Burning Down the House: Talking Heads and the New York Scene That Transformed Rock – The Definitive Band Biography of the 1970s Avant-Garde

by Jonathan Gould

On the 50th anniversary of Talking Heads, acclaimed music biographer Jonathan Gould presents the long-overdue, definitive story of this singular band, capturing the gritty energy of 1970s New York City and showing how a group of art students brought fringe culture to rock’s mainstream, forever changing the look and sound of popular music. 

“Psycho Killer.” “Take Me to the River.” “Road to Nowhere.” Few musical artists have had the lasting impact and relevance of Talking Heads. One of the foundational bands of New York’s downtown 1970s music scene, Talking Heads have endured as a musical and cultural force for decades. Their unique brand of transcendent, experimental rock remains a lingering influence on popular music—despite their having disbanded over thirty years ago.

Now New Yorker contributor Jonathan Gould offers an authoritative, deeply researched account of a band whose sound, fame, and legacy forever connected rock music to the cultural avant-garde. From their art school origins to the enigmatic charisma of David Byrne and the internal tensions that ultimately broke them apart, Gould tells the story of a group that emerged when rock music was still young and went on to redefine the prevailing expectations of how a band could sound, look, and act. At a time when guitar solos, lead-singer swagger, and sweaty stadium tours reigned supreme, Talking Heads were precocious, awkward, quirky, and utterly distinctive when they first appeared on the ragged stages of the East Village. Yet they would soon mature into one of the most accomplished and uncompromising recording and performing acts of their era.

More than just a biography of a band, Gould masterfully captures the singular time and place that incubated and nurtured this original downtown New York in the 1970s, that much romanticized, little understood milieu where art, music, and commerce collided in the urban dystopia of Lower Manhattan. What emerges is an expansive portrait of a unique cultural moment and an iconoclastic band that shifted the paradigm of popular music by burning down the house of mainstream rock.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Biography, History, Art, Audiobook, New York

512 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 17, 2025

Reviews

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

" . . . in every generation, a handful of these bands of brothers and sisters have drawn on some distinctive combination of talent, imagination, determination, and providential good luck to create a body of musical work that has not only stood apart, but has also stood the the test of time. Such a group was Talking Heads . . . [The Heads] distinguished themselves from the beginning by expressing an outlook on the world that was distinctly and unabashedly modern. They did not pretend to be western outlaws, regency dandies, the 'Dead End Kids,' or Shakespeare in overalls." -- on page 444

Founded as a trio in late 1974 - initially comprised of guitarist/vocalist David Byrne, bassist Tina Weymouth, and drummer Chris Frantz; keyboardist Jerry Harrison would join shortly thereafter in 1975 - the former art school students first made their name in the bicentennial New York City music scene in tandem with notable acts like the Ramones and Blondie. As part of the 'New Wave' and/or post-punk era, their enduring tuneful output was perhaps best described by movie critic Roger Ebert (when he was reviewing their 1984 concert flick Stop Making Sense) as "Talking Heads are [actually] musical: For people who have passed over that invisible divide into the age group when rock sounds like noise, the Heads will sound like music." Songs like 'Psycho Killer,' 'Life During Wartime,' 'And She Was' or even their soulful cover of Al Green's 'Take Me to the River' still sound refreshingly great over forty years later. Former musician and journalist Gould has documented the history of the group in Burning Down the House, with a title copped from their highest-charting single (helped, no doubt, from a stylish video that played in heavy rotation on the then-nascent MTV network in 1983). While not much of a constant touring act - they were only on the road between 1977 and 1984 - their time as a band was a relatively brief fifteen years . . . but then not every rock group is blessed to be The Rolling Stones.😉 As recounted in this history, these four intelligent folks simply and sort of naturally splintered as they all reached early middle age due to settling down, getting married, having children, and the desire to work with other musicians. They increasingly didn't always get along with one another - David Byrne is a unique individual, and his possible (self-claimed) high-functioning autism may have caused difficulties in truly being on the same wavelength with his fellow musical companions - but thankfully there was no big soap operatic drama like overdoses or extramarital affairs. Additionally, author Gould - no doubt due to his own background in music - remembers to sensibly discuss the song origins / compositions alongside those personalities that created them.

[Isak · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’re a Talking Heads fan, you’ll love this book. But there’s also a lot in here for folks not familiar with them, too. Gould has also written a history of the music and art scene in 1970s New York, providing a cultural and musical narrative that was much more interesting and in-depth than I expected.

I requested an ARC of the book from the publisher when I saw the book was announced because I’ve been a Talking Heads fan for five years but hadn’t known much about the band itself - just the music. This was a great story, Gould is a really talented writer that held my attention well, and I also came away with a very long playlist of referenced songs and bands from the book. I’ve read a few music memoirs over the last few years — Jann Wenner’s Like a Rolling Stone, Dave Grohl’s The Storyteller, and while Burning Down the House isn’t a memoir, it was definitely my favorite. Highly recommend!

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Been in love with Talking Heads since I was but a wee one, but never really dug into their history. Best part of this book is the early going, seeing who these four were when they met, and how they honed the band into a performing machine even before recording their first album. The book slowly and consistently loses steam after that. It's too bad Gould couldn't get any of the Heads to talk to him, even considering the potentially loopy and contradictory stories they might have told. Instead the accounts of recording albums and touring feel like observing from too high a distance. Weirdest of all are Gould's track by track descriptions of every song on every album. These appear to be written for readers who've never actually heard the songs. They're just literal descriptions, along with Gould's odd attempts at literalizing the meaning of Byrne's lyrics. Is anyone reading this book who doesn't know the music? By Fear of Music, I knew to skip these parts.

Gould appears at first to be in ways refuting the idea that Byrne was the sole reason for Talking Heads' success, yet by the end of the book the clear take-away is the same as it's always been: Byrne was the genuis, the other three, lacking any real musical talent, lucked into being around him. This despite Gould noting that whatever Byrne's successes later in life, his best music was made with Talking Heads. He chalks this up to the other Heads arguing with him all the time, thus bringing the music alive through their contentiousness. He further backs up this argument by noting how the other Heads' later musical endeavors were unsuccessful and showed that they failed to learn the art of songwriting while working with Byrne. This seems a peculiar argument. How were they going to "learn" to write songs the way Byrne did? Why did they have to? Would only that prove they were of value in the Talking Heads era? Not even Byrne has had any successes to match those days. Did he fail to learn something too? Like, perhaps, how to collaborate?

Bands work because of what they create together. Gould can criticize Weymouth's bass playing, Franz's drumming, and Harrison's voice all he wants, but it's whatever those three brought to the band musically that, when combined with Byrne, made the band what it was. Was Byrne the freaky genius who tied it all together? Obviously. But not even the genius could manage to make a record anywhere near as good as the Heads' records once he left them. This should tell us plenty about the rest of the band, and their importance to the music.

Gould also writes this baffling paragraph: "Yet while real innovation in popular music is rare, human beings are exceedingly skilled at imitation. The kid guitarist on the internet who can reproduce every lick that Jimi Hendrix ever played takes nothing away from Hendrix's creative genius; he merely demonstrates that with practice, practice, practice, a dedicated player can learn to reproduce even the most complex musical ideas." No. Wrong. It's not what Hendrix played, it's how he played it. As it is with all musicians. Anyone with a plugged-in electric guitar can play "the note" in Machine Gun. So what? It's not that Jimi "innovated" a note. It's HOW he played it. Hendrix is IN that note. Nobody can imitate that.

This may well explain Gould's disdain for the other members of Talking Heads, imagining that anyone could have played the "notes" they played just as well, so long as Byrne was there providing the genius. Yet the point remains, that no matter their lack of virtuosity on their instruments (a lack shared, of course, by Byrne himself), it's how they played that matters, and it's who they are--and who they're playing with--that determines how they play.

I am also going to be awfully suspicious of an author writing about music who refers to Led Zeppelin as a trio.

But so anyway, the book is deeply researched (outside of comments from the Heads themselves, but then they've surely had enough of recounting their pasts), and at least the first half paints a fascinating picture of the band in its early days I was glad to learn about.

[Angelia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't have an emotional connection to Talking Heads, so I picked up this book because 1. I, in general, love a music biography, and 2. I expected bit more about the scene and the New York of that era. I didn't love the mini album/track reviews throughout, and some of it felt a bit rote, even if it was very detailed, but I really knew nothing about the band's dynamics, so I am walking away from this with more appreciation of the members as people.

[Richard Jaffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the eve of the 50th anniversary of Talking Heads live debut at CBGB in New York on June 5, 1975, author Jonathan Gould presents a fascinating biographical portrait of a band filled with meticulous research and plenty of local color regarding the "punk" and new wave scene in NYC in the mid to late 70's. In addition to discussing the genesis of Talking Heads, Gould also discusses many of the other bands playing the Clubs like CBGB, including the Ramones, Patti Smith, the New York Dolls, Velvet Underground etc.

Gould also hypothesizes that David Byrne was an undiagnosed "high functioning autistic" or on the Asperger's spectrum, as an explanation for some of his quirkiness when the Heads first began performing, and well as an explanation for the latter dissension in the band when Byrne took credit for most of their early success, and shut out Tina Weymouth and Chris Franz from royalties, as well as the song writing process.

As a late comer to Talking Heads ( probably around Fear of Music and Remain in Light ) it gave great insight into the artistic process of writing their material, learned from their long time producer Brian Eno, which involved the band playing the music/rhythms etc, and voicing gibberish over it until words/lyrics formed. I had seen an interview with Byrne discussing this writing style when discussing Burning down the House but was not aware that this song writing method had been going on for several albums. It was when the band moved away from Brian Eno that Byrne started writing material himself and shutting out the rest of the band that started the downfall of this ground breaking quartet ( later expanded during Stop Making Sense era ).

As much as I enjoyed the book, like the Heads material, it got a little tedious near the end. Gould's style of discussing the making of a record, followed by a chapter regarding the album itself and the public's reaction to same dragged on with the latter albums that were not as well received. I think even the author was tiring of the material from True Stories to Naked, and the various band members solo output.

A ,must read for any true Talking Heads fan, or even a fan of the punk/new wave bands from NYC and the CBGB era.

[Mike Sennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

And you may ask yourself, do I really want to read more than 400 pages about Talking Heads? I asked myself this, and as it turns out, I'm glad I decided yes. If nothing else, the book is a good counter-balance to Remain in Love: Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Tina, the 2020 memoir by Talking Heads drummer Chris Frantz. Here, the author makes it clear that although Byrne was prone to anti-social and self-centered behavior, Tina Weymouth also contributed to the dissension and bitterness that eventually broke up the band. At any rate, Gould's book provides an in-depth account of the band's art school roots and the scene around CBGBs that launched a number of successful punk and new-wave bands. The book delves into the creative process behind each Talking Heads album, with a cut-by-cut analysis (occasionally to the point of overkill) along with a summary of each album's critical reception. As the book winds down with the band's 1991 breakup and then eventual induction to the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, Gould argues that very few bands have had the "distinctive combination of talent, imagination, determination, and providential good luck to create a body of musical work that has not only stood apart, but has also stood the test of time." I agree with that assessment and even if you don't want to read about Talking Heads, I'd urge you to watch (or re-watch) their 1984 concert movie "Stop Making Sense" to appreciate what a great band they were.

