Talking Heads — RISD and Providence Origins

Talking Heads formed in 1974 when David Byrne, Chris Frantz, and Tina Weymouth were students at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence. Byrne had transferred from the Maryland Institute College of Art; Frantz and Weymouth were RISD students who became a couple. The three moved to New York and were joined by Jerry Harrison (formerly of the Modern Lovers) and quickly became one of CBGB's defining acts — their arty, twitchy, white-guy funk was as far from the raw aggression of the Ramones as possible, but both were products of the same downtown New York scene.

Talking Heads' art-school origins are audible in everything they made: the angular nervousness of their early singles, the Afrobeat assimilation of Remain in Light (1980, produced with Brian Eno), the theatrical ambition of Stop Making Sense (1984, directed by Jonathan Demme). Byrne's writerly, observational lyrics and his genuinely strange stage presence — the oversize suit, the running in place — made Talking Heads simultaneously art project and pop act. Eno's involvement from More Songs About Buildings and Food onwards gave the records an experimental quality matched by few mainstream successes.

Rhode Island School of Design remains one of America's most prestigious art colleges. The campus in Providence's College Hill neighbourhood is open to visitors, and the school's museum is free to the public on certain days. Providence itself is a rewarding small city with a strong arts and food culture.