A blast from the past: the Talking Heads’ ode to urbanity, “Cities”. This is from the band’s fantastic concert film Stop Making Sense:
The Talking Heads emerged from 1970s New York. The city itself wasn’t doing so well at the time – like many other large American cities, it was struggling with deindustrialisation, white flight, and a crime wave. But it was a fantastic time and place to make music. Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa were originating hip-hop; Television, the New York Dolls, Patti Smith, and the Ramones were putting together punk rock.
People were swapping ideas and innovating. Things were happening. That’s what happens in cities.
Talking Heads frontman David Byrne realised how important urban places are to creativity. A few years ago, he wrote a great book about cities and streets, drawn from his experience touring all over the world and riding around cities on his folding bike – it’s called Bicycle Diaries.
Processing...
Um, so where did all that creativity go? Certainly not much going on now. In NZ it happened in the smaller cities and towns at that time. It didn’t really have anything much to do with cities, it was simply the times and a sector of youth who were tired of the same same old and who weren’t afraid to say so and offer something different.
Yes, in the 80s, much of the good NZ music happened in cities such as Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. That continues today : “Same as it ever was”.
I dunno. Do the names Joel Little and Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Conno ring a bell? Both from Auckland.
Besides which, it did say cities. Most NZ bands made it in cities, not just Auckland. Sure, members may have come from small towns but the nature of our cities joined them together and introduced them to people they would most likely have otherwise never met.
I saw Stop Making Sense in 1985 with my girlfriend and her brother (now wife and brother in law) I think is was the St James or one of the cinemas near it. They were a great band and it’s one of the best concert movies ever- almost as good as The Last Waltz. The highlight is the Big Suit he wears in Girlfriend is Better http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE1Ro_wPGIU . My GF had an apartment in Parliament St so we got to hang out in town and lived the urban life when there were hardly any cafes and the place virtually closed on Sundays. It really is good that the CBD has reinvented itself and has people there all the time (just a hard place to raise kids though).
I was a tech at Sweetwaters, the night Talking Heads played there as part of their Stop Making Sense Tour – stood right next to the lighting director who’s desk automation failed just before the first number began (acoustic rendition of Psycho Killer. The first thing David Byrne said into the microphone was “Hello, I’m a tape”).
The lighting director was cursing the sudden equipment failure and the fact that she had to do all the complex lighting control work manually that night…the lighting was still incredible though – she really knew her stuff…as did the band – they played extremely well, particularly Steve Scales.