[lentilsouplover · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars!
My only point of contention with the author (and it’s not a strong one) is over his insistence that the album/studio version of “Take Me To The River” is “objectively” better than the Stop Making Sense live version lol…
However, I wholeheartedly commend him for the way he handles Tina’s persistent, over-exaggerated, and malicious smear campaign against David Byrne— who, as far as I can tell, at least somewhat owns up to his wrongdoings!
Something I also found welcome was how Gould portrayed the mid-seventies NYC/CBGB music scene… completely shorn of the starry-eyed, worship-laden treatment that I was exposed to and succumbed to when I was a teenager (which left me gradually disillusioned each time I visited the city with former friends, one of whom was completely beholden to it (the city and its mythos) even in its current state. I have since grown and do not hold it to any high esteem whatsoever LMAO it is important for me to articulate this cuz right as I started reading the book I was afraid that that’s the image that would’ve been presented to me which would’ve turned me off from reading any further SO SHOUTOUT TO JONATHAN GOULD!!!!!!)

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked up this book since I was interested in learning more about Talking Heads and because I love a music biography, particularly one that claims to delve into the setting of 1970s New York. I was disappointed. This biographer spent a ton of real estate simply describing songs that Talking Heads wrote, in pages of technical detail. When I read the afterword and realized that no one from the band agreed to speak with him, this made more sense. This read like a fan fic account of Talking Heads but with none of the passion. It actually made me dislike Talking Heads more. I was expecting immersion into the era's music scene and instead got a list of tracks that the band produced, with the author's opinions on which ones were the best, and frequent defenses of David Byrne's occasionally bad behavior. Smh. Not for me.

[Ed Schmauder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent thorough bio of the Talking Heads.

Usually I wind up hating one of the musicians. I thought that was happening with Tina, but by the end I just found her sad and pathetic. In short: David (singer / guitar) and Chris (drums) wanted to start a band. They needed a bass player, so David taught Chris’s girlfriend Tina how to play bass. She hasn’t pursued music beyond the Talking Heads, she doesn’t write, she’s a mediocre bass player.

But she has a major chip on her shoulder, because while she got money and fame, she (understandably) never got any credit. So in her mind David is a villain.

Part of their issue is she is unwoke about his autism. For example, she says he is incapable of friendship, but here’s a thought: they weren’t friends. He treated her like an employee, which she was.

[Andy Weston · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a comprehensive, and I’ll stress that word, history of the band and its members; Gould’s research is impeccable as would be expected, and attends to every minor detail.
For that reason, it will be enjoyed only, I think, by fans of the band.

Amongst its strengths are that it delves into not just the group’s influences, and those that affected the Heads indirectly as well, so it works as a history of pop music from the mid-seventies and eighties also.

Something though that I found strange throughout, was that the author, Gould, is often quite critical of certain tracks, live performances and other aspects of the band’s internal dealings; far more so than you would expect a biographer to be.

I’ve listened to this on audiobook over the last month. So detailed it is, that it required some sticking with.. at times..

[Jon Pinter · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really like Talking Heads, however the author goes on tangents that are unrelated to the subject of the book and this annoyed me.

[V. Briceland · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although Jonathan Gould reached out repeatedly to all four members of the band Talking Heads for interviews and cooperation in writing his purportedly comprehensive overview of the band's career, they all declined. Rather than take no as an answer, Gould proceeded to stitch Burning Down the House: Talking Heads and the New York Scene that Transformed Rock from the likes of old Rolling Stone and Billboard articles, as well as occasional interviews with former confederates of the group.

The result is a dense overview of Talking Heads' career in the context of the burgeoning New Wave scene of New York City in the late 1970s and early 1980s, interspersed with the author's own fanboyish deep dives into every track on every Talking Heads album. While this might have been enough or even welcomed from a more neutral author, Gould is anything but objective in his assessments.

Gould's primary failing in this book is that on the schism between David Byrne and the rest of the band, he clearly aligns with Byrne. It's a bias made blatant late in the book's narrative when Gould declares that there is simply an 'aristocracy of talent' within Talking Heads, and that David Byrne is a clearly the group's sole genius while the other three yutzes should be grateful to be allowed on the ride. This, despite chapter after chapter of quotes from contemporary rock critics lauding all four of the band's members and contributions.

It almost seems as if Gould takes out his anger at the band members' refusals to participate as a personal slight, which he revenges by savaging anyone who isn't David Byrne. He seems offended that drummer Chris Frantz wanted to write a memoir of his own instead of giving his stories to Gould himself, and takes any opportunity he can to undermine the memoir's credibility. Any bad review of Jerry Harrison's solo albums Gould can dig up, he airs at length.

But bassist Tina Weymouth gets the worst of it. Throughout the band's history, Weymouth was always forthcoming about David Byrne's grandiose ambitions and his tendency to undermine and sideline the other Heads. In a suspicious, systemic manner, Gould discounts anything Weymouth might have to say. She's claimed throughout the years—substantiated by others and never denied by Byrne—that even after their first albums, Byrne attempted to make her re-audition for her spot in the band. Gould, however, shrugs his shoulders and claims she was 'mistaken' or even making the whole thing up. Then without any real evidence, he mansplains what Byrne must really have meant.

It's an insidious tactic of gaslighting, and one that's implemented throughout the rest of the book. Whenever Weymouth dares air a grievance—which strikes this reader as a gutsy move for a lone female pioneer in a rock band in that era—Gould never hesitates to comment that her words are 'condescending' or 'patronizing' or that they sound like the self-righteous prattle of a Connecticut housewife. Gould constantly dismisses Weymouth and Frantz's achievements as Tom Tom Club; he even questions the spin-off band's relationship to street music—despite "Genius of Love" being enormously influential throughout decades of hiphop and probably having a larger legacy than any single Talking Heads song.

Other women get the short shrift from Gould, too. Despite his tendency to accompany any male collaborator or contributor to Talking Heads with a multi-paragraph mini-biography, when the late, great singer/songwriter Kirsty MacColl appears as a participant in the recording of the Heads' last album, Naked, she's described only as producer Steve Lilliwhite's wife. That's it. Just the male producer's wife.

It's around the point of Gould's eye-rolling 'aristocracy of genius' profession that Gould betrays his one-way-street vision of how the band should have progressed, despite its differences: Weymouth, Frantz, and Harrison should have been more sympathetic to Byrne, less vocal, attempted to overcome their snotty, uppity privileges to coddle the poor genius who lacked the college degrees they all had. (Never mind that Byrne had dropped out of the same college as Weymouth and Frantz because he thought he was too good for it.)

Though he writes from a stance of alleged journalistic neutrality, Gould makes the error of taking sides in an argument that simply doesn't involve him. Thus Byrne's justifications and explanations become gospel; anything Frantz and Harrison have to say are unreliable or mistaken. When Weymouth dares opens her yap, she's portrayed as a shrewish no-talent woman with an axe to grind. The many mistreatments of others in which Byrne indulges throughout the years—stealing credits from collaborators, abandoning loved ones, leaving a turd in a hotel bed with a note reading 'For the maid'—Gould excuses as the cute little quirks of Asperger's that should be excused of a genius.

The problem is, as we've seen too many times throughout the years, most recently with Neil Gaiman, creating a culture of apology and protection around a genius can sometimes allow their abuse to flourish. Victim-blaming, in 2025, isn't a good look. Nor is omitting material that might cast a hero in a bad light, as Gould does when he deliberately makes an authorial decision not to mention the mid-80s interviews Byrne conducted while in blackface.

There's ample blame and praise to spread to all members of the band, here. But by discounting the words of the many casualties Byrne has left in his wake, by characterizing anyone who speaks up against him as mistaken or as a liar or as someone not kind and charitable enough to prostrate themselves before Byrne's talent, Gould creates a wildly uneven paean to his hero, perhaps—but not the journalistic record he would have you believe.

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the plus side, hats off to Gould for telling the band's story within the context of the other emerging east coast artists of the day. The early days of Talking Heads coincided with my college years, so for me this was an enjoyable trip back to that time. On the slightly negative side, Gould devotes many pages to demonstrating his knowledge of music criticism in general and the songs in particular; you'd need to be a real TH nerd to instantly recall every song on every album that he mentions. I kept YouTube handy while I read, just to jog my memory.

[Riana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative! Gould does go a bit long on certain topics, especially early on, but the rock history and history of the band and its members is very thorough and well researched. I learned a ton of new and interesting information. Gould also dives into the albums and their songs, sometimes broadly and sometimes very deeply, so that was cool to see too, although I read many of the songs differently than Gould does, even with the context.

[Roger · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thorough documentation of very interesting times and a very interesting and influential band.
I would have enjoyed this book twice as much if it was half as long.

Put the analysis of each and every song in an appendix for starters.

[Jessica Bernier · Rating 1 out of 5]

In case you were wondering The Beatles were the greatest band ever. With no first person interviews with the band, I never got a sense of who they were as individuals and who they were as a band. Also, The Beatles are the greatest band ever. The description seemed to indicate that a history of the New York scene would be interwoven into the making of the band, but that was lackluster with the very few details reading as they were thrown in as an afterthought. The Beatles are the greatest band ever. And every chapter referenced how great The Beatles were, at times there were multiple pages written about them.

[Alex Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Talking Heads career seems like it was an uneasy tension between keeping Byrne interested on one hand and the rest of them on the other. I guess it isn’t shocking that Byrne could be an awkward guy to be in charge of your band.
Want to feel old? They broke up 25 years ago!!

[Cooper Renner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comprehensive and interesting.

[Nico · Rating 3 out of 5]

Releasing a book in 2025 and choosing to ignore all recent research to call autism “Asperger Syndrome”, and even quote Arperger himself, is ridiculously absurd.

[Ms. Warren · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 15%: I found this title on a best of list but I'm realizing it probably was one with a similar name and not this exact one. It stated even people who weren't fans of The Talking Heads would enjoy it. That was false: I was so bored.

[Bernard Laugen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.35

[Lulu Levy · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Byrne seems pleasant. I'd like to look at an emotion wheel with him.

[R.]

