On June 5th, 1975, the Talking Heads played their first ever show, opening for the Ramones at New York’s legendary CBGB. One of the cornerstones of that iconic set, and arguably the band’s biggest hit, was the tune “Psycho Killer.” In honor of the set’s 50th anniversary, Talking Heads have been posting cryptic teasers about something big coming.
Original members David Byrne, Tina Weymouth, and Chris Frantz released the first-ever music video for “Psycho Killer.”
“Psycho Killer”
The music video is directed by Mike Mills, the same director behind the video for Moby’s song The National. It stars Talking Heads devotee and Oscar-nominated actress Saoirse Ronan (“Lady Bird”). The set adapted a former hospital into a sterile office environment where we watch Ronan slowly lose it. As days at her monotonous job press on, she begins to unravel more and more each day.
While a literal interpretation of this song would be soaked in blood, guts, and gore. Mills’ version paints a much more realistic and disturbing picture of a “Psycho Killer,” the horrors of the everyday worker.
“There’s something violent about the false normality of all the people around her,” Mills explains. “There’s something violent in the banality of it all. It’s psychic violence, but it’s still hostile to me.” And we see this hostility build in a surprisingly nuanced way for a 4-minute music video.
“The last thing you want to do is pin down or reduce what the song is about,” says Mills. “The song is so much more than being psychotic or killing.”
Byrne has already called the new video “Brilliant.”
“We LOVE what this video is NOT—it’s not literal, creepy, bloody, physically violent or obvious.” – Talking Heads wrote in a pin comment on the video.
Also, in celebration of this milestone, there will be deluxe reissues of “Talking Heads: 77” and an acclaimed Record Store Day live album.
You can check out the first-ever music video for the Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer” below:
