A Look Back: Talking Heads @ SUNY Albany’s Page Hall, 11/17/1977

It Was a Land of Buzzing Eardrums

By Mike Stampalia.

Last fall, former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne performed at Proctors as part of his “Who Is the Sky?” tour, and it commanded the highest-ticketed prices in that storied venue’s history. In March 2023, Heads keyboardist/guitarist Jerry Harrison played Empire Live alongside essential TH contributor and touring musician Adrian Belew, making for one of the most talked-about area shows of the year. Byrne returns to the area this September, this time at SPAC, where the top ticket price is $509, and that’s before the joy that is Live Nation/Ticketmaster’s “surge pricing” and “aftermarket offerings” kick in.

This all happens because Talking Heads are correctly lauded as a legendary, groundbreaking band, one of the best of all time. A band that was post-punk before punk had gotten out of the Bowery.

But it wasn’t always that way.

Talking Heads released their first album, “Talking Heads: 77” on September 16, 1977, and two months later visited our area for the very first time at SUNY Albany’s Page Hall, on November 17, 1977. They opened for the Good Rats, a band from Long Island that had been around for 13 years at that point. The review was not what you would expect, with 20/20 hindsight:

No Rats, but still good Rats were at Page Hall last night, where loud Rock and Roll abounded in the form of the Good Rats, the kings of Long Island Party Rock. More than 700 fans were greated with tumultous volumes of sound and energy not normally found in the Albany Area.

The Good Rats took the audience on an obsene, fun filled adventure through the land of the buzzing eardrum, while the warm up band, the Talking Heads, took us to the limit of migrane headaches and queasy stomachs, with their own form of punk Rock (or as Good Rats’ rythm guitarist Mickey Marchella called it, “skunk rock”), complete with pounding rythms and aching heads.

They looked harmless enough on the outside, but on the inside they were every bit the punks they proffessed to be. Incredibly drone, generating enough noise to cut through a jet blast, caressing our ears with tear jerkers such as “Hot Love” and “Psycho Killer”, and screaming sweet nothings into our ears, the Talking Heads transformed into the “Screaming Lips”, “causing the Rat fans to shout in disgust.

But the Heads took it as a compliment, for they returned to torment us again with an encore. If this is new wave, send me back out to see. I’ll drown in “Black Sabbath” before I listen to this.

Robert Gardner for the Albany Student Press, November 18, 1977

Talking with the Heads

The band was interviewed at Just a Song (record store) before the show:

The Talking Heads who wore the opening act for the Good Rats last night made an appearance at Just a Song Records yesterday afternoon to promote their new album, “Talking Heads 77.”

The group consists of songwriter, lead singer and guitarist David Byrne, drummer Chris Frantz, Martina Weymouth on bass, and Jerry Harrison on keyboards and guitar.

ASP: Could you tell me some of the history of the band?

Martina Weymouth: The band had been together nearlythree years with the exception of Jerry. We played at CBGB’s, the famed place. The next week there was a big thing in the Village Voice about the new rock and roll. After a lot of looking around we signed with Sire Records last November and Jerry joined us in time to record the album. Following that we toured Europe and were well enough received to be invited back.

ASP: You say you are not a “new wave” or punk rock band, how would you describe the Talking Heads?

Weymouth: The Ramones are our favorite new American band. We think it is very important to communicate to an audience in a sincere manner and we don’t like huge stadiums and things. But all the audience has to do is listen to our sound and they can tell that we are not punk rock. People basically like to have a good time, and we like to think of ourselves as new, the newest thing.

ASP: I have read that you think a hit single is important, do you still feel that way?

Jerry Harrison: We’ll just keep making records we like and if the programmers think one could be a hit we won’t discourage them.

ASP: How did you get the name Talking Heads?

Harrison: A friend of ours who lives in Chicago now picked it out of T.V. Guide.

ASP: What are your musical influences?

Chris Frantz: When I was younger I didnt have a record collection, I listened to whatever was being played on the radio. In the car my parents didn’t listen to the rock and roll stations but sometimes they did it just to shut me up! I heard stuff like “Flying Purple People Eater” and” Big Bad John,”” Duke of Earl” and Elvis. I liked *Trailer for Sale or Rent” and” Hit the Road Jack.” “Blue Velvet” by Bobby Vinton. Until the Beatles came out and thats when I thought about being in Rock and Roll. At that time it was impossible, but now it is and it’s fun.

ASP: What are your future plans?

Harrison: We will be playing in the U.S. until about Christmas and then we’ll go to Europe and then we may start on another album and tour some more.

Interview by Dennis Scheyer for the Albany Student Press, November 18, 1977

See pictures of the Jerry Harrison/Adrian Belew show at Empire Live here …