Reminded how in college we had some Grateful Dead fans at the end of the corridor, so we put up signs their direction that read Dead Heads and a sign in our direction that read Talking Heads

[Edison Forman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Talking Heads (not *The* Talking Heads) have been my favorite group for several years now, so I was excited to read a full biography on the eve of the band's 50th. While I have some quibbles on how the narrative progresses, and at times the tone, I did come away with a stronger idea of Talking Heads as both a group and the four people who comprised it. There's a lot to learn and enjoy for fans, but I'm not sure how entertained non-fans will be unless they're just crazy about new wave.

The book does an especially good job of placing the band in the context of the burgeoning punk and new wave movements and demonstrating what made it so unique. You get a sense of who each of these people were before they came together, which informs both their relationship to each other and the music they create together. As someone who knew the broad strokes of the four members but knew far more about David Byrne than Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth, and Jerry Harrison, I appreciate that this book wasn't fully the David Byrne show.

Some gripes: the author's mini-review of every song on each Talking Heads album felt unnecessary. Reviewing and analyzing the entire back catalogue could take up an entire book, so in most cases spending a paragraph or less didn't allow much room for real depth. These detours at times took away from the narrative momentum as well, though I'd allow that a middle ground of focusing on the most significant songs (Psycho Killer, Once in a Lifetime, etc.) with more depth might have worked better for me.

Anyone familiar with Talking Heads is probably aware of the interpersonal ... difficulties, so I wasn't surprised that this was a major throughline, nor was I surprised at the author's description of David Byrne as an artist and as a (difficult) man. Some of what's said about the other three members though, even if I don't doubt the accuracy of it, struck me as a little harsh in tone. Now biographies are difficult in this way because you want to allow for colorful writing and not "just the facts, ma'am," but at times it went too far for me in how the others were described.

Lastly, the author interweaves the Heads' story with that of New York City in the 1970s and 1980s, but that fell a little flat for me. That's not to say New York isn't important as a setting for the band's development, but that much of what was written didn't feel necessary for creating that context.

Overall it was an enjoyable and informative read that was admirably far from hagiography, even if that's almost to a fault. It's a great read for Talking Heads fans who may not know everything about its history.

[Jason Hamlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok. But since no band members participated, it turned into “Let me tell you why David Byrne is great and the other three sucked.”

[Nathan Phillips · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the perfect moment in time for a truly exhaustive biography of Talking Heads to be published. Having become a fan in the late 1990s as a teenager, I can remember how intensely I related to them, how impressed and enchanted I was by their consistent restlessness and the exuberance of the "entity" that they were -- they were probably the band that meant the most to me in high school after R.E.M. -- and also how completely forgotten it felt like they were in the larger culture then. Today, that simply couldn't be more different. Take Stop Making Sense, for example; while the film's reputation never suffered in the college rock and cinephile subcultures, what once nonetheless felt like a tiny piece of the past ripe for discovery now seems like something universally acknowledged as the best time you can possibly have at the movies. And the Heads' ever-younger base of fans made the various rumors in the past few years about a potential reunion almost feverish in their intensity. It really feels like, despite the popularity and acclaim they achieved during their lifespan, Talking Heads are a band of the 2020s rather than a band of the 1970s-80s. Largely that's due to David Byrne's ethos and barbed lyricism simply being far ahead of their time, but that's not the bulk of it or else Ray Davies, who remains pretty much strictly a cult figure these days, would be mentioned in the same breath. Rather, it's both the democratic fusion of cultures and the absolute joy located in that sensation of musical and rhythmic omnivorousness that have made them the key American band of the punk era, and the one that feels most continuously fresh.

Jonathan Gould certainly does have a decent grasp on the appeal of the band, and his careful track-by-track analyses of each of their albums are the highlight of the text, but he's unable to stick the landing on this book, which is ultimately a disappointment that reveals little in terms of concrete insight. It isn't the tabloid hit piece that prior books about Talking Heads apparently were -- apart from Chris Frantz's memoir, which is pretty rough, I've avoided them all myself due to their reputation among fans -- but it's also clearly a book that rejects any real notion of the Heads as a democratic unit with real interplay. Like many others before him, Gould massively favors Byrne as the key figure of the group at the expense of the others even as he criticizes the rock press of the '80s for doing the same. Maybe that is a valid enough opinion, but it constantly feels like there's more to the story that we're not getting, or else the band wouldn't have plugged away as long as it did. To hear Gould tell it, the group was overcome with mutual animosity almost from the beginning, and it's interesting that one of the most public demonstrations of harmony within the band, their 1979 episode of The South Bank Show, is decried by Gould as "banal." He's far more interested in delving into Byrne's placement on the autism spectrum, but I don't think he fully wrestles with the degree to which this may have informed Byrne's writing. Byrne's early and even, sometimes, later) lyrics are engaging and humorous in their otherworldly fascination with and deconstruction of civilized society, but also may express an actual rather than just cultivated sense of alienation. In other words, the great and profound conflict in Byrne's work is that he's playing a character, and yet he isn't, and I think Byrne himself gets much of his traction as an artist from toying with that dynamic. Experiencing his work and the Heads' music again while reading the book, I couldn't help feeling like the book doesn't even touch how enlightening and mysterious the music itself is, including Byrne's writing itself but also the musical relationships that allow him to tell his stories.

