Radio David Byrne

As young architects, DYWC? is more than happy to talk about the Talking Heads, an 80’s band that formed from Architecture and design students at RISD. The Talking Heads came up with a completely novel way to compose music, and it was catching ears(?) Back in the day even NPR was doing shows about how they grunted to soundtracks of their instrumentals until lyrics formed. They inflounced bands even today (the namesake of “Radiohead” is a Talking Heads song of the same title). Here’s how the lead singer/"songwriter" is trying to innovate these days. This brings us to today's debate: Aside from lyrics like “She had a pleasant elevation…[And She Was]” how did their liberal RISD 80’s design education help launch The Talking Heads into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Here's an excerpt from a recent interview with NPR [Update] Mr. Byrne has recently gotten in a little trouble with the FCC...

Xeni Jardin: How do you feel about the fact that some of your fans are downloading your music for free?
David Byrne: It's a mixed bag. Sure, I would love to have compensation for that. But the argument of record companies standing up for artists rights is such a load of hooey. Most artists see nothing from record sales -- it's not an evil conspiracy, it's just the way the accounting works. That's the way major record labels are set up, from a purely pragmatic point of view. So as far as the artist goes -- who cares? I don't see much money from record sales anway, so I don't really care how people are getting it.