Remain in Love
Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Tina
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4.2 • 69 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
A captivating memoir of art, music, love, and life with Talking Heads, one of the most influential bands of the '70s and '80s.
In Remain in Love, drummer Chris Frantz shares the story of Talking Heads, from their humble beginnings as art students in Providence to their rise as one of the most iconic bands of the era. With never-before-seen photos and vivid detail, Frantz takes readers on a journey through the band's early days living and writing music in a sparse Chrystie Street loft, to life on tour and the creation of hits like "Psycho Killer" and "Burning Down the House" that captured the post-baby boom generation's intense style.
At the heart of the memoir is Frantz's love for Tina Weymouth, his girlfriend and bandmate, and the formation of their own band Tom Tom Club, infusing hits like "Genius of Love" with an Afro-Caribbean beat. Filled with memorable stories of Andy Warhol, Lou Reed, Brian Eno, Debbie Harry, and more, Remain in Love offers a frank and open look at an emblematic life in music and love that defined an era.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Talking Heads drummer Frantz delivers a bright memoir that reads more of an entertaining greatest-hits compilation than complete life chronicle. He discusses his early musical influences (R&B, Fela Kuti, and Kraftwerk) and how the band first came together in 1973 at the Rhode Island School of Design as a herky-jerky art-rock trio called the Artistics, with singer-songwriter David Byrne and bassist Tina Weymouth (whom Frantz later married). The band moved to Manhattan the next year and its burgeoning punk music scene, where, Frantz notes, the Talking Heads "were not afraid to appear straight." His account of their 1977 Europe tour with the Ramones, studded with set lists and bright detail, is particularly thrilling ("we were post-punk before there even was punk"). In 1991, the band broke up when Byrne left. (Frantz writes of Byrne's self-aggrandizement and suggests he is on the spectrum.) Later sections on Frantz and Tina's epochal dance-band, Tom Tom Club, and their time recording and producing in the Bahamas, are replete with fun cameos (the Clash, Robert Palmer, Grace Jones). Fun, cheerful, and eventful, this memoir has just the right amount edge.
Customer Reviews
Great read on the golden era of rock
Not only is it a wonderful story about Tina and Chris, but highlights the challenges and successes that come from being a musician in a rock band. Talking Heads and TTC are in a class by themselves. Whether you’re a fan or not, you’ll appreciate the details in the arc of Talking Heads career.
5 stars
I loved this book