By Venus Rittenberg, Editorial Director

[A24; 2024]

Rating: 4/10

Film studio A24 has announced a Talking Heads tribute album, and with it has arrived the release of the first single, a cover of “Burning Down the House” by Paramore. The cover would be good if it was a Paramore original, or at least okay, but it isn’t. One must look at this cover, and the wider potential the album has, in context of the fact that it is living in the shadow of what is easily one of the greatest, most important, and most influential bands of all time. 

Talking Heads, across the 1970s and 1980s, released some of the best music ever, and to step up to them you must come truly ready to do combat with giants. I like Paramore, but they’re just not up to the challenge.

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It isn’t even a bias on my part, as bands I love (I only like Paramore) have covered Talking Heads and also failed. I am referring to Black Midi’s cover of “Psycho Killer” (which features some of the most insane “French speaking” of all time). Points where points are due, that cover is at least funny, but is it good? This is debatable.

It isn’t debatable here: the answer is that it is bad. “Burning Down the House” has been stripped of all the bustling excitement of the original. I heard it in The Union recently, and when that glorious drum intro started, I got excited that I was about to hear one of the best openers of the 80s. No words can explain the intense disappointment I felt upon hearing the weak, almost pathetic, version of the once-illustrious instrumental.

The cover, in context of Talking Heads discography, is downright offensive. It lacks all the pizzazz that the band is known for. It has no “it” factor. It lacks the tick David Byrne breathed into every Talking Heads song. However, if this context is ignored, it’s a decent song, which is why I have not scored it lower. It is ultimately not worth a listen for a diehard Talking Heads fan such as myself, and is perhaps even worth avoiding. The other artists on track for the album, such as Lorde and girl in red, do not fill me with much hope either.

Listen here: