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why david byrne is so crucially important in music and pop culture: a thread
david byrne was born in dumbarton scotland in may 15, 1952. although he has double nationality, british and american. he's a singer, musician, actor, director, composer, author, record producer, music theorist and artist.
he's more well-known as the lead singer and main songwriter in the band talking heads, which were active from 1975 to 1991 and from 1996 to 2002.
the band formed in 1975 and have their origins in the punk rock scene that was forming around the famous new york club, C.B.G.B.. they have released a total of 8 studio albums and 2 live albums, one of which is Stop Making Sense, considered one of the best live movies ever made.
both for the quality of the performance given and how it is visually filmed and delivered.
if anyone wished to check it out, it's currently uploaded in YouTube aside from the option of buying it.
if anyone wished to check it out, it's currently uploaded in YouTube aside from the option of buying it.
talking heads have been cited by many many bands and artists as musical inspirations, such as Arcade Fire, Eddie Vedder, Foals, The 1975 among many others and have even given Radiohead their name with one of their songs.
the 1975 did a music video inspired by the movie "Stop Making Sense" back in 2018 for their song "It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)"
in 1984, david byrne directed and starred in his own movie called "True Stories". Talking Heads would also release an album of the same name with songs made for that same movie. before that, he had directed some music videos for talking heads.
i also recommend giving a read to this rolling stone interview with david byrne looking back on the film since it's an interesting read if you wanna know more about it! https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-features/david-byrne-true-stories-interview-754919/
he also has written two books. The first one released in 2009 called "Bicycle Diaries" which chronicles several of his stories during cycling, given that he has very publicly expressed his love of it and is still his main way of transport where he resides, New York
"Bicycle Diaries â the title may be an ironic echo of Che Guevara's The Motorcycle Diaries; who knows? â is a deceptively straightforward book, an impressionistic glimpse of some of the cities that Byrne has explored on his pushbike. As anyone familiar with David Byrne's oeuvre+
might expect, it is not really a book about cycling per se, more a book in which cycling is, if you'll pardon the pun, the cog for Byrne's thoughts about architecture, +
music, art, travel, politics, religion, kitsch, decay and â a recurring theme â our "quality of life". https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/aug/02/david-byrne-bicycles-diaries-review
and in 2012, byrne released book called "How Music Works" talking about different aspects of music and what makes it what it is.
Review of The Guardian: "In the introduction, Byrne lists all the things his book will not tackle, but he ends up tackling most of them regardless. How Music Works is wonderfully wide-ranging, covering the prehistoric origins of music, Madonna's contracts, the musicality of
animals, pie charts of earnings from his recent collaboration with Brian Eno, Pythagorean acousmatics, the compositional limitations of Midi software, Algerian pop, the Filipino People Power revolution, the ethics of philanthropy,
16 pages of tips on how to create a happening nightclub, and music's physiological and neurological effects" https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/nov/09/how-music-works-david-byrne-review
david byrne has also composed several scores for music, wining an academy award and golden globe for his score to "the last emperor" as well as having two grammys for other musical projects.
despite parting ways with talking heads, david byrne has a very extensive solo career in which he has worked with many other musicians, such as st. vincent, brian eno, with whom he had worked previously as a member of talking heads -releasing three albums under his care-
and with who he released two collaborative album called "My Life In The Bush of Ghosts" in 1981 and in "Everything That Happens Will Happen Today" in 2008
he also did an album with st. Vincent in 2012 called "Love This Giant"
in 2018, byrne released an album called "American Utopia" that is currently being presented as a musical by byrne and his band and about which byrne has said he is also planning to "write a book about".
more recently, he appeared in john mulaney's Netflix special, john mulaney and the sack lunch bunch as himself, performing a song by the name "pay attention"
david byrne has also publicly spoken about his experiences with being in the autistic spectrum and what that means to him as an artist. he has spoken about it in his book "how music works" and in several interviews. some of which i will leave beneath: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/mar/04/david-byrne-i-am-able-to-talk-in-a-social-group-now-american-utopia
so taking that into account i think david byrne is a really important representation in popular culture and in music for something that is usually pushed to a side and not talked about.
he recently also started a project called "Reasons To Be Cheerful" which in a website that posts a different kind of news that looks for a brighter side of things.
here's the link to visit it if you want to: https://reasonstobecheerful.world/
these are just some of the reasons as to why i think david byrne is a really important person as a musician and as an artist and definitely someone that should be more talked about given all of his work and things he has done.
so i think i will end this thread here and i hope you guys liked it!! 
