There’s few who would argue about Talking Heads’ place in history as one of the most essential and influential bands of the late '70s and '80s. David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison’s idiosyncratic combination of off-kilter sonics, rock-solid rhythms and strikingly singular lyricism has endured the test of time.
At the centre of it all - the skittish figure of David Byrne. Often erratic, seemingly on constant edge and prone to bouts of frenzied vocal delivery, Byrne redefined the frontman rulebook, and was the captivating nucelus of the Talking Heads' experience.
Though albums such as 1979’s Fear of Music, 1980’s Remain in Light and songs such as Once in a Lifetime and This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) are revered in the canon of popular culture, it is 1977's Psycho Killer that endures most prominently amongst successive generations.
It’s a claim borne out by its position atop Talking Heads’ streaming rankings, and its consistent presence on playlists, and its regular appearances in other media.
Recorded in 1977 and appearing on the band’s debut, Talking Heads ‘77, Psycho Killer’s throbbing, danceable groove locked in-step with the dark threat of Byrne’s vocal. Its lyric detailed the inner workings of (what we can assume to be) the titular murderer's head.
The song originated as far back as 1974, at the very outset of the band. Back then, the young David Byrne had joined (what would be the first incarnation of Talking Heads) The Artistics, at the Rhode Island School of Design at the invitation of fellow student (and ‘Heads drummer) Chris Frantz.
The band's iconic bassist Tina Weymouth was then a fellow student, and Chris’s girlfriend. She would later join the fledgling band upon graduation.
“David was extremely unique and still is,” Frantz told Smashing Interviews. “It was obvious to me that he had what we call ‘star quality’. He was the type of person that if he walked into a room, people noticed even if he didn’t say a single word. He was a good looking guy but also like a train wreck about to happen.”
For the then 22 year-old David Byrne, the ability to write songs still eluded him. “[Psycho Killer] was the first song I wrote and I kind of did it just to see if I could write a song. And I discovered, Oh yes, I can! And then I started immediately writing songs that were different than that,” Byrne told Wet Leg’s Rhian Teasdale in an interview for The Line of Best Fit.
Instead of stylising the titular killer, Byrne instead delved deep into the lyrical protagonist’s mental universe, spotlighting a more nuanced portrayal of psychopathy; “I wanted to write about this dramatic subject in a non-dramatic way. I wanted to write from inside this person’s head. It was not going to be a slasher movie. It was going to be a little bit calmer than that,” Byrne revealed in the same interview.
Originally a retelling of an actual murder itself taking place, the more visceral aspects of Byrne's original lyric were pared back for the final version.
Byrne’s internalised approach to grisly subject matter was triggered by the pantomimic, performative horror that American glam rocker Alice Cooper indulged in. David told the Financial Times that, “Alice had all these safety gauges worked out so that it wouldn’t connect with anything remotely dangerous - I just liked the idea of writing a song that was more real.”
David performed the lyric with a (what is now considered hallmark) tense and edgy vocal style, rarely deviating too far from the pulsing melodic thrust of the central rhythm, dictated by Weymouth and Frantz, save for the two-chord chorus breakdown, wherein Byrne repeats the title of the song, alongside the French-spoken question ‘Qu'est-ce que c'est?’ (which translates to ‘What is this?’).
The track further degenerates into an Otis-Redding cap-doff via a repeated ‘fa fa fa fa’. Further French-lines (provided by Weymouth) are delivered in the track's bridge section.
It's an arrangement that swings from the relentless, forceful stabbing of its verse rhythm (allegedly inspired by the harsh string scratches of Psycho composer Bernard Herrmann), coupled with the emotionless stress of Byrne's vocal into an overly expressive, howl of despair in the release of the chorus. It leaves the sensation in the listener of a crumbling central character - struggling to grasp on to the memory of song, language and empathy.
It was a role Byrne was born to inhabit. Psycho Killer would establish Talking Heads’ as figureheads of the angular aesthetics of post-punk. Some contemporary listeners believed the song to be an allusion to the notorious 'Son of Sam' killer, David Berkowitz, however, as indicated earlier, the song long pre-dated these events.
The song was a staple of the band’s legendary early performances at New York’s CBGB, where Talking Heads drew in a rapt crowd. The video below shows the earliest video recording of Psycho Killer being performed at the venue.
Though Talking Heads would soon go on to work with Brian Eno on a trilogy of iconic records and be forever defined by perhaps the greatest concert film of all time, Stop Making Sense. It’s still Byrne’s first song that remains the cornerstone of Talking Heads’ legacy
Psycho Killer is nothing short of a manifesto for eccentricity. It proved itself to be the template for for musical storytelling, hypnotic grooves and melodic genius for which Talking Heads continue to be revered.
