Talking
Heads Talk
With the release of their 10th album, 'Naked,'
America's most cerebral dance band is
exploring new realms of creativity and sales

BY RON GIVENS

bums have sold very well, and maintained their
appeal as time went on, but "Naked" promises to
make the band huge.
Whether or not they care about their bigness,
they don't have time to enjoy it. For the past year,
in addition to producing "Naked," the separate
Heads have worked on an amazing number of
creative endeavors outside the framework of the
band. Harrison has produced the second BoDeans
album, coproduced the debut album by Milwaukee
rockers Semi-Twang, finished recording his sec-
ond solo album, "Casual Gods," figured out a con-
cept for its cover and directed a video for its first
single, "Rev It Up." Frantz and Weymouth have
recorded, on and off, for their third solo album,
written two songs for the movie "Siesta" and pro-
duced the new Ziggy Marley album, "Conscious
Party." Byrne has composed five pieces of music
for the film, "The Last Emperor," directed some
interconnecting footage for a new home-video
compilation of Talking Heads videos, "Storytell-
ing Giant," and traveled to Europe while writing
and seeking funding for a feature-length movie he
wants to direct called "The Forest."
They've been so busy, in fact, that they didn't
have time to produce a video for "(Nothing But)
Flowers" until well after the song came out. In late
February they got together briefly to do some
publicity for "Naked," but their attention was
clearly on outside projects as well. Frantz and
Weymouth were just about to enter the studio for
two weeks of intensive recording for their own
group, Tom Tom Club. Harrison was in rehearsal
for a four-month tour of the Northeast with his
own band, Casual Gods. Byrne was on the verge of
flying to Los Angeles to write and to pursue money
for his movie.
Entree orders and an appraisal of pop music today
Byrne (crab cakes): In a way "Naked" expresses
our dissatisfaction with the current shape of popu-
lar music, mainly in America. What's on the Top
10 and Top 40. I never listen to it. I haven't listened
to it in years. Maybe there's something good in
there. But it's not worth wading through the crap
to find it. I spend my time better listening to other
things. To me it just has no relevance to people's

rink orders before the interview begins

A glass of a red house wine-a
1985 Shafer merlot-for Tina Wey-
mouth, 37, bass player. She wears a
multicolored pullover blouse with
horizontal stripes, alternating be-
tween gray and various other muted colors, over a
black turtleneck sweater dress.
A vodka-Stolichnaya-and grapefruit juice
for Chris Frantz, 36, drummer. He wears a black
cotton shirt, unbuttoned at the neck, black jeans.
A glass of water for Jerry Harrison, 39, guitar
and keyboard player. He wears a black-and-gray
knit shirt with a crosshatched pattern, unbut-
toned at the neck, black jeans.
A vodka-Stolichnaya-and grapefruit juice
for David Byrne, 35, guitar player and singer. He
wears a white cotton shirt, buttoned at the neck,
and a dark-blue-and-kelly-green plaid blazer, with
three decorative pins on the left lapel (a gold leaf, a
stylized red lion and a commemorative for Austra-
lia's Ayers Rock), blue jeans.
Weymouth: We're at the point where, suddenly,
we're big. At least that's what our business man-
agers are telling us. I don't know when it hap-
pened, but we are.
Frantz: So big that we're busting out of our
trousers.
Talking Heads: 88. Thirteen years after David
Byrne, Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth co-
alesced into a trio, and 11 years after they added
Jerry Harrison and made their first record, Ameri-
ca's most cerebral dance band seems to have bro-
ken the mega-barrier. Their 10th album, "Naked,"
has produced an ovation of praise, louder and
larger than even this critically favored band usual-
ly gets, and "(Nothing But) Flowers," the first
single from the record, has been all over the radio
since it came out in mid-March. Past Heads al-

I

Early times (1978): 7
never thought Talking
Heads would be as
successful as it has, 'says
Harrison. 7 thought
we were too strange'

8 NEWSWEEK ON CAMPUS

MAY 1988