Musical Interlude: Burning Down the House (1983)

Talking Heads, it seems, were never content with just an ordinary music video.

For example, for the clip for 1983's "Burning Down the House", from the CD, "Speaking in Tongues", David Byrne and friends had 4 "ordinary folks", including the late actor-comedian Rockets Redglare (later of films such as "Talk Radio"), alternating with them in the course of the video. Redglare would alternate with, and also share time on stage with guitarist Jerry Harrison.


"Burning" peaked at #9 on the pop chart, the most successful Heads single in the US. Yeah, better than the trippy "Once in a Lifetime" (1980) or the bouncy "Wild, Wild Life" (1986). Go figure.