(Credits: Far Out / Sire Records)
Sun 18 May 2025 21:00, UK
According to Brian Eno, the secret to Talking Heads‘ success was their mindset in the studio. While countless fans and outsiders have always scrambled to apply the appropriate label to the band, covering everything from new wave to post-punk funk, their experimentalism was the biggest indicator of Talking Heads’ appeal. After all, most of their achievements stemmed from their ability to just get it done.
This often didn’t just mean doing things with purpose, but it covered that too. Most of the time, it meant trying things out even if they failed, creating an atmosphere that was all about being fearless. As Eno explained in 1988, “If you’re going to make an experiment, you have to make it. You don’t defend it. You make it, and it either fails or it doesn’t. Usually, it fails. But you don’t realise those ones.”
Incidentally, this mindset also meant that many of David Byrne’s words appeared incredibly future-gazing. Whether he knew it or not, his phrases and narratives often set the scene for predictions about the future, whether relating to society, technological developments, climate change, political conflict, or personal alienation. This was mainly likely due to Byrne’s improvisational approach that often came across as garbled nonsense to some, but, in hindsight, it appears starkly revealing.
There are, of course, varying degrees of such overt predictions that resonate in different ways depending on how the songs are interpreted, but the foreshadowing nature of many of these narratives ventures eerily close to things that actually unfolded in the world, positioning Talking Heads not only as a timeless outfit but as one that unintentionally knew exactly where we were all headed.
Talking Heads songs that predicted the future:
Related Topics
Subscribe To The Far Out Newsletter