Talk Talk

A look back at Talk Talk.

by Walter Price

Before I get too far into this please forgive the fact I do not know too much about Talk Talk and their time of fame and their legacy.

In 1984 and subsequent years I certainly knew about the English band and their American presence in sub-pop/pop radio culture, but at the time I was young and MTV and peer pressure had a stranglehold on my burgeoning influenced-easy enhanced self-awareness.

In 1984 I was being shaped by a vast array of music from Van Halen to my beloved The Smiths and everything in between; and I mean everything. But just today a friend posted a live video of Talk Talk at Montreux that awakened that weird feeling in me that I should have been paying closer attention to those sounds I passingly appreciated back in ’84.. When you’re 13 you have very little knowledge or appreciation for musicianship.

Talk Talk’s live video for ‘It’s My Life’ sparked a renewed interest in a band I knew little about. A band that from the following lengthy attention to the entire collection from the same concert video clips watching, that I discovered a band that was as talented and possibly as important as Hall & Oates or the Eurythmics. Which is fascinating to know that I missed out on in the mass confusion of my 1984 self.

The point of all of this is that one should never discount or innocently write-off something but to understand that pop music is weird, vast and complicated. I know I will certainly never look back on current pop offerings such as Justin Bieber or Chris Brown and muse about the things I missed out on, but I know that, now, I must go back and pay more attention to artists that use their masterful skills for the good of pop music progression. I must use my love of music to further educate myself in what is real and what is manufactured.

I am appreciative of the fact that this Talk Talk post happened and I am extremely fascinated and eager to explore what other sounds from the ’80’s era or beyond I passively looked over.  Musicianship vs. fad and nostalgia vs. awareness are wonderful and bewildering questions to ponder.