Talking Heads was an American rock band formed in 1974 in New York City and active until
1991. The band comprised David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison.
Auxiliary musicians also frequently made appearances in concert and on the group's albums.
The New Wave musical style of Talking Heads combined elements of punk rock, avant-garde,
pop, funk, world music and art rock. Frontman and songwriter David Byrne contributed
whimsical, esoteric lyrics to the band's songs, and emphasized their showmanship through
various multimedia projects and performances. Critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine describes
Talking Heads as being "one of the most critically acclaimed bands of the '80s, while
managing to earn several pop hits."
In 2002, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Four of the band's
albums appeared on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All
Time, and the Channel 4 100 Greatest Albums poll listed one album (Fear of Music)
at number seventy-six.
Stop Making Sense is a concert movie featuring Talking Heads live on stage. Directed by
Jonathan Demme, it was shot over the course of three nights at Hollywood's Pantages Theater
in December 1983, as the group was touring to promote their new album Speaking in Tongues.
The movie is notable for being the first made entirely using digital audio techniques. The
band raised the budget of $1.2 million themselves. The title comes from the lyrics of the
song "Girlfriend is Better": "As we get older and stop making sense...". The film has been
hailed by Leonard Maltin as "one of the greatest rock movies ever made."