The underlying issue may simply be that I disagree with Gould about a lot of things about music in general, and thus the book simply isn't for me. (Context: I found his Beatles biog to be a bore overall, again apart from his musicological insights, and specifically quite shockingly regressive in its attitude toward Yoko Ono, but he would surely accuse me of being one of the pretentious art school types who thinks Ono's art and music are wonderful, which I am and which I do, though I didn't go to art college, or any college.) He can barely conceal his contempt for the other bands in the New York punk scene while also crowing about what he considers the poor musicianship of scene progenitors the Velvet Underground and the New York Dolls, which to me as someone who reveres those bands to an almost religious extent is a rather dramatic missing of the point. He advances -- then doesn't really follow up on -- an argument that the CBGB universe's impact was overstated, a phenomenon created and managed by a handful of rock writers, and while this has some root in a claim that Greil Marcus made in the '70s, that New York journalists broadly believe that everything that matters in the world happens in New York, I think it's a short-sighted way of tracking the influence and, more importantly, the inherent power of the original punk bands. I can hardly believe that a book carrying the subtitle this one has would expend so little energy on a band as impressive and integral as Television, and based on what I've heard and read from people who were regulars at CBGB during the Heads' time as a staple act there, I think branding it all as a purely theoretical phenomenon is short-sighted and, frankly, suggests a degree of professional jealousy. (Gould was a working musician during the era the book documents.)

The thing that I can't forgive, though, is the section in which Gould draws a line from a famous New Yorker cover, separating the rest of the United States -- "flyover country," as it were -- from New York City as a primordial "other" of sorts, to the lyrical content of "The Big Country," which I believe is (a) Byrne's masterpiece as a lyricist (b) Talking Heads' best song (c) possibly the greatest ballad in rock & roll. Speaking as a kid from the middle of nowhere who longed to be in New York where things were happening, "The Big Country" is cathartic because of the alienation from suburban normalcy it documents, but to claim as Gould does that it ends there is completely, in my view, to misread the song, whose last verse and descent afterward into nonsense portrays a man's frustration at his displacement from all notion of "home," family, society. When he sings "I want to be somewhere," I never took it to mean "I want to be back in Bohemia," I took it to mean, I'm insanely jealous of people who know where they want to be and feel good about being there -- which is also the (far less succinctly expressed) theme behind True Stories several years later -- hence the rage and confusion at the core of the "goo-goo-ga-ga-ga" coda. Like Davies in "Waterloo Sunset," or Brian Wilson in "In My Room," Byrne gives vent to a private psychodrama here, one that contains every unrequited need to belong. I was extremely irritated by the characterization of the song by Gould as merely an elitist anthem about New York's superiority over all else. (He recounts that Tina Weymouth later called it "mean-spirited," which may accidentally do more to back up the argument that the rest of the band didn't quite understand Byrne's themes than any of the book's actual text.) I fully accept that this may be unfair on my part, but there's so little new information of note in the entire second half of the book that I don't feel like I'd have been missing out had I simply put it down at that point.

(Ironically, I think that if Gould simply wrote one of those "song by song" guides to the band's output instead of attempting a bio, this might've been pretty good -- so long as you skipped the section on "The Big Country"!)

[Django Laić · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jonathan Gould 'Burning Down the House: Talking Heads and the New York Scene That Transformed Rock' - spaljeno obećanje

Pišući o recentnom reizdanju drugog albuma Talking Headsa, "More Songs About Buildings and Food" spomenuli smo pedesetu obljetnicu ovog ključnog američkog new wave benda u sklopu kojega je između ostalog objavljena i njihova biografija "Burning Down the House" podnaslovljena "Talking Heads and the New York Scene That Transformed Rock" Jonathan Gould, novinar čeasopisa The New Yorker, pruža detaljni pogled na petnaestogodišnju karijeru ovog sastava započete 1975. na pozornici kluba CBGB('s) koju su dijelili s izvođačima i bendovima kao što su Television, Patti Smith i Ramones u formativnom razdoblju punka.

Upravo to razdoblje najbolje je opisano u Gouldovoj knjizi i to ne samo iz perspektive glazbene scene, već u širem pogledu na New York sedamdesetih koji se nalazi u upravljačkoj krizi, s ulicama zatrpanim smećem i serijskim ubojicom kasnije poznatim pod imenom Son of Sam koji napada slučajne žrtve, što će koincidirati i s prvim singlom Talking Headsa, "Psycho Killer". Tu su i nedavno izgrađeni tornjevi World Trade Centera koji će postati poprištem za razne častohlepne performere koji će ga koristiti za točke poput hoda po žici između njegovih zgrada, skok s padobranom i penjanje po njegovim zidovima.

Za to vrijeme studenti likovne akademije na Rhode Islandu, bubnjar Chris Frantz i njegova djevojka, basistica Tina Weymouth udružit će snage sa pjevačem Davidom Byrneom čije će neobičnost kasnije biti dijagnosticirana kao oblik Aspergerovog sindroma, poremećaja iz spektra autizma, a trio će svoju paranoičnu glazbu izvoditi statično i u stilu koji namjerno odbacuje teatralnost i pretenziju tadašnjeg "korporativnog rocka", na tragu jednog od svojih suvremenika i ranih uzora, otkačenog štreberskog tipa Jonathana Richmana čijeg će klavijaturista Jerryja Harrisona ubro uposliti da zaokruži ono što će postati poznato kao "klasična postava" Talking Headsa.

