Talking Heads -
Talking Heads were an American band formed in 1975 in New York City. The band are most recognised for their experimental, flamboyant attitude towards music and their ability to create music from a variety of different genres. Talking Heads were classified into the genre 'New Wave' (New wave music is an umbrella term for several late-1970's to mid-1980's pop/rock musical styles with ties to 1970's punk rock.) However, the band also used elements of punk rock, art rock, funk, Avant-Garde, pop music, World music and Americana.
In 1978 the band released their second studio album titled 'More Songs About Buildings and Food brought' this began the long-term collaboration with producer Brian Eno, who had previously worked with Roxy Music, David Bowie, John Cale and Robert Fripp. (The title of Eno's 1977 song "King's Lead Hat" is an anagram of the band's name.) Eno's unusual style meshed well with the group's artistic nature, and they began to explore an increasingly diverse range of musical directions, from post-punk to new wave to psychedelic funk. The Eno-Talking Heads experimentation continued with 1979's 'Fear of Music', which flirted with the darker styling's of post-punk rock, mixed with white 'funkadelia.'
1980's Remain in Light, heavily influenced by the afrobeat of Nigerian bandleader Fela Kuti, to whose music Eno had introduced the band, explored West African polyrhythms, weaving these together with Arabic music from North Africa, disco funk, and 'found' voices.
Talking Heads were one of the most celebrated bands of the post-punk generation. Talking Heads' art pop quirkiness have had a long-lasting impact. Due to their use of postmodern music, they helped define the new wave genre in the United States. The 1980's album 'Remain in Light' also helped bring African rock to the western world.Talking Heads have been cited as a primary influence by many artists, including R.E.M.,Vampire Weekend etc.
Talking Heads also used a variety of postmodern techniques whilst designing their album covers.
The 'More Songs About Buildings And Food' cover features another postmodern technique. This particular cover was conceived by lead singer Byrne and created by artist Jimmy De Sana. The image is a photomosaic of the band and is made up of 529 close-up Polaroid photographs.
The 'Speaking In Tongues' special edition album cover was designed by American Pop artist Robert Rauschenberg, who used a clear case to highlight his collage of interesting, vibrant images which feature on the disc. This style was used to highlight the 'New Wave', 'Funk', 'Synthpop' styles which features on the album.
Another postmodern technique was used on the cover of 'Little Creatures.' This particular cover was created by outsider artist Howard Finster, and was selected as album cover of the year by Rolling Stone magazine.
'True Stories' uses postmodernism to highlight the name of the album. By creating a cover using stereotypical newspaper colours and text, the art used creates a clear link between newspapers and the album title.
