This wildly overstates the case. Alec Ounsworth’s voice and singing style is very much like David Byrne’s; the rest of the band, though, isn’t very Talking Headsy at all. New Young Pony Club, on the other hand, is practically a Talking Heads revival with a female vocalist,* and half the bands from the seemingly endless wave of post-punk revivalists are majorly influenced by the Talking Heads’ spare, jerky years.

*Which is not in any way meant as a slam on New Young Pony Club.

I think the nerd-frontman trope is really common nowadays. And indie bands wouldn’t be so dance-friendly/disco-ish w/o TH.

Maybe TH are more influential on UK bands than on US ones. It’s a mix of the music and the image.

I live a few blocks from Union Park in Chicago, and I’ve been able to sit in my yard and listen to Lollapalooza these past few years. I heard more than a little bit of “disco” from the “too cool for school but not to drool” crowd. In fact, that’s where, a few years back, I was first turned on to Gnarls Barkley. You should’ve seen me and the Mrs. showing off our steppin’ to “Crazy”.

I hear what’s meant, I think, but the chord changes are just not the same.

Yeah, I hear much DM in many of Ladytron’s tracks. I don’t hear the Journey either.

Off topic, but what’s the deal with the 80’s anachronistically redefining “arty” to mean african music, spasticness, and overflirtation with the fashion world? That scar still hasn’t healed. “Art” rock still seems to mean: wears annoying clothes.

Makes me nostalgic for the velvets. Or the entire history of art before 1981.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuDWCwzYH2A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMdG1×48A

I’m not so sure Heart of Glass wasn’t serious (certainly Blondie was serious about disco when collaborating with Moroder). But assuming it wasn’t, how does that keep Heart of Glass from qualifying as disco? Unlike, say, punk, there doesn’t seem to be any required attitude to make it authentic.

They were definitely ahead of the game bringing art school cool (and a dry weirdness undercover as post-modernism) to music. Think of the cover of their first album :77 or the pop art title of their second. This kind of sensibility permeated new wave.

They also deserve credit for exposing a wider audience to African music (after tinkering with it that is). Remain in Light in 1980, a full six years before Graceland.

“Most of what I would say was already touched upon in the comment thread there. That is: (1) despite his distinctive vocal and performance style, Byrne’s music has been a moving target for the past three decades (and often across a single album), making imitation tough; (2) Byrne has had visible influence as a bridge and promoter for foreign pop in the US; (3) he has had a modest impact in the world of hip hop (and Weymouth and Franz, with the Heads-era ‘Genius of Love,’ had one of the most sampled songs in hip hop history); (4) I’ve heard covers of TH songs from all over (e.g., U2, Robyn Hitchcock, The Cardigans, Bonnie Raitt, Terry Allen, and many others, including the Phish Halloween concert that covered Remain in Light in its entirety), which would seem to indicate that—though there may not be a detectable ‘Talking Heads’ style out there—a lot of musicians listened to them, liked them, and continue to like them well enough to pay tribute through playing their music; and (5) in a hundred years, when people discuss the best concert movies ever made, I wouldn’t be surprised to see ‘Stop Making Sense’ on the list.”

Sounds pretty persuasive to me.

“The only reason I can imagine for someone failing to see their influence everywhere (have you heard anything by Beirut, for example) is that it is so pervasive.”

I find the Beirut comparison very suprising, can you say more? The only thing Beirut reminds me of, other than random world folk, is Tom Waits.

Yes you can, but since Vampire Weekend channels just about every twenty year old worldbeat groove out there, I’m not sure Talking Heads in general or “Naked” in particular is a direct influence per se.

I like Vampire Weekend and their schtick. I like “Naked,” “Little Creatures,” and “True Stories,” too. The whimsy in the latter two—minus the dollop of humor it was served up with—sure seems onmipresent in the liberals arts grad wing of middle-brow pop culture, including indy pop music and movies.

David Byrne himself in this article used the construction:

This is more or less what I lived with for many years as a member of the Talking Heads.

Possibly it was overzealous editing.

I have nothing of substance to say on the thread topic.