Kako bend otvara svoju diskografiju s prvim albumam "Talking Heads: 77", Gould će svoju knjigu pretvoriti u tipičnu biografiju u kojoj se drži gustog rasporeda izbacivanja po jedne ploče godišnje i uglavnom koncipirati poglavlja tako da prate nastanak svakog albuma, da bi uslijedila neka vrsta opisa pjesmu po pjesmu, a zatim i kratko praćenje koncertnih aktivnosti i reakcije na objavljeno. "Burning Down the House" ovdje gubi dio svoje privlačnosti koju je imalo kad se više bavilo vanjskim aspektima vremena i prostora koji su djelovali na bend.

Ostatak priče fanovima će biti poznat, od suradnje s Brianom Enom započete na drugoj ploči, do njenog prekida nakon što su on i Byrne autorski preoteli kormilo od ostatka benda (Gould kaže da su kao umjetnici jedan iz drugoga izvlačili ono najbolje, a kao ljudi ono najgore), što će kulminirati njihovim nekolegijalnim preuzimanjem zasluga na klasiku "Remain in Light" gdje su njihova imena upisana u prvome planu, a što će u nastavku karijere sve više smetati ostale članove i proširivati rascjep u kojemu će se naći s frontmenom u kojega će biti usmjerene oči javnosti.

Kruna toga doći će kad profil u New York Timesu za koji su mislili da će biti o bendu bude posvećen samo Byrneu, nakon čega će uslijediti i njegovo pojavljivanje na naslovnici časopisa Time. No, kako Gould poentira, njihovo nezadovoljstvo je temeljeno u tome da oni nisu bili u stanju osvijestiti ono što je cijelom ostatku svijeta dotad već postalo jasno, a to je da David djeluje na "sasvim drugačijoj razini talenta, ambicije i imaginacije" nego ostatak benda.

Uostalom, to će se biti i plastično dokazano kad Tina i Chris sa svojim vlastitim projektom Tom Tom Club ne postignu mnogo više od jednog hita, a da ni ne spominjemo Harrisonov izlet u solo vode. No, Gouldova antipatija prema njihovom radu izvan matičnog benda graniči s nepristojnošću. "Pravo je čudo da nisu načuli ništa o pisanju pjesama radeći deset godina s Davidom Byrneom," piše tako na jednom mjestu.

Ipak, nemoguće je ne primjetiti Gouldov negativan stav prema gotovo svakom glazbeniku o kojemu piše u svojoj knjizi, a često pretjarano kritizira bilo talent ili narav svakog od članova Talking Headsa. Ti slojevi žući nakupljaju se prema kraju knjige u toj mjeri da se moramo upitati zašto ih mora biti toliko. Ljudi poput nas koji pišu u glazbi obično su pogonjeni svojom ljubavlju prema pjesmama i njihovim autorima i pokušavaju opisati genij koji stoji iza njih.

Za razliku od toga, kod Goulda često dobivamo samo neosnovanu kritiku, kako onih izvođača koji su mu glavna tema knjige, tako i drugih veličina, između ostalih i jednog Velvet Undergrounda koji kritizira kao "pretenciozne hipstere" s nagnućem prema "ironiji i amoralnosti", a samo bi netko s ograničenim shvaćanjem njihove glazbe mogao biti u stanju svesti jedan takav bend na ovakvu opasku. (S druge strane Violent Femmes opisuje kao "Velvet Undergrounds acolytes with a sideline in Christianity", što je vjerojatno najbezvezniji opis ovog benda ikad zapisan na papir.)

"Burning Down the House" tako ostaje knjiga koja je izdala svoje gusto tkano obećanje pogleda na vrijeme, mjesto i okolnosti koje su manifestirale Talking Heads kao jedno od glavnih imena novog glazbenog pokreta i njujorške scene koju zaziva u naslovu, e da bi je brzo u potpunosti smetnuo s uma. Sve to Gould ispušta u korist linearnog prezentiranja njihovog puta i konačnog raspleta, točnije primitka u Kuću slavnih rock and rolla, uz codu koja se kratko osvrće na Byrneov projekt "American Utopia".

Autor onome što bi mu trebalo biti najbitnije, a to je dohvaćanje dosega talenta Talking Headsa, dolazi rijetko, a možda mu je najbliže kad opisuje njihov rad s Jonathanom Demmejem na "Stop Making Sense", vjerojatno najboljem koncertnom filmu svih vremena. Vjerujem da ova knjiga na većini svojih ostalih petstotinjak stranica ni upućenim obožavateljima niti znatiželjnicima u konačnici neće imati za ponuditi onoliko koliko je mogla.

(Mariner Books, tvrdi uvez, 512 stranica, 2025.)

[James F · Rating 2 out of 5]

How is a book about one of the most internally contentious bands of that era so boring?

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to both NetGalley and Mariner Books for an advance copy of this biography and history of a band that merged, art, design, lyrics and diverse musical influences to create a band whose influence is still being name checked today.

I went to school with a kid who I won't name, for I am sure that he must be on the Top Ten Most Wanted lists of at least a few countries, as he was very much like his father. The father in question had everything, before anyone else. Supermax players, betamax VHS, laserdisc players from Japan, components for stereos one only saw in movies. TVs literally as in plural tvs that projected, filled walls and seemed out of Star Trek. Also, he had movies that weren't even written about in magazine yet. Not all of them, but enough. And it was here that I saw a movie that looking back had much more of an influence on me than I thought. This was a concert movie, from a band I think I might have heard of called The Talking Heads. The movie was Stop Making Sense, and it blew my mind. This was probably my first understanding that music and art could make something magical. Most of my music was AM radio, Columbia Record and Tape bought. Now in thinking about it, this could some synapses to fire in my brain, making me a different person at the end. I have met a lot of fans of the band, but most of what we know is rumor, misinformation, or down right lies. They were there, they broke up, and never really got back. After reading this all encompassing book, I understand a lot more. Burning Down the House: Talking Heads and the New York Scene That Transformed Rock by music historian and writer Jonathan Gould is a look at the band, the history and what was happening around them that formed and guide these four people into making magic together, and why it all went away.

