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Movie Review: Stop Making Sense
Does the Talking Heads concert film stand the test of time?
I recently rewatched Stop Making Sense, the 1984 Talking Heads concert film directed by Jonathan Demme. I saw this movie probably 20 times when it was on maximum rotation on HBO in the 80s, and I was curious to see if “one of the greatest concert films of all time” held up.
The concert begins with David Byrne walking onto an empty stage with a guitar and boombox. He proceeds to play a “tape” (the audio is actually a drum machine through a mixer) and powers through probably the band’s best-known song, “Psycho Killer.” I love that the show leads with what for most bands would be a closer or encore. The attitude is very much, “oh we have SO much more where that came from.”
As the set proceeds, Byrne is joined on stage by one band member at a time: bassist Tina Weymouth for “Heaven,” drummer Chris Frantz for “Thank You for Sending Me an Angel,” and guitarist/keyboardist Jerry Harrison for “Found a Job.” A crew assembles the set around them and later, the full band is assembled with percussionist Steve Scales, keyboardist Bernie Worrell, guitarist Alex Weir, and the superb backing vocalists Lynn Mabry and Ednah Holt.
I was struck by the amount of energy Byrne and the others bring to the performances. They’re much more…
