Per Rolling Stone, “Talking Heads Celebrate 50th Anniversary With ‘Psycho Killer’ Video Starring Saoirse Ronan”:
Fifty years ago, the Talking Heads performed for the first time, opening for the Ramones at CBGB. They’d go on to become one of the most influential art-house bands in music history, leaving fans with tons of iconic songs over the decades. Today, they’re celebrating their anniversary by reminding people of one specific classic: They’ve released a video for “Psycho Killer,” the first song they ever wrote as a band…
Anybody else got tunes, or thoughts, for the end of another fraught week?
Baud
Good song.
prostratedragon
Holy moley, 50 years! Guess that is about when I first heard of them. Current events have put this back in my mind:
“Eli’s Coming,” Laura Nyro
Melancholy Jaques
@prostratedragon:
As long as we’re on current events.
“Save the Country,” Laura Nyro.
My older sister played her albums constantly. More people should listen to her.
Spanky
“Life During Wartime” has been going through my head a lot lately. I have no idea why.
prostratedragon
@Melancholy Jaques: Thanks for this. I had a friend in college who must have listened to the Eli album twice a day for about a year. Whenever you dropped by, you knew it was on or about to be. This one, “Psycho Killer,” reminders of things we should have known all along.
piratedan
something a bit different….
Chuck Prophet…. First Came The Thunder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAFCy4TyAPc
kindness
I didn’t learn of the Talking Heads till More Songs About Buildings & Food. Late to the game I guess. Still love their version of Take Me To The River. I’ve heard that covered by countless bands (& the original) but like the Heads version better.
prostratedragon
@Spanky: Maybe because these days this ain’t no party, disco, or fooling around even though too many people with some ability to affect things act as if they have plenty of time for that now.
trollhattan
On solstice 2025 I see something completely new to me: CAISO, California’s Independent System Operator for electricity, is generating more renewable power than demand. Please don’t anybody tell Donny, or he’ll start bombing shit.
piratedan
somehow this one seems apropos of the times….
the dB’s – That Time Is Gone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAWY8KWCfT0
twbrandt
great song, great vid!
piratedan
and for those that need a touch of deeper nostalgia…
The High Numbers – I’m The Face
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW9j_-zm_80
FastEdD
Huge turnout to see Eric Swalwell last night. He remarked that we outnumbered 47’s birthday party. We were also invaded by Maga choads. They spread their shitty signs all over the community center. Screamed at us pounding on the windows of our meeting. Cops were there and did nothing of course. The maggots swarmed over us as we left. Their main insults were “Get a job” which of course makes no sense-most of the crowd was there because their Medicare is being taken away. They screamed at me “You’re miserable!” which also makes no sense because it sure as hell looked to me like they were the ones who were miserable. Shoved their cell phone cameras in our faces, as if that was a threat. I gave them a double digital salute to tell them they are number one. If they think they intimidate us, boy are they wrong. Swalwell had some neat things to say, like how he met Ted Cruz in the men’s room during the impeachment hearings. The night before on Faux he was excoriating Swalwell, but the day after in person, Cruz was trying to be pleasant. He’s just fake, a complete phony. “Most of them know what they are doing is just an act,” Swalwell said. “I prefer Marjorie Taylor Greene. because if I saw her in real life she would flat out try to kill me. At least she isn’t acting, she’s actually insane.” The congressman concluded with a story about the impeachment hearings in the Senate he was a big part of. He asked the guys setting up the video equipment why they were so efficient. They replied that this was the second impeachment, they had done it all before. “We’ve done all this before, and we’ll do it all again. First small victories, then larger ones.”
piratedan
as for the Talking Heads, their stuff was incredibly unique, almost as if they made it a mission to sound completely different from song to song, yet finding a vibe for each tune (incredibly hard to do), but I was always fond of this one more than the others….
Talking Heads – Up All Night
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imWnuirIL8o&list=PLUhqFX6g_9NcCyvuZgkx7AaHOsclPkMxk&index=26
Miki
The classical world lost a giant this week – Alfred Brendel.
Brendel was part of the soundtrack to a difficult time in my life 35 years ago. I met his music in a tiny CD shop, totally by accident, and he’s still my favorite pianist of all time. (I don’t play piano, but my mother did. She refused to let us take piano lessons because she didn’t want to compete with us. Yeah. Kind of fucked up.)
Brendel playing Schubert is magic. (Sorry about the ads, but this performance is his best of these Impromptus.)
MattF
I’ve been listening to this lately. In Grace Slick’s original, the dormouse says ‘feed your head’ only twice.
trollhattan
@Spanky: deleted on account of jinx!
Kelly
I think I discovered Talking Heads in 1983. Anyway when “Stop Making Sense” movie came out I was eager to go. What fun.
FastEdD
They really think they can intimidate us. Not. Gonna. Happen. I try to think like a braindead Maga cult member, and they figure their mission is to “Own the libs.” They live for that shit. Not gonna happen. One idiot kept saying “I live rent free in your mind.” Uh, no I think it is the opposite of that, asshole. This ain’t my first rodeo.
trollhattan
@piratedan:
This month is the 50th anniversary of Talking Heads’ performance debut.
Today is the 50th anniversary of Jaws.
We were such an innocent land.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
It’s just a matter of time until Saoirse Ronan wins an Oscar…which should have been hers for “Lady Bird”.
eclare
Wow, my dog does not like that song. I only got about a minute in before she started howling.
Lucy is very particular about music.
Miki
@Melancholy Jaque
Add to the Laura Nyro soundtrack, Flim Flam Man
zhena gogolia
@Melancholy Jaques: She was so brilliant.
eclare
@piratedan:
Great song.
trollhattan
Guess who, on Fox: “They should give me the Nobel Prize for Rwanda and if you look, the Congo, or you could say Serbia, Kosovo, you could say a lot of them. The big one is India and Pakistan. I should’ve gotten it four or five times.”
zhena gogolia
@FastEdD: Thanks for that report. Why doesn’t MSNBC report on this kind of thing?
eclare
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
Either that or Brooklyn. But yeah, it’s just a matter of time til she wins.
Lehrjet
Well then, just gonna have to que up Stop making sense! My brother bought me the A24 4k disc for my last birthday. Great upgrade to the soundtrack from the dvd version!
twbrandt
David Byrne, like Neil Young, has a lousy singing voice, but both can absolutely sell a song.
prostratedragon
@Miki:
Oh you, too. I’ve never gotten over this one. His Beethoven is pretty special as well.
prostratedragon
@FastEdD:
“I live rent free in your mind.”
GuFFAW! A very strange form of Dunning-Kreuger.
Sister Golden Bear
If Trump is gonna start WWIII, at least we can dance. Still all too relevant 40 years later.
Fishbone – Party at Ground Zero
trollhattan
Not music per se but guitar pron. Good thing I don’t play otherwise I would have no defense against collecting. Watch the builder’s art: French edition.
https://youtu.be/W0Iz2c7M4s0?si=50OdftpTuyFEyidz
Bupalos
Any other thoughts?
No. Psycho Killer sounds right.
I think you got it with Psycho Killer.
prostratedragon
Fallout from 1968 (released ’72): “Big Brother,” Stevie Wonder
Bupalos
@twbrandt: They also both know how to fit a song to their voice. I mean, Byrne’s is a half-speaking, half singing “I don’t care, I’m half dreaming” kind of thing…. and the way they did their lyrics… perfect fit.
“And she was” is basically a melodic song with no one to do the melody effectively, where it makes sense because it’s a song about displacement.
Miki
@prostratedragon: Yes, of course.
And Bach. Holy Moly.
geg6
I actually saw them at CBGB. Also Blondie and the Ramones (not the same night, obviously). I used to fly into NYC every couple of weekends to see my boyfriend who lived there after he graduated college. People’s Express had flights for $40 one way into Newark. He used to take me to jazz clubs and CBGB. Ah, the late 70s! Before Times Square became Disneyland!
prostratedragon
@Miki: Cherce! And Bach himself approved😉
Now back to the Andante …
Miki
@Miki: And moar Bach.
I read somewhere that he didn’t record more Bach because he felt there were better Bach pianists. The combination of confidence and humility in that attitude is just one of the reasons I adore him.
