Same as it ever was?
In 1983, Talking Heads filmed three concerts and a rehearsal at the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles. The result was the Jonathan Demme-directed 1984 concert film “Stop Making Sense.” Four decades later, it is still hailed as a masterpiece.
Now, that masterpiece has been reborn.
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of those 1983 L.A. performances, A24 has released an IMAX version of the groundbreaking film with remastered sound.
It showcases anew the of Talking Heads, one of the most acclaimed and inventive rock-and-beyond bands of the 1980s and late 1970s.
The group acrimoniously split up 1991, reunited for its 2002 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, then split up again — for 21 years.
Since then, its influence has been heard in the music of such disparate artists as Arcade Fire, Vampire Weekend, LCD Soundsystem and Radiohead. whose name was inspired by the title of a 1986 Talking Heads song. The band’s influence is also evident in the work of St. Vincent, who in 2012 recorded an album and toured with head Head David Byrne.
Earlier this month, the former key of Talking Heads — singer-guitarist David Byrne, bassist Tina Weymouth, drummer Chris Frantz and guitarist-keyboardist Jerry Harrison — reunited to attend a Toronto Film Festival screening of the new and improved “Stop Making Sense.” Afterwards, the band — all now in their early 70s — sat down together to do a live Q&A, followed by more group interviews in New York.
No new Talking Heads tour or album has been announced, or is expected. Given the fractious history of the long dormant band, that may be for the best.
Either way, the welcome return of “Stop Making Sense” makes it an opportune time to revisit our early 1985 interview with Byrne about the film. It opens countywide Friday in standard, non-IMAX film form. It will run through Thursday on IMAX screens at AMC Mission Valley, Edwards Regal Mira Mesa and AMC Palm Promenade.
Here is our complete 1985 interview with Byrne.
Talking Heads make sense on film — Group pushes rock movies onto new artistic plateau
BY GEORGE VARGA
March 31, 1985, The San Diego Union-Tribune
“We didn’t want ‘Stop Making Sense’ to be a movie that glamorized ourselves as rock ‘n’ roll stars,” says David Byrne, the soft-spoken leader of Talking Heads.
Directed by Jonathan Demme, “Stop Making Sense” may well be the finest rock performance movie ever made. It has been drawing near-capacity crowds since its opening at the Guild Theater last weekend.
Visually and aurally, the film breaks new ground, combining a stunning cinematic approach with a state of the art sound that complements Talking Head’s rousing funk-rock style. (Prior to the opening of “Stop Making Sense,” the Guild was equipped with a top-of-the-line Dolby stereo sound system, a stipulation Byrne and Demme require of any theater wishing to book the movie.)
For viewers who focus on the intricacies of the film — no easy task given the hypnotic rhythms of most of the 16 songs performed — “Stop Making Sense” provides many rewarding moments. Rather than simply capturing a Talking Heads live show, the movie’s sophisticated conceptual approach puts all other rock concert films to shame, including Martin Scorsese’s much celebrated “The Last Waltz.”
“I think this is a specialized film,” agrees Byrne, whose herky-jerky movements and imioned singing are a consistent highlight. “Our feeling is — and I think this has been borne out by some of the reviews — that while it’s essentially a concert film on the surface, underneath that there’s a regular movie-movie lurking somewhere. There’s almost subliminal dramatic development within the film.”
As Byrne had hoped, “Stop Making Sense” does not glamorize him or the other three principal of Talking Heads and their five ing musicians. However, it does vividly capture the group’s aesthetic sensibilities, as well as sum up their musical growth since their inception 10 years ago .
But what makes “Stop Making Sense” especially notable — and enjoyable — is its total disregard for rock movie and music video conventions. Demme and photography director Jordan Cronenweth have diligently avoided flashy editing cuts, split-screen images and gimmicky camera angles, opting instead for a lean, direct style that probes without disrupting.
“Jonathan and I had a lot of discussions before we made the movie,” recalls Byrne, who conceived the entire stage show depicted in the film for Talking Heads’ 1983 “Speaking in Tongues” tour. “Although you might say it was just a matter of capturing what was there, there are so many different ways to do that. You can stick a camera at the back of the hall, turn it on at the beginning of the show and let it run.
“But that really doesn’t convey what’s going on, and it doesn’t give you any kind of extra sense about what the experience or the performance is about. So there were a lot of talks about the ways it might be done. If I had to generalize, I’d say I concentrated on the visual and staging elements, and Jonathan concentrated on the character of each performer and the various connections between them.”
