the Talking Heads Talking Heads '77 Music
by the Talking Heads

About this Music

Talking Heads: 77 is the debut album by the American rock band Talking Heads, released in September 1977. The single "Psycho Killer" reached #92 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. In 2003, the album was ranked #290 on Rolling Stone magazine's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. In his 1995 book, The Alternative Music Almanac, Alan Cross placed it in the #5 spot on his 10 Classic Alternative Albums list

Next to CBGBs peers like the Ramones and the Voidoids, Talking Heads barely sounded like a punk band. After the startlingly non-conformist "Love Building on Fire," 77 made for a surprisingly tuneful collection of songs: nervy vignettes of urban unease, arranged for a tight little new wave quartet. The most overtly disturbed song, "Psycho Killer," now sounds a touch heavy-handed; more unassuming tracks like "New Feeling," "Happy Day," and "Don't Worry About the Government"--preppie pop with brains--have aged better. The first of four consecutive masterpieces for Sire, 77 is the work of a truly great American band. --Barney Hoskyns