Jay
OT, but today I went down to grocery shop, such an old word, glad DJTdiot made it trendy again,
so, anyway, CTV was doing a “man on the street BS” and I got interviewed.
One of the questions was about “Wexit”, (Alberta separating from Canada), I was half way through saying my piece when one of our local morons shoved his phone in my face recording me and screaming, with spittle.
I took the phone out of his hands, said “thank you, sorry!” and swung for the fences. Got it all the way up to the Skytrain tracks. Guy went to “brace me”, looked at me from my boots, to my head, to my eye shine, ( masked) and then r-u-n-n-o-f-t-d.
Don’t think I am going to be on the 5 O’clock news tonight.
lowtechcyclist
@trollhattan:
We’d just impeached the Cox sacker, so we were feeling good about that, at least.
1975 is also the 50th anniversary of Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks, Springsteen’s Born to Run, and Monty Python’s Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Classics all.
Kristine
Still have my LP copy of Talking Heads ’77. I don’t recall if I bought it that year or a year or two later. The cover and inner sleeve have held up really well. The sleeve has yellowed a bit, but other than that it looks good.
You can tell the companies that cared about packaging and those that didn’t. Covers that have torn along the edges. Inner sleeves that have fallen apart. I’ve had to replace some with archival sleeves.
Memories of college dorm life. Talking Heads. Blondie. The Cars. I still listen to it all.
Nancy
I love Talking Heads.
And here’s a brief history of Buddy Guy.
Buddy Guy’s music shakes me up and wakes me up. He inspires me.
He’s got a sense of humor and he doesn’t back down.
I believe that we can survive almost anything when I think of how he keep on playing his blues,
but we do have to do the work.
https://youtu.be/8k54r_ANt8o?si=H3rAWzJM1StYlWom
https://youtu.be/rKT8xfbCALA?si=qiAYNfJSdxjeV1t2
https://youtu.be/BCCxOu1DunI?si=vBuQWlPBMKfdFwVs
Miki
@prostratedragon: I’m sure I’ll stop searching for videos/recordings soon, but I’m not there yet.
Raoul Paste
Elvis Costello: Goon Squad
prostratedragon
@Miki: You’ve perhaps heard the term “rabbit hole?” Saw that one and had tucked it away.
The other one I’ve been pulled toward is the early 70s fallout from especially 1968. Those out the with many decades of life expevtancy left should accept that you’ll be boring your grankids to death with whst it’s like now, for the excellent reason that it’s hard to, um, process some things completely.
“There Must Be a Reason Why,” War, 1971
Marc
Since we won’t be getting to Mars any time soon, there’s always Whitey on the Moon.
Another long time Laura Nyro fan, starting in the 70s when I found her original version of Stoned Soul Picnic.
And my favorite positive song of all time The Staple Singers Touch a Hand, Make a Friend. Kind of a sappy song, but it always makes me smile.
oldster
I remember well when “Psycho Killer” first came out. The band may be 50 years old, but the single is only 48 — ’77 was a big year.
Love Saiorse Ronan. I’m glad the video is more psycho, less killer.
prostratedragon
@Marc: Sometimes sappy is good.
prostratedragon
Couple of snippets from what I went to hear last night. Same chorus, orchestra, and conductor, different, and excellent, soloists. Two performances left, might be a stray ticket or two out there.
One
Two
SpaceUnit
Here’s a little music for your Friday night.
The Warning Live in France
Ruckus
Saw them live once in northern CA. It’s been a while ago.
But yes they are very good in person and it was one of the best shows I’ve seen live.
twbrandt
@prostratedragon: I have sung in the chorus for a couple of times for the Verdi Requiem. It’s a great work, but really demanding on everyone.
ljdramone
@Kristine:
“Memories of college dorm life. Talking Heads. Blondie. The Cars. I still listen to it all.”
Fall of my freshman year in college: for some reason the admin thought it was a good idea to put a jukebox in the dining hall, and someone decided they needed to spam the jukebox with 10-15 plays of “Psycho Killer”. Every day for about 2 months. Our lunchtime soundtrack.
