An Introduction

In the opening moments of Stop Making Sense, the iconic 1984 concert film by the Talking Heads, David Byrne walks alone on to a bare, unadorned stage. He carries a boom box in his hand, an acoustic guitar slung over his shoulder. Already we know this won’t be a typical rock concert: there are no enormous amplifiers, no complicated banks of lights, no garish sets. Byrne wears an outfit so nondescript and colorless he could be a confused member of the audience who has happened to wander up on stage. When he reaches center stage, he sets the boom box on the ground and says quietly, ‘Hi, I have a tape I want to play for you.’ He reaches down to press play, a prerecorded drum beat begins, and he launches into a version of the Heads’ hit, ‘Psycho Killer.’ Some in the audience that night must surely at that moment have been reconsidering the price of their tickets. You could pay far less to see far more in a coffee house, or see it for nothing at a karaoke bar.