Chris Frantz: 'If you knew David Byrne, You Would not be Jealous of Him'

The Guardian ^ | July 21, 2020 | Jim Farber

[Cecily]

David Byrne overwhelms the image of Talking Heads. With his herky-jerky mannerisms, loopy persona and arch lyrics – not to mention his command of the songwriting credits through much of their catalogue – he eclipsed the efforts of every other member of the band. Yet according to a new memoir by Talking Heads’ co-founder and drummer, Chris Frantz, titled Remain in Love, Byrne’s dominant image wasn’t merely a by-product of a legitimately outsized talent, but a clear power grab, driven by ego, greed and a skewed mindset.

“It’s like he can’t help himself,” Frantz said in a phone interview. “His brain is wired in such a way that he doesn’t know where he ends and other people begin. He can’t imagine that anyone else would be important.”

[Olog-hai]

That song features lyrics about the singer doing cocaine with her boyfriend. Ugh.

[MarDav]

Let’s get the band back together, Tuco, Angel Eyes, Blondie. Talk about Psycho Killers!

[yuleeyahoo]

Facts are simple and facts are straight
Facts are lazy and facts are late
Facts all come with points of view
Facts don’t do what I want them to
Facts just twist the truth around
Facts are living turned inside out
Facts are getting the best of them
Facts are nothing on the face of things
Facts don’t stain the furniture
Facts go out and slam the door
Facts are written all over your face
Facts continue to change their shape

[ConservativeStatement]

I remember the gist of what Ric Ocasek once said to a reporter’s question about why the Cars never talked politics. In so many words he said (indirectly) “Bob Dylan does it best. We are not Dylan. We got into music with the hope to meet girls, buy things and pay our rent.”. Something like that. Al

[mylife]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0IZ-doygZo

[VicVanleeuwenhoek]

But it wasn’t till the band split up that they were rolling in “gold”.

[mylife]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV2gmU2HR30

[Zhang Fei]

[He had wrongly predicted that Deborah Harry would be dead of an OD before she hit 35.]

---

Some time back, I saw a TV episode on Amazon, probably from the 90’s, that featured Debbie Harry as a witch whose shtick was baking pies with kids as the major ingredient. I can’t actually tell if it was makeup doing the heavy lifting, but at ~45, she looked 55. I can’t tell if it was hard-living or just genes, but it was a Dorian Gray moment. I don’t follow the music industry, so the only prior image I had of her was from the music video for “Call Me” from just a decade earlier that featured excerpts from Richard Gere’s American Gigolo. The ravages of Father Time were all too apparent.

[mylife]

Take a look these hands, they are passing in between us...

[mylife]

Debby was nerdcore punk in the early day, my buddy squeak rodied for them at CBGBs

[mylife]

Hardcore

[Fightin Whitey]

Let’s get the band back together, Tuco, Angel Eyes, Blondie. Talk about Psycho Killers!

Don't even breath close to this statue.

[lee martell]

Yes. But that music tho!

[kosciusko51]

That was the high point for Talking Heads. Nothing after it came close.

[Flatus I. Maximus]

Oh boy. Yet another tell-all memoir by yet another ex-member of a once-famous band who’s still cranky because *someone else* was the famous one in that band, and who seems utterly unaware that without that famous someone else *he* would now be just another obscure footnote in music history.

Go take some Geritol and lighten up, Mr. Frantz.

[Zhang Fei]

[Debby was nerdcore punk in the early day, my buddy squeak rodied for them at CBGBs]

---

Good times.

[Stosh]

Well Ocasek certainly did alright in the “meet girls” part.

[DoodleBob]

I never liked or got the hype about the Talking Heads. Pretentious, self-indulgent, "look at how cool I am trying not to be like you" poser rock...wanting to be Bowie but lacking his gift for words and music. If I want something artsy, I'll listen to Heroes or King Crimson.

By contrast, Genius of Love is a zillion times better than any TH song.

[mylife]

Yes they were

[mylife]

The 1st LP was really stripped down, they got real party after that.
I think they were just trying to get in on the new wave but were really wary school dweebs