Talk Talk - Talk Talk

Talk Talk were part of the New Romantic movement of early 1980s British synth pop, along with other non-threatening bands such as Duran Duran, Haircut 100, ABC, A Flock of Seagulls and the like.  Amazingly (to me, at least), Talk Talk only had one top 40 hit in the U.S., 1984's, "It's My Life," although a No Doubt cover of the song would go on to hit #10 on the U.S. charts in 2004.

In their native Britain, though, Talk Talk were stars, and had 17 top 100 hits from 1982 - 1990, with "Talk Talk" charting twice, and "It's My Life" charting three times.  "Talk Talk" (the song) was off Talk Talk's (the band's) 1982 debut album, which was surprisingly not called Talk Talk.  (It was titled The Party's Over.)  As another interesting diversion, there have been a fair number of bands that named themselves after their own songs; a partial list will appear in the comments section.

The video for "Talk Talk" (the song) is classic 1982.  By the way, for our younger readers, the machine at the beginning of the video is called a turntable, and it was used to play spinning disks called records, which is how many people listened to music in the dark days before the iPod.  However, the quick cuts, interesting camera angles, white outfits (with ties), and electronic drums were proto-typical of an early 1980s new wave video designed for the new video music channel MTV.  We had not watched the video for this song in quite some time, and we have to say, it really is a somewhat dated thing of beauty.

In any event, Talk Talk (the band) would go on to become one of the most interesting bands of its era, as they evolved quite dramatically from a new wave band to an experimental post-rock band that were critically acclaimed -- and quite ahead of their time.  Unfortunately, this rapid evolution did not lead to huge commercial success, and the band broke up in 1992.  For readers who are interested in Talk Talk's development, almost anything from 1988's Spirit of Eden or 1991's Laughing Stock is recommended.

Is it just me, or does it appear that lead singer Mark Hollis is having some kind of seizure when he sings?

As an added bonus, we recently (2014) found a second version of the video; it is below for your approval.