Talking Heads have always cut a peculiar shape amidst the pop-culture milieu, and that’s only partly due to the massively oversized suits David Byrne wore in a bid to make his head “appear smaller”. They burst onto the scene as a totally original entity, classifiable by nothing other than a Bowie-Esque otherworldliness. They were art-school punks of the highest order sporting a benevolent rebellion against mundanity.
After their initial surge onto the airwaves with Talking Heads 77, the group grew further into their welcomed weirdness. Nowhere was the bands middle finger to banality thrust more forcefully than with the flippy floppy madness of ‘Once In a Lifetime’. Released 40 years ago today, the track still stands up on any playlist as an incomparable piece of music for a multitude of reasons.