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Stop Making Sense is the highly acclaimed concert movie showing Talking Heads live on stage. Directed by Jonathan Demme, it was shot over three nights in 1983, as they were touring to support their new album Speaking In Tongues. The movie is notable for being the first film to be done entirely in digital audio.
The movie itself is notable for being different than most concert movies of rock and roll. The movie contains no shots of audience members until the very end of the movie, during the performance of "Crosseyed and Painless." On the DVD commentary, David Byrne said that this was done so that the viewer could come up with their own opinion about the performance, and then hopefully have it confirmed at the end. The only other time the audience appears on film is on wide shots of the stage and whenever the camera is at the back of the stage.
The movie begins with the opening credits, done in the same style as Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (it is also notable the the movie trailer is done in the same style as the trailer for Dr. Strangelove). David Byrne walks out on stage, and plays a tape with a drum loop, and goes into "Psycho Killer". One by one, the band comes out, first Tina Weymouth, then Chris Frantz, then Jerry Harrison. The band is also backed up by two back up singers, a keyboardist, a percussionist, and with Bernie Worrell on guitars. The first song to feature the whole lineup in the movie is "Burning Down The House." Byrne also leaves the stage at one point, leaving the Tom Tom Club to perform their song "Genius of Love".
The movie is also notable for the big suit. Inspired by Noh theatre styles, the big suit became an icon for not only David Byrne, but for the movie itself. The version of "Once In A Lifetime" was released as a single and also appeared on the opening credits to the 1986 movie Down And Out In Beverly Hills.
The film is currently available on DVD, and VHS in both the open matte fullscreen version and the widescreen version. The soundtrack is also available.
Soundtrack list:
- Psycho Killer
- Heaven
- Thank You for Sending Me an Angel
- Found a Job
- Slippery People
- Burning Down the House
- Life During Wartime
- Making Flippy Floppy
- Swamp
- What a Day That Was
- This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)
- Once in a Lifetime
- Genius of Love (performed by the Tom Tom Club)
- Girlfriend Is Better
- Take Me to the River
- Crosseyed and Painless
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