After sweeping the 95th Academy Awards with seven monumental wins for Everything Everywhere All At Once, A24 plans to release the Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense in 4K for a theatrical release! Director Jonathan Demme’s first concert film is my favorite concert experience ever captured on film. The phenomenal performance by the Talking Heads changed how I listen to music. I’ll never forget the first time I watched Stop Making Sense on my way to All Tomorrow’s Parties 2008, curated by My Bloody Valentine.
Stop Making Sense stars core band members David Byrne, Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison, P-Funk Bernie Worrell, Alex Weir, Steve Scales, Lynn Mabry, and Edna Holt. Shot over three nights at Hollywood’s Pantages Theatre in December 1983, the elaborate set features memorable Talking Heads songs like “Psycho Killer,” “Life During Wartime,” “Found a Job,” “Slippery People,” Burning Down the House,” “Making Flippy Floppy,” “This Must Be the Place,” “Once in a Lifetime,” “Take Me to the River,” and more. The band changes formation several times throughout the performance, with Byrne using his rubber limbs and big suits to entertain the crowd.
“There was a band. There was a concert. This must be the movie,” the Talking Heads said in a statement about A24 acquiring the rights to Stop Making Sense. Sadly, the band broke up in 1991 with no plans to reunite. Byrne is a featured artist at the 95th Academy Awards, performing the original song “This Is a Life,” which he co-wrote with Son Lux and Mitski for the multi-award-winning feature Everything Everywhere All At Once.
Rhino plans to release a new deluxe version of the double-platinum soundtrack on vinyl and digitally on August 18.
Stop Making Sense is a special film for me. I watched it for the first time three weeks after my father passed away. He was a major Talking Heads fan, and Stop Making Sense triggered a torrent of emotions on my way to ATP (All Tomorrow’s Parties). That weekend, I saw My Bloody Valentine, Dinosaur Jr., Built to Spill, Meat Puppets, Thurston Moore, Tortoise, Bardo Pond, Shellac, Polvo, Fuck Buttons, Autolux, Wooden Shjips, The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra, Mercury Rev, Yo La Tengo, Les Savy Fav, Lightning Bolt, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, and more. I was never the same after that. I’ll be there if Stop Making Sense comes to a theater near me.