Fa Fa Fa Fa Fa Fa : The Adventures of 'Talking Heads' in the 20th Century

by David Bowman

Talking Heads have achieved the status of rock legends. With unforgettable hits including "Take Me to the River", "Burning Down the House" and "Psycho Killer", and a Hollywood film of their live performances, the band, formed in New York, 1970, have always been musical pioneers. Their ground-breaking fusion of different influences and styles - rock, funk, ska, reggae, country, Afro-Brazilian rhythms - combined with the relentlessly hip lead singer David Byrne has curiously afforded Talking Heads mainstream success. In "FA FA FA FA FA FA" David Bowman charts the early years, the worldwide success and eventual acrimonious break-up of the band. With unprecedented access to the original members the book is teaming with incident, rock personalities and fascinating musical insights capturing one of the most charismatic and individual groups of the twentieth century.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Biography, History, Art, Biography Memoir

416 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2001

Reviews

[Paul Bryant · Rating 2 out of 5]

Original, unpredictable, a nearly perfect career, 8 studio albums and 2 live albums, only one clunker (True Stories), but two masterpieces (More Songs about Buildings and Food, Speaking in Tongues). Plus one great film, Stop Making Sense directed by Jonathan Demme.

Another great thing about Talking Heads : when they were gone, they were gone. They didn’t keep coming back.

This book is catty, gossipy, eyerollingly smirky, arch, knowing, waggish, spiteful, namedropping and borderline insufferable, and confirms that probably the least you know about your musical favourites the better.

My Top Ten

1. Nothing But Flowers
2. Listening Wind
3. Found a Job
4. Once in a Lifetime
5. Girlfriend is Better
6. Life During Wartime
7. Thank You for Sending me an Angel
8. Cool Water
9. Television Man
10. Making Flippy Floppy

Inspirational lyric:

I see the states, across this big nation
I see the laws made in Washington D.C
I think of the ones I consider my favorites
I think of the people that are working for me

[Ian Mathers · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a maddening book to read and to try and evaluate; Bowman has clearly had some really in-depth, fascinating interviews with band members (Byrne and Weymouth in particular, although the latter gets stuck with consistently and annoyingly bad-faith framing throughout the book), and especially during the first parts of the band's career he does a good job of situating their music in what was actually going on in NYC at the time (and not just music). So why did I kind of hate this book?

Part of it isn't Bowman's fault; it's always depressing to have bands you love be humanized, and most of the people depicted here don't come off too well (Frantz and to some extent Harrison are the exceptions). But most of it is on him. Anyone who writes bullshit like (I'm paraphrasing) "nobody actually knows what postmodernism is" or "Robbe-Grillet is unreadable" isn't just expressing opinions that some readers might disagree with; by making these opinions unshakeable expressions of "fact" Bowman weakens everything else he says for any readers who, for example, have read and enjoyed Robbe-Grillet (I haven't, but some of his asinine pronouncements about noise music or pop had the same effect).

This Must Be the Place starts well, but by the back half of the book I was struggling to keep going, mainly persisting because the interview material was still fascinating. Bowman's tone gets more and more snide and judgmental as he goes, and it's safe to say we don't agree about how and why Talking Heads are great (very little on Remain in Light but a song-by-song breakdown of Little Creatures? Really?). That latter fact shouldn't be a problem - there are plenty of music writers I love that don't like the same stuff I do - but Bowman's hipper-than-thou rockist sneer makes it a major problem.

[Debra Komar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Absolutely love the Talking Heads but can't say the same about this book. 2.5 stars, rounded up.

Apparently the entire history of the TH can be summed up by saying: "David Byrne is a talented genius who is also an asshole and the other members of the band resent it." Tina W.'s obsession/hatred/love of Byrne is rehashed time and again. Is it jealous or unrequited love? After 400 pages, I no longer care.

This isn't so much a chronology as a collection of quotes, mostly from other interviews, pasted together in a rough time line. Most of the quotes come from Byrne, because he was the only one journalists were interested in talking to. I have to admit, as much as I love the Heads, I couldn't have named the other three people in the band.

What this book does well is capture the New York art scene in the 70s. That's not the subject of the book, but it makes for the most interesting reading in it.

The Heads deserve a serious biography, one that traces their influences and growth. This book isn't it but hopefully someone will write one in the future.

[Ryan · Rating 1 out of 5]

A lesson in how NOT to write a biography if you hope to have any of your readers actually finish the book: One morning in 1973, Tina had a bowl of cereal. Later that year, she started RISD (pronounced rizz-dee). Suuuuuuuuuuuck.

