组建时间： 1974 解散时间： 1991 风格类型：Album Rock（专辑摇滚）American Punk（美国朋克）College Rock（学院摇滚）New Wave（新浪潮）New York Punk（纽约朋克）Pop/Rock（流行/摇滚）Post-Punk（后朋克）英伦三岛这片历史悠久、美妙如仙境的乐土似乎特别容易孕育摇滚怪才，并使他们的艺术嫩芽得以萌发，如波诺（Bono，U2乐队主唱）、民谣朋克乐队The Pogues的烂牙酒鬼西恩·麦克格瓦（Shane MacGowan）以及倍受柯特·科本（Kurt Cobain）推崇的凡士林乐队（Vaseline）主唱凯利·尤金（Kelly Eugene）等。传声头像的灵魂人物大卫·拜恩就是出生于1952年5月14日的苏格兰人。拜恩幼年时便表现出非凡的艺术才华：当他围起格子布裙，随着邻家叔叔的欢快的风笛声敲起小鼓时，节奏又快又准；在绘画、文字、影像等方面也经常有匪夷所思的奇妙表现。而当时他最希望的是有一天能随心所欲地演奏小提琴。随着时光流逝，和所有敏感的英国孩子一样，拜恩开始渐渐地对大样彼岸的现代艺术景观充满渴望。终于，18岁的拜恩毅然离开家乡，独自来到美国，进入罗德岛艺术学院（Rhode Island School of Design）学习。不过他的梦想很快就被现实打破，艺术学院的氛围和他想得不大一样。他更感兴趣的是冲劲十足的先锋文化，而非奢华而肤浅的老式学究作风。失望之余，便任由同在导演系的同学葛斯·范·桑特（Gus Van Sant，电影《大象》的导演）带领，整天和那些同样爱好摇滚乐以及前卫艺术、习惯衣着凌乱的小嬉皮士们混在一起。不久，这个小圈子里出现了一个金色长发、肤色白皙，嘴角却不时浮现出怪异微笑的女孩，她居然有一手出乎意料的贝司绝活，这叫拜恩欣喜不已，这便是提娜·薇玛斯（Tina Weymouth）。在拜恩终结了他与手风琴艺人麦克·凯赫（Marc Kehoe）的临时组合Bizadi之后，便怂恿提娜叫来了她的同窗好友克里斯·弗兰思（Chris Franz）担任鼓手，自己则拿起吉他，三个人操练起来。因为几个人的爱好与性格十分相近，沟通起来方便快捷，很快几首铿锵和悠扬并重的后朋克（Post-punk）风格曲子开始成型。乐器的声响吸引了排练室外的拜恩的一位好友——摩登情人乐队（Modern Lover）的键盘手杰瑞·哈里森（Jerry Harrison），他认为这将是让他沉醉并渴望参与的新颖之声，于是迅速从原来的乐队里抽身而出，以吉他手身份加入进来。至此，传声头像正式成立。当时这几个年轻人根本没有意识到日后的风光，只知终日尽情呷饮音乐的佳酿。随着学业的结束，4个人不假思索地来到了梦中的艺术圣地——纽约，打算“乾点儿什么有劲的事”。最先扑面而来的是严峻的生存考验，缺衣少食的传声头像先在混乱的查斯提街（Chystie）租下了一个破烂阁楼，用来隔断房间的木头屏风使他们同时拥有了起居室和排练房。拜恩依靠他所学的专业，找到了一份电影院领座员的工作，其他时间则回到快乐的小天堂和大家抱着乐器死嗑。这些贫困和欢乐交融的日子，自从拜恩某一天下班偶然路过那个貌似破烂的小酒吧——CBGB的时候，就注定要改变了。拜恩和提娜至今仍不能忘记第一次看到电视乐队(Television)演出时的激动之情，那是一种怎样的神奇而美妙的扭曲。第2天，拜恩就跑去把小样递到CBGB老板克里斯塔尔手中，传声头像的实力马上让后者另眼相看，迅速给他们安排了给驻场乐队暖场的机会。惟一的遗憾就是传声头像的处女演出献给了横冲直撞的雷蒙斯乐队（Ramones）而非令传声头像诸人一见倾心的电视乐队，这叫拜恩有点郁闷。在与帕蒂·史密斯（Patti Smith）、雷蒙斯、电视等优秀乐人与乐队的提携下，传声头像不但迅速学会了在逼仄的空间里面对狂野的观众们大声嚎叫，而且开始进一步明确自己的音乐走向——在不失掉锐利锋芒的前提下，尽可能地回归艺术化。这时他们的正规高等教育经历重新焕发出光彩：拜恩的那把老芬达（Fender）吉他变得果敢、清澈而灵气四动，意味深厚的后现代词作从抑扬有力的嗓音中喷薄而出，令人耳中一亮；提娜的细长指尖操纵着火焰般的跳跃感；克里斯的鼓击则在貌似呆板中步步为营；杰瑞在兼顾主音吉他的同时，负责开发出更具空间感的新浪潮（New Wave）键盘音色，整个乐队的作品里那种油彩浓重的画面感由此呼之欲出。这一变化在为传声头像赢得地下音乐圈的口碑的同时，也毫不意外地引起了当时已经名声大噪的音乐家、制作人布莱恩·伊诺(Brian Eno)的注意。双方一拍即合，传声头像的首张正式专辑《传声头像 77（Talking Heads 77）》于1977年出炉，这张犀利而新颖的后朋克/新浪潮唱片迅速赢得了“未来20年最重要的音乐作品”的盛誉。时光步入20世纪80年代，拜恩又带领乐队进入了一个未知领域。他大胆地将非洲打击乐融入白人的放克（Funk）节奏中，创造出被称作“非洲放克（Afro-funk）”的新鲜风格，并在1984年的专辑《别假正经（Stop Making Sense）》中充分予以体现（某种意义上说，这也是拜恩导演的同名电影的原声碟）。直冲排行榜Top 10的经典曲《烧毁的房屋（Burning Down House）》便出自这张专辑，在延续吉米·亨德里克斯（Jimi Hendrix）的那首同名歌曲的魔幻现实主义色彩的同时，传声头像的歌词则由于对往日的底层生活的追忆而多了一分尖锐而又不动声色的戏谑：“提防那些你所追求之物/冷酷的可人儿看似陌生但又绝非初遇/我可是个普普通通的家伙/烧毁的房屋……“嗨，全身湿透的你一定想来件雨衣/镇定自若的小偷在大白天就招摇过市/365度高温/烧毁的房屋……”这张唱片居然深受当时的美国中产阶级喜爱，并且迅速波及到全世界。当时正在撰写小说《舞舞舞》的村上春树就曾频繁在文中提及传声头像；甚至远在中国的崔健的前两张专辑中，传声头像的影子也几乎无处不在，其影响力可见一斑。紧接着，1985年的专辑《Little Creatures》又独辟蹊径，甜美、诙谐的民谣化曲风引导传声头像彻底冲上了商业舞台，同时也为4个几乎同样才华横溢的艺术家提供了更广阔的天地。在用两部石沉大海的电影小试牛刀之后，拜恩的电影梦在1986年终于真正得以实现，他导演的先锋音乐电影《真实故事（True Stories）》胜利竣工。作为副产品的同名原声大碟虽然名义上是传声头像的集体结晶，但是拜恩对音乐日益强烈的独断意念早已引起其他三人的不满，艺术分歧的裂缝越来越深。虽然如此，乐队的又一首经典之作《狂野生活（Wild Wild Life）》却仍然出自于此，而几年后，另一首反讽美国风尚的作品《收音机迷（Radiohead）》则因被那5个神奇的英国小子用作乐队名而越发火爆。此时的提娜实在按捺不住，和克里斯一起另组了同样具有非洲音乐特色的汤姆·汤姆·俱乐部乐队（Tom Tom Club），并为电影《辛斯塔（Siesta）》配乐。杰瑞则干脆发表了自己的个人专辑。而拜恩本人则更加疯狂地投入到直到1991年，分崩离析（或可说是功成名就）的传声头像正式宣布解散。时至今日，传声头像仍然如同长明的火焰一般泽被后世。