Andy Warhol, Lou Reed, Jonathan Richmond, Patti Smith, and countless others did before them. They served as the leaders of the cult of counter-culture, rimming the edge of the conventional ‘real world’ and the fun-loving-anything-goes anarchy of the void that is creative expression.
This film serves as a time capsule and a peek into the important art that was paved before us, so that we may be free to be taken even just a bit seriously as a teenager we tell our teachers and parents that we want to be a writer, a musician, a dancer, a poet, a CREATIVE.
Thank-you A24, for bringing this back into the zeitgeist. And thank-you Talking Heads, for everything.