The book begins with a look at New York City, a wretched hive and scum and villainy that it was in the 1970's. The city was teetering on the brink of collapse, but offered an enviroment for those who dared to create something new. Maybe it was there own lives, maybe it was art, maybe it was both. New ways of looking at music, were catching on, maybe you couldn't play an instrument, but if one looked cool doing it, one could have a following. Into this stepped a three piece at the time, a band that spent as much time working on how they looked and acted on stage, as how to play it. The band was Martina Michèle Weymouth, better known as Tina, Chris Frantz, and David Byrne, later joined by Jerry Harrison. The book than looks back at the members, discussing their births, influences, and how they came together. Art school was the cauldron that brought them together, something that would be reflected in their work and music that was yet to come. CBGB's was their start, and slowly with a few hiccups, and the addition of the last member the band began to grow. They came at a time when punk was big, but video killed the radio star, something a band that prized their visuals so much were able to overcome and thrive in the MTV medium. However as with a lot of bands, tensions, credits, and attitudes soon overwhelmed the music, and the band broke apart into solo careers for them all.

Gould looks not only at the band, but the scene, with a major character being the city of New York. Gould looks at a lot of other things also, the changes in the industry, video rise of radio, movie deals, health issues and much more. One gets a very good sense of everything that was going on with this band, one that has eluded quite a lot of other writers. This is a warts and all tale, with most of these rock heroes acting human, claiming credit were undeserved, and where there are a few contrary stories, Gould tries to get to the truth. If he can't, well he prints the legends that people have said over the years. Gould is a very good writer and covers the band, the the many other side characters, well. This is a complete book, but moves fast. I learned a lot about various subjects that seemed odd to mention, but really fit the narrative, and made the band members seem real. A rare music book that really gets to the heart of the music and the players, without being a hagiography.

Fans of the band will learn quite a bit, as well as people interested in music during the 70's and 80's. This is a very well done study, about a band that even today not many people know a lot about, though they can remember the songs. I can' wait to read what Jonathan Gould has planned next.

[Chris Jaffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty good overview of Talking Heads (fun fact: no "the" in the band name. I've been getting it wrong for decades). It's especially strong in the early years when they first got established. Once they start making records, the book falls into a big of a pattern/trap of noting how they made an album, an analysis of each song on the album, touring/support promotion of the album, then on to the next album. You do get some commentary on the band members, but overal it is rather bloodless. To be fair, Gould really knows music and gives some very solid analysis of the songs. It's no surprise at all the find out he's a former professional musician himself.

As for the members, a lot of the commentary on David Byrne is filtered through his self-diagnosis of being on the spectrum. It does help make sense of his lyrics and personal awkwardness around people. This makes relationships hard for him and people around him, as they often feel he's more studying them then relating to them. This becomes a theme for internal band tension, especially later on. That said, a lot of band tension is that Byrne gets attention as a rock genius, clearly seems to buy into it to some extent. He'd sometimes puruse his own interests to the detriment of the band, which his limitations in social interaction didn't help. Byrne's social interaction improved, but there was increased separation from the others due to everything else. Ultimately, a lot of the band tension was just the natural course of things.

Chris Frantz comes off as Captain Vanilla. He's going to college during the height of student protest but he's personally oblivious to all that. They're touring Europe with the Ramones and Johnny Ramone is being an obnoxious dick to everyone, but all Franz remembers is what a fun time it was. There is some awkward tension at their Hall of Fame performance, but Frantz just remembers how nice everyone nice. Gould even calls his drumming very solid, very professional, and very unimaginative.

Tina Weymouth is the person with the most issues with Byrne. Gould notes that even early on in their band interviews, she had a tendancy to chastise Byrne, talking down to him as if he was a bad child. The standard storyline would be star becomes spoiled and leaves everyone behind, but it's not so simple as that. You can see why Weymouth and others find Byrne frustrating, but she comes off poorly, too. Late in the book are a pair of quotes from her in the 1990s where she indicates she clearly realizes that some of Bryne's social issues stem from him being on the spectrum - but then clearly sees that as a moral/personal failing on Byrne's part. Yikes.

Then there's Jerry Harrison. He is to Talking Heads what John Paul Jones was the Led Zeppelin. Harrison is a very talented multi-instrumentalist who stays so far out of any band drama that it's hard to get any real read on his personality.

Musically, Talking Heads began as a spare, stripped down band sticking to their basics, but with an obvious artist bent. They evolve into an interest in Afrobeats. They partner with Brian Eno who encourages them to develop songs out of jams instead of coming in with any pre-planned songs. It appears the band peaked with Stop Making Sense. They're next two albums were more conventional; arguably the most conventional music they ever made. The end with Naked, which Gould likes more than I do, and he doesn't like it much at all.

I listened to all of their albums when reading this. I think Little Creatures and True Stories are underrated, but I can see why they are less critically acclaimed. I'd go with Speaking in Tongues as their best, and then maybe More Songs About Buildings and Food. As for Naked ... aside from not liking it much, the damn thing doesn't even sound like a Talking Heads album.