你的电脑里的windows Media player里会自动播放出拜恩的《像人类一般（Like human do）》；年长一点的中国人会时不时随口哼唱起拜恩为奥斯卡获奖影片《末代皇帝》所作的主题旋律；新新人类热爱的街头霸王乐队(Gorillaz)里有着提娜的化身……At the start of their career, Talking Heads were all nervous energy, detached emotion, and subdued minimalism. When they released their last album about 12 years later, the band had recorded everything from art-funk to polyrhythmic worldbeat explorations and simple, melodic guitar pop. Between their first album in 1977 and their last in 1988, Talking Heads became one of the most critically acclaimed bands of the 80s, while managing to earn several pop hits. While some of their music can seem too self-consciously experimental, clever, and intellectual for its own good, at their best Talking Heads represent everything good about art-school punks.And they were literally art-school punks. Guitarist/vocalist David Byrne, drummer Chris Frantz, and bassist Tina Weymouth met at the Rhode Island School of Design in the early 70s; they decided to move to New York in 1974 to concentrate on making music. The next year, the band won a spot opening for the Ramones at the seminal New York punk club CBGB. In 1976, keyboardist Jerry Harrison, a former member of Jonathan Richmans Modern Lovers, was added to the lineup. By 1977, the band had signed to Sire Records and released its first album, Talking Heads: 77. It received a considerable amount of acclaim for its stripped-down rock & roll, particularly Byrnes geeky, overly intellectual lyrics and uncomfortable, jerky vocals.For their next album, 1978s More Songs About Buildings and Food, the band worked with producer Brian Eno, recording a set of carefully constructed, arty pop songs, distinguished by extensive experimenting with combined acoustic and electronic instruments, as well as touches of surprisingly credible funk. On their next album, the Eno-produced Fear of Music, Talking Heads began to rely heavily on their rhythm section, adding flourishes of African-styled polyrhythms. This approach came to a full fruition with 1980s Remain in Light, which was again produced by Eno. Talking Heads added several sidemen, including a horn section, leaving them free to explore their dense amalgam of African percussion, funk bass and keyboards, pop songs, and electronics.After a long tour, the band concentrated on solo projects for a couple of years. By the time of 1983s Speaking in Tongues, the band had severed its ties with Eno; the result was an album that still relied on the rhythmic innovations of Remain in Light, except within a more rigid pop-song structure. After its release, Talking Heads embarked on another extensive tour, which would turn out to be their last; its captured on the Jonathan Demme-directed concert film Stop Making Sense. After releasing the straightforward pop album Little Creatures in 1985, Byrne directed his first movie, True Stories, the following year; the bands next album featured songs from the film. Two years later, Talking Heads released Naked, which marked a return to their worldbeat explorations, although it sometimes suffered from Byrnes lyrical pretensions.After its release, Talking Heads were put on hiatus; Byrne pursued some solo projects, as did Harrison, and Frantz and Weymouth continued with their side project, Tom Tom Club. In 1991, the band issued an announcement that they had broken up. Five years later, the original lineup minus Byrne reunited as the Heads for the album No Talking Just Head. Then in 1999, all four worked together to promote a 15th-anniversary edition of Stop Making Sense.