The Current

How Music Works - An Interview with David Byrne

David Byrne the former frontman for new wave band Talking Heads talks about How Music Works...from gothic cathedrals to stadium stages. Find out how we can all better appreciate music - and also about how much he personally doesn't appreciate the internet and its file sharing services. This interview originally aired in October....
David Byrne the former frontman for new wave band Talking Heads talks about How Music Works...from gothic cathedrals to stadium stages. Find out how we can all better appreciate music - and also about how much he personally doesn't appreciate the internet and its file sharing services. This interview originally aired in October.


"I forsee a marked deterioration in American music and musical taste. In this twentieth century come these talking and playing machines that offer to reduce the expression of music to a mathematical system of megaphones, wheels, cogs, discs, cylinders and all manner of revolving things".From David Byrne's book,

bryne-book_cover_220.jpg

In the years since, he's continued to create, revealing new sides of himself with every new project: from collaborations with Brian Eno, to solo records incorporating African and Latin rhythms, to ongoing collaborations with artists like St. Vincent.

• David Byrne: The internet will suck all creative content out of the world — The Guardian

Now he's sharing much of his enthusiasm in his latest book... Not a rock 'n roll memoir, but something like a treatise... on how music works.

• Find out what is on David Byrne's playlist —

No matter how dedicated or casual a music fan you are, David Byrne's insights into the inner world of music and creativity are likely to make you listen to music in a different way.

How Music Works has just been released in paperback. David Byrne was in our New York City studio.

Are you a Talking Heads fan? What are your thoughts on David Byrne's criticism of streaming music services?

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This segment was produced by The Current's Peter Mitton.