I was a bit late to punk/new wave — didn’t get into it until 1979 when I saw the Go Gos open for the Ramones, and saw the B-52s right after their first album came out. But I still have LPs of the Talking Heads’ first 4 albums. Fear of Music is my favorite.
mrmoshpotato
Fuck Donald Trump – about the orange, fascist, rapist shitstain who’s sucked Kremlin ass since ’87 and should’ve choked on a Big Mac in the 70’s.
Bruce W Nelson just bitchslaps the entire GOP with his short acoustic country songs. Turn on subtitles for more commentary.
Omnes Omnibus
Realisant mon espoirJe me lance, vers la gloire, okay
Andrew Abshier
There is, of course, the Psycho Killer parody by The Fools, Psycho Chicken!
dm
Angelique Kidjo covers the entire album of Remain in Light. It is wonderful.
prostratedragon
@twbrandt: Wow, that’s quite an experience. Demanding, indeed. There were passages where I thought the string players must have to fight panic. That big choral crescendo. And never get into a fight with a drummer; they have great core training and conditioning.
kindness
@Andrew Abshier: Didn’t Weird Al Yankavich do Psycho Chicken?
dm
@Kelly: I remember seeing it in a huge theater (back when they still had those). The audience applauded after every song.
This Spring, saw it again in an arthouse theater. The audience applauded after every song.
Plus, dancing in the aisles.
frosty
@geg6:
Early 80s, my brother moved from NYC to Pittsburgh. He and his girlfriend (later wife) in New York kept People’s Express in business. You might have been on the same flights!
hotshoe
@prostratedragon:
If any of us are still here in 2029, we can have a 50th anniversary party for “Life During Wartime”.
Either the world as we know it will have ended, or we will actually have peace — I can’t believe that we will have three more years of this cold-and-hot conflict without something breaking loose.
Hot world war, hot civil war, or peace … who knows.
hotshoe
@Miki: I don’t like solo piano music — really not at all, I could write a whole essay, don’t get me started — so it means a lot to me to say I enjoyed the Impromptus. Mr Brendel brings the notes to life with tender emotion. Thank you for suggesting these!
Dman
late to the party but this one is a favorite of mine
https://youtu.be/Lrz2S81HXsM?si=vmVPqiNgpCBLKtRP
geg6
@frosty:
Entirely possible! It was so cheap! Awful accommodations but so cheap.
We were able to keep up a long distance relationship going for several years longer than would be expected because of that. He’d been my high school boyfriend (two years ahead of me) and we’d weathered him going to college in CA and then working as an assistant to a fashion photographer in Paris for six months before he moved to NYC permanently. It finally fell apart amicably and we’re still friends. He lives in Brooklyn and does food photography for magazines like Bon Appetit and cookbooks for very famous chefs. We still like to reminisce about our adventures in NYC before it got all cleaned up. I love New York still but I admit to preferring the gritty city of the 70s and early 80s.
Trivia Man
@kindness: “The Name of This band is Talking Heads”
Trivia Man
@piratedan: the Byrne solo album Look Into the Eyeball is incredible. One of those albums that should be played start to finish in one sitting.
Papaloupas
@Miki: Rest in quiet power, Alfred Brendel. Blessings upon him and Shubert. And I will always love Brendel’s first cycle of the Beethoven piano sonatas, on Vox.
Papaloupas
(oops! Schubert.)
Noskilz
These days I think of Living in the Plastic Age by the Buggles a lot – hopefully we can steer clear of a Clean, Clean scenario.
I often get the sense the administration heard Shriekback’s Nemesis and much like techbros and cyberpunk dystopias, didn’t understand it wasn’t something to be emulated.
Big Country’s Flame of the West also seems timely again, as does All Go Together.
Al Stewart’s On the Border is another one that seems to fit
Bad Religion’s American Jesus is more relevant than ever, as is 21st Century (Digital Boy).
The new Israel-Iran war up put me in mind of The The’s Sweet Bird of Truth – and Heartland also seems to suit the times, in tone if not exact details
Oingo Boingo’s Only a Lad seems to describe many administration figures to a T
Golden Earring’s Twilight Zone and The Fixx’s One Thing Leads to Another seem like good fits for our troubled times.
But when I learned of what our low information voters had wrought, my first thought was World Party’s Ship of Fools
Ending on a hopeful note, Peter Gabriel’s Don’t Give Up featuring Kate Bush.