Whatcha Doing In My House? A Look Back At Talking Heads' "Little Creatures"

The Album Cover for Talking Heads' Little Creatures (1985)

Long-time readers of this blog know that my favorite album (or compact disc) is The Beatles’ Abbey Road. Yet depending on my mood, my second favorite will vary. Thirty years ago this month Talking Heads Little Creatures was released, and it was surprising fun to revisit one of my second favorite albums.

Consisting of the funkiest white man at the time (lead singer/frontman David Byrne), a protopunk performer (guitarist/keyboardist Jerry Harrison), a navy brat (bassist Tina Weymouth) and one of rock’s great drummers (Chris Frantz), Talking Heads came from the New York punk scene in the mid-1970s to become one of rock’s esteemed bands in the 1980s.

Fueled by one of rock’s great progressions between 1977-1983, Talking Heads somehow managed to bridge the gap between conceptual art and rock music with 1984’s Stop Making Sense. With a sense of not being able to top themselves, the band had a change of direction with Little Creatures the following year. Moving away from an enlarged world groove to a stripped down sound gave the band a chance to rediscover Middle American music.

Just because Talking Heads learned to how play “normal” songs did not mean that they had to water down their artistic vision as well. The song that opens Little Creatures, “And She Was”, provides a cinematic view of a girl who could (in her mind at least) fly. This quirkiness permeates throughout the album, straight through the closing number, “Road To Nowhere,” a song that could have been depressingly morbid yet is joyously fun, reminding us that it’s the journey (not the destination) that makes life worth living!

Somehow this album divides fans of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees. For fans of the progressive style, it can be a disappointment. But challenging art can be sometimes cold. What separates Little Creatures from the rest of Talking Heads’ oeuvre is a sense of fun that embraces everyone, not just an elite few. This sense of inclusion made Little Creatures the band’s best-selling album, influencing diverse rock personalities/bands like Madonna, Radiohead and Vampire Weekend!

The one thing that I truly enjoy about Little Creatures is how Talking Heads employed the word “hey”. It was used as a call-and-response in “And She Was”, sung as a melodic catchphrase in “Perfect World” and pops up unexpectedly in “Road To Nowhere.” The use of "hey" is simple yet quirky fun, which is also the best way to describe this album!