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Stop making sense once in a lifetime11/30/2023 ![]() (All-new 35 mm prints, with a digitally remixed and remastered soundtrack, open at theaters this fall in honor of the movie's 15th anniversary.) The movie was filmed over the course of three nights in December 1983, at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. "Stop Making Sense" looks just as fresh as it did in 1984. Instead, it's all about stealth inventiveness. There's no rock 'n' roll sloppiness, no seat-of-the-pants spontaneity. "Stop Making Sense" is so beautifully choreographed that in some ways it's more like theater than a rock show. The performers find their way onto the stage in layers, song by song, each one filling in his or her particular space so perfectly that you wonder why you hadn't thought of it as empty. The trappings of putting on a show - everything from lights to stagehands to slide projectors - are in full view at one time or another. It doesn't seem "made." It merely exists, like some inexplicable and wonderful quirk of nature: a redwood, a toad with fabulous markings or something that just mysteriously appeared on a lily pad one day.Īnd yet, it's all about process. The New Yorker quoted the track, “an apocalyptic swamp-funk transmission in four-four time,” further praising it as their “pinnacle.” The track itself was a turning point in music as The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame included it in their feature: 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.Jonathan Demme's Talking Heads concert film, "Stop Making Sense," is one of those miracle movies, a picture that seems to have come together by laws unto itself. “Life During Wartime” baffled critics and music enthusiasts with its relation to funk while remaining rock. 1979’s Fear of Music blossomed with praise as Byrne vocal performances and lyrical content shined. Development on their sound continued into their next couple albums. While it wasn’t a commercial success, it showed the band had originality with potential to grow. Having a refreshing, albeit polarizing style, worked well for the group’s first outing. Accompanied by Byrne’s wide-eyed, loose but robotic movements. The lead single “Psycho Killer” introduced their trademark jerky guitar and rhythm. It was a new form of rock music that infused funk with intellectual lyrics. The album’s reception was magnanimous and had critics praising the group on their impressionist-like music. Two years later, they landed their first record deal with an album that swiftly hit the world soon after. ![]() Their list of fans would include poetic spinster Lou Reed, who encouraged Byrne to continue his enigmatic attire. News of the band’s funk-rock style and quirky attitude had spread around the state. Famed concert venue CBGB hosted one of Talking Head’s earliest performances in the city. The group would head down to New York City where talk of an underground movement was booming. That wouldn’t stop him from starting a band with his peers at Rhode Island’s School of Design. But his “off-key” voice was considered problematic to choir teachers who shunned him for singing. By the time he started high school, he was already proficient in several instruments. ![]() ![]() The son of Scottish immigrants, Byrne had a strong interest in music early on in life. Before he found himself in a “beautiful house, with a beautiful wife” David Byrne was an awkward, withdrawn “art-school punk”. ![]()
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