[Jason Coleman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think the idea here is that, just as Talking Heads' concert film was no ordinary rock movie, this book will not be your typical rock biography. The author is a novelist, not a music journalist. This implies a labor-of-love undertaking, but somehow Bowman never quite communicates to us the source of his obsession with the music, and he does not come close to capturing the mystique the Heads generated in their remarkable 1977-1981 run. From the first pages he seeks to distance himself from other, more proletariat rock bios by affecting a breezy hipster's tone and allowing himself to speculate on his subjects' thoughts in ways that a more sober biographer, or even a hack rock writer, probably would not. But I find Bowman an average psychologist at best. The absence of a strong critical or psychological sensibility often reduces even this admittedly rich selection of inside info to merely a string of anecdotes.

And yet, the book is essential reading for all serious fans of Talking Heads for a simple reason: Bowman had access to the entire band and their entourage, and they told him a lot. For its raw material alone, the book is a trove. It also does achieve a certain heft. We can see David Byrne's overextension and the band's slowdown conspiring to wreck the whole thing. The final years are the scene of much hubris--once the smartest band on the planet, the Heads eventually succumbed to industry pitfalls and infighting not much more exotic than the sort that drove, say, Whitesnake apart--and even this imperfect book manages to capture some of the tragic dimension placed in the palm of its hand.

[Jeremy Hornik · Rating 3 out of 5]

I used to love the Talking Heads so much. Then at some point I couldn't bear the pretensions. Then I would hear "Life During Wartime" and I would love them all over again. And I would also realize it was my own pretensions I hated. Me and the Talking Heads... it's complicated.

Anyways.

I realized recently that the Talking Heads were never ever getting back together, and I didn't know why. I imagined there must have been some reasons, and maybe some good, trashy stories. So I wanted to read a book, and this seemed like the best one.

It's not bad. It's kind of flatly written, and there's too much "That day the Challenger blew up" kind of stuff in it, and periodically it offers up some really stupid sentence that makes you wonder why you bothered, but generally it's all right. It tells the story, mostly a kind of musical tango between Byrne and Weymouth, who even as a teenager I knew were the coolest. All their best stuff came from the collaboration between the four of them. And when they couldn't collaborate anymore, the band was done.

There's a kind of magic in collaboration that makes art richer and stronger. But it has to be a real collaboration. If one person is leading with assistants, it loses something.

I guess what makes a great band is not the strengths of the members, but their flaws, and the willingness of the others to help shore them up in the service of the art. And as a group evolves, this gradually becomes unsustainable, as either success or failure will change the relative status of the different group members. Well, I'm glad they recorded it all. And I'm also glad I basically ignored all this history and just listened to the music for so long. There's a lot of cocaine and a lot of self-satisfaction but no major betrayals, no real trashiness. Just a collaboration that worked, until it didn't.

PS Someone's got to make Tina Weymouth into a movie character. She sounds like a... complicated and strong personality.

[Georgette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. A gut-twisting biography of one of music's most unique acts. You always knew David Byrne was a little strange- THIS just proves it. It also proves that the backdrop of some of the band's best music was fraught with anxiety, acrimony, and swift dissension, but that it fed the nucleus of talent that was The Talking Heads. The author does a fantastic job trying to be objective in the war of words between Weymouth and Byrne (and it's mostly Weymouth. Be warned, reader). Frantz is squarely in his wife's corner, and Harrison does his best to remain a character of neutrality (a job largely rendered impossible due to the forces of evil in this bozo nightmare). The music and the force of the characters involved in the beginning, middle, and end of the Talking Heads get their due, and what you didn't know before... you certainly will after reading this all-encompassing biography. No shortage of information or inspiration, especially the auspices of the much admired and yet maligned (Weymouth again) Brian Eno. The background information on all of the Heads is pretty extensive and some of it eye opening (David Byrne's avante-garde performance arts days, Weymouth and Frantz's being army brats, Harrison's love of producing from the get-go). No stone is left unturned here, and that's the type of music biography that should be out there these days. Instead, many of them are just a lot of polish. What happened to the good old spit n' shine? This book belongs in that category. Bowman does a fantastic job of interviewing all parties in the story, and presenting an unsullied story for those who are true fans of this band. I am glad that I got ahold of this out-of-print copy and read it. The only thing that drove me nuts was the constant posturing throughout that much of the animosity on Tina Weymouth's part toward David Byrne was because of her unrequited love for him. True or false, overall, it really didn't have to be done to death in this book, and seriously, it is. That's the only reason I didn't give it a full five star review. Otherwise, it's a thorough, well researched, and obviously Bowman is a huge fan, but it doesn't taint the good, the bad, and the ugly story that was The Talking Heads. Thankfully, we now have a biography out there to match the vast catalog of music they left when they finally broke up. Everyone who's a fan should get ahold of a copy and read this book.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to hate this. Pretentious art school drop-outs, the egos, the drugs...Shit, I could even blame the writing: contrived, like he was trying to create more of a story by the threads of other interviews, the babble and the theories... And while I have been really really wanting to hate this, Ive also been wanting to hear it, to really listen to and hear every album...Remain In Light, Speaking In Tongues, Stop Making Sense, More Stories About Buildings And Food, 77. And there was the turnaround. I love this band, and I think I love it for the back story and also knowing the theory about what a dick Brian Eno was/is (though he did write St. Elmos Fire one of the best songs ever-and not from the goddamn 80s movie) and also the self conscious waif that is Tina Weymouth...and the womanizer/producer that loves Milwaukee that is Jerry Harrison. Because of this conflict: I love the music, hate the people and the story behind the music, love the people for what they are...people. I wont change my rating on it, but I will say this: Remain in Light (featuring Brian Eno) is a fine fine record.

