The Eccentric: David Byrne

“We don’t make music – it makes us.”  

David Byrne is the punk rocker who went to art school, a constantly innovating musician who never restricted his art to a single medium. With The Talking Heads, Byrne enjoyed huge critical acclaim and commercial success and to this day, any bar that plays “Burning Down The House” or “Road to Nowhere” can be assured the majority of patrons know (and love) the lyrics. The bands concerts were legendary—enthusiastic, bopping shows that incorporated absurd sets, almost more performance art than performance. After going solo in the early nineties, Byrne has dabbled (often with success) in film, opera and prose, always with his singular, off-kilter voice and sometime—even—in a tutu. Rock-and-rollers like Byrne—true iconoclasts—only come along a couple of times a century, so for that, we salute The Bard With the Billowing Pants. Rock on, sir. 

Photos by Photo: Brian Rasic/REX USA