Like most people who miss live theater, I have been spending two hours of my past week watching HBO’s filmed version of American Utopia (2020). It finds The Talking Heads’ David Byrne applying his band’s music to a contemporary context, creating this narrative about how society is and how it should be. It’s a critical show and a visual spectacle that ultimately ends with a message that every show nowadays seems to: get out and vote. If you’re not doing your part to better society, then what are you doing? It’s theater both as a delightful, well-choreographed concert and activism, reminding audiences of the power of music.
The thing is that director Spike Lee does an incredible job capturing the show and finds the most provocative angle for every sequence in this minimalist show. However, I found myself realizing that this reminds me of something else that I’d rather watch. I’m sure I’m not alone, even for casual fans of The Talking Heads. American Utopia is good, but nothing it does is nearly as exciting or essential as Stop Making Sense (1984). Sure, give credit to Byrne to find ways to turn a concert into a powerful art project, but dancing musicians can’t compare to the magic of watching Stop Making Sense assemble and deconstruct itself. At its core, it’s theater as a full experience, and it’s amazing to watch the Jonathan Demme-directed vision of a young and aspiring performer at the height of his creativity.
Then again, what makes Stop Making Sense great is something that’s alluded to in American Utopia. It’s the movement of the performers, the ability to mislead the audience as something majestic is assembled behind Byrne. Even then, nothing compares to the memorable nature of him walking towards the center of a stage with nothing more than a boombox and an acoustic guitar, preparing to perform. As he welcomes the audience to this show, he begins the experience, slowly having the band join him while assembling instruments. For that opening number, however, it’s “Psycho Killer” and Byrne’s thrusting hips that really gets you in the right mood.
For a band whose eclectic subject matter would continue to define the decade ahead, it’s rather amazing to know that this is where it began. Over the course of the band’s early years, it took on many forms. Starting as a ballad, it eventually moved into new wave and even no wave genres that found the lyrics being accentuated in such an odd way. Were they suggesting that Byrne had these homicidal tendencies, or was it some weird infatuation with violence? There’s so much to unpack if this is your entry point into the band, especially given how amorous the chorus tends to sound, mixing in French and these rich building harmonies that decay into banshee screams. It’s such an immersive experience that compels. Is this a joke? Commentary? There has to be something more to this.
To be totally honest, I like The Talking Heads, though there’s something that feels more artificial about them than bands like Oingo Boingo and DEVO. Maybe it’s just because I am more immersed in their work, but even the best moments in Stop Making Sense feel like they’re designed as some shield from the personal. You’re in awe of the action on the stage and not necessarily the substance. Has Byrne ever written a song that holds a deeper personal look at him? Again, I only know the hits, but they are more like ideas than feelings. I admire that, but these songs clearly felt like they were designed to be viewed in a gallery, having spectators point to the left corner and comment on a small brushstroke.
That is why on some level I think that “Psycho Killer” is just a song about a serial killer and can easily be seen as a novelty song. Sure, it’s not funny but you can argue there’s a dark comedy. It’s this song about murder and there’s a catchy chorus. You get to dance and ask yourself “why am I doing this?” There’s no real story, just that there’s a guy out there who wants to kill you. It would be anticlimactic if the instrumentation wasn't so fun.
There’s nothing wrong with this song, but it does become more interesting when you put it into the context of its origin. There are stories that Byrne had heard a song by Alice Cooper and wanted to write his own “really rude” song. Along with cues to Psycho (1960), the song pops with so much personality and finds a quietness building to an acoustic guitar that breaks into electric. As far as early songs in a career go, it’s the perfect way to get attention. Though there may be a good reason that Byrne didn’t make a career out of profiling murderers. If you compare it to Cooper, he’s a bit of a wimp, more attracted to the ideas than any provocative narrative. Most of the first verse is essentially metaphors and reflections of anxiety. He gets the idea of serial killers but maybe fails to get anything deeper.
Though if there’s one interesting detail, it’s that “Psycho Killer” was released as a single in 1977. Within the same time, David Berkowitz performed murders under the name Son of Sam. The timing was eerie, and it raised questions as to whether Byrne was sympathizing with serial killers. The reality is that nobody involved with The Talking Heads had any personal connection to Berkowitz and that this coincidence was merely that. Even then, it’s a miracle that they were able to break free of this astigmatism and have a career full of compelling hits. Still, I can only imagine there was a time when Byrne, himself already a bit of an oddball, seemed dangerous for writing a kooky “rude” song.
Which isn’t to say that it has earned a special place alongside the classics of Halloween culture. Especially in a time following the success of films like Halloween (1978) and Friday the 13th (1980), the idea of serial killers songs has become as appealing as Boris Picket’s “Monster Mash.” Sure, it’s more gruesome and uncomfortable, but times were changing. Everywhere you went, the idea of being murdered became a bigger reality, and Son of Sam was only confirming the timeliness of “Psycho Killer.” There is enough vagueness and lack of bleak details that you could put it on and not worry about traumatizing innocent ears.
I still remember a commercial from between 2004 and 2006 of a TV station (I want to say AMC) playing “Psycho Killer” while promoting an upcoming airing of Psycho. It was kind of brilliant, managing to convey everything from Janet Leigh’s screaming to Anthony Perkins’ demonic leer in such a way that you were captivated. Even if there was something kooky about the ad (and gave away enough of the big moments), it was a piece of marketing that grabbed you, making you want to see what this movie was about. It wouldn’t be until FXX’s random remixes of mundane movies over a decade later that a TV network compelled me to watch an old movie. I’m pretty sure that it was because of this trailer that I saw what has now become one of my favorite horror movies.
Every now and then the song will appear randomly in a TV show or movie, always to be an upbeat subversion of the serial killer tropes. Not bad for a song that peaked at #99 on the Billboard singles chart. It continues to resonate. When writing up this column, I found a visit to the YouTube page to be a rewarding experience, featuring references that not only spanned multiple languages but also found people referencing everything from The Simpsons to the recent video game phenomenon Among Us. No matter what, it has continued to reach new audiences.
Which, as I think about it, may be something that not just any Talking Heads song can achieve. I’m confident that they’ve written more captivating numbers, but this “Randy Newman-meets-Alice Cooper” number somehow never goes out of style. There’s likely those who saw American Utopia and were disappointing to see it missing. Then again, Byrne has become more aware of how he wants to present himself, constantly altering his image to draw the audience back in. It’s also that most of his songs have an artifice to it that makes you unsure if he’s being sincere, commenting on how the world should be.
So who wants to hear him shout “Vote” when he’s admitted that singing about serial killers is a lot more fun? Has he written a chorus as delightful? Some would argue that “Once in a Lifetime” comes close, but I personally disagree. He’s lacking a dexterity there that his English-French hybrid does so effortlessly. It’s the way that the guitars rise, building to an unhinged bridge, and having the satirical sense of a ballad about the worst possible person in the world. Considering that Among Us exists solely to have one person murder his friends, the idea of joy in other people’s death isn’t exactly going away, even if we’re talking within fiction.
Though to be honest, it may just be because of the way he opens with “Psycho Killer” on Stop Making Sense was one of those brilliant concert moments. You weren’t sure what exactly was going on. Here was a guy playing guitar and dancing to a boombox. What was this world that was about to emerge? In some ways, it was the perfect symbolism for The Talking Heads’ entire career. Even if we’re in the stage of their career where the stage is starting to be torn down, there are still a few more songs that Byrne wants to play. There’s still fire inside of him. For someone who may be hard to take seriously, if he’s even being genuine, it’s impressive that he keeps holding our attention in these odd little ways.
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