[Bill Thorness · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun summer read, taking me back to when I discovered New Wave music in my college years. Talking Heads was my favorite band, and David Byrne continues to be one of my favorite musicians. The writer's got a rock-and-roll attitude, and I appreciate him giving his opinion along with the historical background on the band. The early history of the Heads prior to their first album release was most fascinating to me, but the story of how each album came to be was equally enjoyable.

[Alexander · Rating 2 out of 5]

A struggle to read, not because of poor writing, but because of the utterly horrible protagonists.

[Jeanne Thornton · Rating 3 out of 5]

:( what did tina weymouth DO to this author

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bleh. As a person who was single-digits-aged when Talking Heads was active but only discovered their work in recent months, I was really hoping for something that would give me background and a decent narrative about them. I didn't know a lot about the band beyond the studio albums I had listened to, after all. Instead, this book's author became sort of a fifth character as I read—an unwanted one. He often sounded like he was trying to prove himself as hip to readers, and I tired of it pretty early on.

He seemed to revel in Jerry Harrison being a "ladies' man," yet I noticed almost every woman mentioned in the book is described negatively—worst of all Tina Weymouth, who is seemingly the villain of the piece. In one short chapter where Toni Basil's career is described with her Talking Heads video work, I found myself disagreeing with how he was describing factual information. One of the videos in question I had just watched on YouTube the day before—did his description of this video suffer because YouTube hadn't been invented when this book was being written, or was it yet more authorial judgment? This called into question nearly everything else he describes in the book, to my mind.

Individuals from NYC's art scene appear throughout the book, for a variety of reasons. Philip Glass and Robert Wilson turn up frequently (yay!), because David Byrne later works with the latter. There are other artists and RISD peers who turn up throughout as well, but I'm not sure all that many of the details are important to the story—and at 400+ pages, a bit more fat could have been trimmed. The author regularly refers to Moments in Bob Dylan History, presuming his readers all know what those moments are about, but then feels it necessary to point out how important MTV was to music in the 1980s. Hrm. Is there anyone reading a book about Talking Heads who wouldn't already know this?

As the band is disintegrating in the final chapter I think the narrative starts winning out over his interpretation, illustrating something a little more nuanced than what he seems to want to say. Or perhaps the author character is just cooling a bit because there are a lot of fragmented bits to cover. Thus I was able to try and answer the larger questions for myself based on the events he describes. That said, I'd have expected him to dig deeper to try and answer the big question: what really lead to the breakup of the band?

Somewhere in this process I wondered if David Bowman was one of those people who pump out mass market books about cool bands that will sell well (see Randi Reisfeld's early works). When I looked into his career I discovered that he only wrote three books before he died, and this was the sole non-fiction book. It looks like his fiction works were generally more well-received. It's not my intent to trash a dead man's work, but there aren't a lot of books about Talking Heads out there and I felt fairly disappointed by this one.

[Chris "Stu" · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyably trashy and poorly written book about one of the great rock bands of the 20th Century, focusing in on the two central personalities, Tina Weymouth and David Byrne. Bowman is clearly and hilariously biased, taking Byrne's side against Tina 100% of the time, which leads to good anecdotes and transparent bitchiness. I cannot in good conscience precisely recommend this book, but I enjoyed it, despite Bowman's weirdly flippant tone and his tendency to get way out over his skis. He tries to speak about Culture repeatedly, not just about Talking Heads' culture, but American culture in general, and he is Not Very Good At It. When he speaks about David and Tina sniping back and forth, he's good, with juicy anecdotes, but when he talks about more than that it's problematic.

Here's a perfect example: later in the book, he has a weird digression of a couple of pages when talking about Tipper Gore, who never had anything to say about Talking Heads music. "Who knows how American history might have changed if Tipper had happened to walk by her daughter's room and the girl was listening not to Prince, but to a deranged high-pitched man squealing something about 'Old Mother Reagan." This digression goes on for awhile, until finally the point(?) comes. Jerry Harrison produced the Violent Femmes record that had "Old Mother Reagan" on it.

This, combined with Bowman's tendency to speculate, to say "what would [whoever] have thought of this," leads him to extensive predictions of what Bowman thinks they might have thought of it. David Byrne being on the cover of Time Magazine leads Bowman to write a very detailed two pages of speculation as to what Henry Robinson Luce, who did before Talking Heads formed a band, would have thought about David Byrne and the movie "True Stories." What he would have thought about Ed Lachman's photography, what he would have thought about certain shots and parts of the naration, or the lip-syncing music video.

It's not good writing, but for the most part it's readable, or at least, skimmable.

[Alexandre O. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Como única fonte biográfica sobre a banda, é um livro valioso. No entanto, fica sempre a impressão de que o autor eleva o David Byrne a nível de gênio sem culpas, sem erros de caráter. No final, ele é sim um grande músico, mas suas atitudes diante da banda não são fora de um contexto egocêntrico como Bowman tenta demonstrar.

Sendo um livro de 2001 é feio demais essa demonização da Tina, mesmo ela tendo dito palavras grosserias contra o Byrne. Novamente, o autor estabelece desde o início do primeiro capítulo uma péssima imagem da baixista, enquanto o Chris é o "pacificador gente boa" e o Jerry é o amiguinho do grande gênio David.

Enfim, não desgosto mais ou menos de nenhum deles e amei aprender mais sobre a banda. Só me incomodei demais com esse viés idólatra pra cima de um e de "apenas uma baixista bonitinha sem muito talento que falava mal demais do vocalista" de outro.

O autor não soube separar opinião, um certo fanatismo de uma escrita mais direta. Além disso, irrita muito como há um certo estado de superioridade na fala diante quando se compara o TH a outras bandas de seu tempo, principalmente o new wave. É um livro escrito por um fã esnobe, enviesado e dado a preconceitos.

[B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know this book isn't overly accurate or factual, despite how well cited it is. I know it frames things a certain way to suit the narrative Bowman wanted to tell. It's not a complete history, and not everything is represented fully. Is it a solid and factual history? Maybe not. Is it a fantastic story? Definitely.

At the beginning of the book, Bowman claims he chooses to tell the 'myth' over the less interesting truth, where a myth can be found in his research. The myth is the better story. And in his defense, it's a hell of a story. In a biography, you expect some dull moments. Maybe a lot of dull moments. In this, I couldn't find a single one, and I definitely looked.

It is of note that Bowman's treatment of Tina is unfair. He had to have a villain for his story, and as a narrative function she worked well for that. I wouldn't say it misrepresented her - all her quotes were definitely things she'd said - but it didn't quite represent the full picture.

That being said, the way so much focus was put into framing facts with narrative made this book incredibly fun to read. I recognize its faults in accuracy but based solely on how much I enjoyed it, it's a five star book for sure.

[Benjamin Kahn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tried several times to read this book. I first tried reading it, then skimming it. I finally gave it up as a bad job. Besides the pretentious style that Bowman writes in, he buries the story of the band in all the other details of goings-on in the New York art scene. I have zero interest in Andy Warhol, and it wasn't worth it to me to wait through a pile of crap to try to glean some information on the featured band. Very frustrating.

[Paul Hoaglin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bowman should've titled this "How I Killed Tina Weymouth's Reputation And Why She Had It Coming" for all the balance and objectivity he put into it. I really wanted some insight into the music and the circumstances which brought it into existence, and, to the degree possible in this horrible business of rock and roll, something reasonable and possibly even semi-unbiased about the flawed humans behind it; instead, I got this crap. What a waste of time.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Must Be the Place is as fascinating as advertised but I found Bowman’s writing style grating at times. He seems to want to come across as cool. And to the extent that Talking Heads’ story needs a villain, Bowman has decided it’s Tina Weymouth. Still, I enjoyed learning more about the band and the great music they made.

