Talking Heads at CBGB — New York City

Talking Heads — David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth, and later Jerry Harrison — emerged from Rhode Island School of Design and relocated to New York City in 1974, becoming one of the founding acts of the CBGB scene at 315 Bowery in the Bowery neighbourhood of Manhattan. They were anomalous from the start: too arty for punk, too anxious and cerebral for rock, too rhythmically experimental for new wave. Byrne's jerky, nervous stage presence and detached, wide-eyed vocal delivery suggested a visitor from another planet attempting to impersonate a human performer — and making it work brilliantly.

The band's evolution between their debut album (1977) and "Remain in Light" (1980) was one of the most audacious in rock: from stripped-down guitar rock to African-influenced polyrhythmic funk, accomplished with producer Brian Eno and an expanded live band that included Adrian Belew and Bernie Worrell. Songs like "Psycho Killer," "Once in a Lifetime," "Burning Down the House," and "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" span idioms and eras without losing their essential strangeness. The 1984 concert film "Stop Making Sense," directed by Jonathan Demme, is widely considered the greatest rock concert film ever made.

CBGB closed in 2006 and the space at 315 Bowery is now a clothing boutique, though the exterior has been preserved and is a regular stop on New York music history tours. A historical marker acknowledges the venue's significance. The Bowery neighbourhood itself — once the heart of New York's punk and new wave scene — has been entirely gentrified, making the CBGB address something of an ironic monument to a world that no longer exists on the same block.