Remain in Love
Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Tina
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4.2 • 61 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Two iconic bands. An unforgettable life.
One of the most dynamic groups of the ‘70s and ‘80s, Talking Heads, founded by drummer Chris Frantz, his girlfriend Tina Weymouth, and lead singer David Byrne, burst onto the music scene, playing at CBGBs, touring Europe with the Ramones, and creating hits like “Psycho Killer” and “Burning Down the House” that captured the post-baby boom generation’s intense, affectless style.
In Remain in Love, Frantz writes about the beginnings of Talking Heads—their days as art students in Providence, moving to the sparse Chrystie Street loft Frantz, Weymouth, and Byrne shared where the music that defined an era was written. With never-before-seen photos and immersive vivid detail, Frantz describes life on tour, down to the meals eaten and the clothes worn—and reveals the mechanics of a long and complicated working relationship with a mercurial frontman.
At the heart of Remain in Love is Frantz’s love for Weymouth: their once-in-a-lifetime connection as lovers, musicians, and bandmates, and how their creativity surged with the creation of their own band Tom Tom Club, bringing a fresh Afro-Caribbean beat to hits like “Genius of Love.”
Studded with memorable places and names from the era—Grace Jones, Andy Warhol, Stephen Sprouse, Lou Reed, Brian Eno, and Debbie Harry among them—Remain in Love is a frank and open memoir of an emblematic life in music and in love.
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