[pianogal · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a decent read, but I'm not a fan of the author. There was too much of his own opinion that came through. It felt a little like he really wished he was David Byrne. Other than that, I thought it was comprehension and gave a good overview of the band's story.

[Aaron Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really wish that David Bowman had written a couple more nonfiction books. This is a little lighter on musical criticism than most band histories but the characterizations and contextualization of TH in the Downtown New York arts world more than makes up for it.

[Eraserhead · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF. The parts about their classic albums were well done but damn does the writer love conjecture. The amount of times she ascribes some weird or interesting thought to “what someone must have been wondering” is silly for a book like this. Makes it seem like they didn’t believe in their own story.

[Xein Aung · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mike

[Chris Passingham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Never meet your heros. David Byrne came out of this looking like something of a douche

[DeEstie Andersen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Way more than I ever needed to know about the New York Art scene in the 70s and 80s. Interesting band dynamics, though.

[JuanK Russo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, light read on the history of a DB-centered book.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 1/2. Solid book on the band but bit too over the place at times.

[Jarrodtrainque]

A fascinating glimpse behind the big suits
and deadpan looks to the heart and soul of a band
that made it big by playing it cool/ With their minimalist beats, sophisticated lyrics, and stoic mien, the Talking Heads were indisputably one of the most influential and intriguing bands of their time. Rising from the ashes of punk and the smoldering embers of the disco inferno, they effectively straddled the boundaries between critical and commercial success as few other groups did, with music you could deconstruct and dance to at the same time./ Culture critic David Bowman tells the fascinating story of how this brain trust of talented musicians turned pop music on its head. From the band's inception at the Rhode Island School of Design to their first big gig opening for the Ramones at CBGB, from their prominence in the worlds of art and fashion to the clash of egos and ideals that left them angry, jealous, and ready to call it quits, Bowman closely chronicles the rise and fall of a stunningly original and gloriously dysfunctional rock 'n' roll band that stayed together longer than anyone thought possible, and left a legacy that influences artists to this day./

[Abe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Regardless of how true or false the facts are in this history of David Byrne (and less importantly, the band), it is an entertaining and quick read. Bowman is relatively straightforward with the reader in regards to this blurred fact/fiction, as any history book based on first- and secondhand oral sources will naturally impose one perspective over others. It is quickly realized that this man loves David Byrne, and so Byrne's version of this history seems preferred.

As for the overriding thesis that states that Martina Weymouth was desperately in love with Byrne for the band's entire existence, it seems a bit far-fetched, but believable enough to be entertaining.

Also, his style is refreshing in its ongoing references to the surrounding culture and personalities of both late 70s NYC and the music world of the 70s in general--in a way that can relate to the Talking Heads both directly and peripherally. The author is obviously a huge fan of the time period and cultural movements within.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting, if not slightly disappointing read. I really don't care for the way it's written, meaning that I think that the author thinks he's being real cute with the ocassional one-liner, which winds up being more distracting than anything.
There a lot of "Oh, I had no idea THAT happened..." moments in the book for casual Talking Heads fans (David Byrne broke The Police's video camera when the Talking Heads opened for them in '83?!), but chances are there's a lot of information in the book that people already know or could've guessed. Talking Heads were always a "quiet" band at least as far as gossiping goes.
In the end, you get out of this book what you might have expected: David Byrne was a megalomaniac, Tina Weymouth hates David Byrne, Chris Frantz likes Funk and Jerry Harrison lives in Milwaukee.\

PS- Don't know if the book is in print, it's pretty hard to find as I found it hiding out in an old used record shop in Boston.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first band-ography that I've ever read. This type of book is a curious beast. So much he-said she-said, though maybe that's only so true considering the Weymouth-Byrne dynamic. It got a lot of songs stuck in my head. It made me feel as if I was allowed to have opinions of people I've never met, which makes me uncomfortable.
It made me think some things:
-performance art is a strange outlet that deserves more attention.
-David Byrne is a brilliant, interesting guy.
-Jonathan Richman ought to have a book written about him if he doesn't already.
- Bernie Worrell seems like a brilliantly nice guy without erasing his person-dom.
-Art is something always worth looking at deeply, no matter what the artist says about it.
-There is never a point of having enough, seemingly, when you get to be famous and/or make money through art. There's always another step, another tier of money/glory.