Byrne had initially considered making “Stop Making Sense” as a video special for Home Box Office (HBO). However, after watching several concerts on HBO, he changed his mind.
“I decided this particular show would work best as a film,” says the shy singer-guitarist, measuring each of his words carefully before speaking.
“There were a lot of qualities that I didn’t think would translate to video. For instance, it’s a fairly multilayered movie. There are many different scenes where you see one performer in the extreme foreground and behind that you see another performer, and behind that you see some () of the road crew, and behind that you see the rear wall of the theater.
“All that entails a lot of subtle variations in the lighting that would be a lot more difficult to capture on video. The way the film was shot and edited, as well as the performances, tells you what kind of attitude is being presented, or what kind of attitude these people (in the movie) want to be perceived as having.”
Filmed in December 1983 during three Talking Heads concerts at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood, the $1.2 million budget for “Stop Making Sense” was financed largely by the band themselves, with additional funding coming from their record company, Warner Brothers. Demme, a longtime fan of the group whose previous credits include “Melvin and Howard,” “Caged Heat” and “Swing Shift,” approached Byrne about making the film in the fall of 1983.
Together, the two set about to make a movie in which music and film would coexist as equals.
“It was almost like shooting a script,” explains Byrne, who has previously collaborated with choreographer Twyla Tharp and avant-garde playwright Robert Wilson.
“Each song had a certain shot that was planned for, and there was an overall plan for the four nights that we filmed. One night all the cameras were shooting from one side, and the next night they would all shoot from the other side. That way cameras shooting other cameramen happened as little as possible. On the last night, all of the cameras pulled back to the rear and sides of the theater and shot the full stage from quite a distance, so they could more or less get all of it from various viewpoints.
“I’ve looked at a few other (rock concert) films, and I discovered a lot of them really had nothing to see; the performance wasn’t something that worked on film. The band would come out and play a string of 20 hits, and maybe the lighting would change a little from one song to the other. But, in many cases, the presentation of each song was exactly the same or very similar. That may work in a live show, but it really doesn’t work on film.”
If Byrne sounds far more conscientious than the average rock ‘n’ roller, it’s because he doesn’t fit the pop music mold. Born in Scotland and raised in Baltimore, the tall, slender singer is one of the few rock stars who realizes his music is simply a means, not an end.
“I see myself as part of the world of all writers and performers,” says Byrne. “Whereas I think a lot of rock people only see themselves in the context of rock music. That’s a pretty small world, really, and there’s a lot of great stuff beyond that. I have a lot of interests beyond music, and I think that’s healthy.
“I get inspired by a lot of things outside music that somehow get into my performances. In the last five years or so, I’ve seen a fair amount of avant-garde theater. There are a lot of living, creative things going on out there that I find very exciting. There was a gospel version of ‘Oedipus at Colonnus’ by Steve Brewer that I thought was just great, and someone did a doo-wop version of the history of cinema that I really liked.”
Byrne formed Talking Heads in 1975 with bassist Tina Weymouth and drummer Chris Frantz, when all four were students at the Rhode Island School of Design. Guitarist-keyboardist Jerry Harrison ed in early 1977.
Emerging as part of the same East Coast punk-rock explosion that yielded the Ramones, Blondie and Television, Talking Heads established itself as one of the most creative and daring of American rock groups. Their first major hit was a remake of Al Green’s “Take Me to the River,” which provides “Stop Making Sense” with its powerful conclusion.
Much of the band’s early recorded work was somewhat angst-ridden, yet there is a wry sense of humor in their music that is often overlooked. Byrne hopes that the often zany stage antics in the movie will help remedy their image as a serious, “arty” group.
“We have in the past tended to concentrate on the bleaker side of things,” he acknowledges.
“I think we also have a sort of whimsical attitude that didn’t come across. It’s funny how much attention got paid to the fact that we all attended the Rhode Island School of Design. There are so many other bands that have attended art school, like The Beatles, The Who, the Rolling Stones and some () of the Clash, I think.”
Byrne laughs when asked if his parents were dismayed when he abandoned design school for the world of rock ‘n’ roll.
“They knew that I always liked music, so it wasn’t as surprising as if I’d become … ,” Bryne pauses to think of just the right word, “… a chef.
“They were pretty accepting, though I guess it was not until I really started making a living that they really became excited about it.
“You know, I was never heavily into drugs or crime … or the other kinds of things that would obviously outrage parents. So even though some of the things I did might have been pretty weird sometimes, they never really discouraged them. Now they’re really proud of me.”
