Talking Heads – “Stop Making Sense”

Just finished watching this concert film last night and I can’t stop saying something about it. It is a documentary style music film about the live concert performance of the great band “Talking Heads”. Unlike the most “MTV-style” concert films today, this movie is really simple; it minus the fire and lasers, and mostly uses lengthy edits to allow the viewer to examine the performances and interaction. The director of this show, Jonathan Demme, tries to let the band be itself with few audience shots. Despite those simple scenes, this video is still regarded as one of the most famous video shows. Why is that?
First of all, the whole arrangement of the concert is really special. David started the concert by himself, accompanied only by a drum machine. Then one by one, he is joined by Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz and Jerry Harrison, and each time they add one more instrument into the set. By the end they have a full gospel chorus on stage.
Secondly, no matter the design of stage setting, the lighting, sound effects, or the editing, the whole video was screened just like a real movie. At the very beginning, the camera just fixes on David Byrne’s feet, when the music starts, the lens starts to move up slowly. The show does not officially start until a scene which contains the whole stage appears. There are no dialogs, asides in this video. And even for lighting, Byrne just wanted no colour lights to illuminate the performers. In the whole scene, there is just music and their classic stage show.
Thirdly is the performer David Byrne. He was in complete control of every beat; His body language and countenance has impressed every audience. And his famous big suit which was partly inspired by Noh theatre styles is also notable, and it became the icon of the movie and himself.
As an important “New Wave” American Rock band in 1970s and 80s, Talking Heads have done a lot of contributions to the development of rock music. Their sound combined punk rock, pop, funk rock, art rock, and later, world music, which make their music more attractive than many other bands in their same era.