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Chris Frantz - C@nt Or Not?

Started by TheMonk, July 22, 2020, 10:57:49 AM

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TheMonk

Looks like Chris Frantz out of Talking Heads wants to top up his bank account.
As much as he wants to convince everyone that David Byrne wasn't the key to Talking Heads, he was.
Slagging him off won't change that. Poor form. And that reunion ain't never happening. #ForTheMaid

https://t.co/tNXfcaiqQ9

jobotic

I love David Byrne but I don't think Frantz is saying he wasn't the key, just that the other weren't Kens.

When Byrne chose to split up with his wife is no one's business so Frantz can piss off with that.

Lisa Jesusandmarychain

Well, I never trusted that David Byrne, the shifty Sheldon from " The Big Bang Theory"/ Tony Slattery hybrid cunt.

TheMonk

More of the same below from The Guardian. I always felt a bit sorry for Frantz for some reason, but he can fuck right off.
https://t.co/xiu9yy6us1

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: TheMonk on July 22, 2020, 11:08:09 AM
More of the same below from The Guardian. I always felt a bit sorry for Frantz for some reason, but he can fuck right off.
Depends if you believe him or not - if Byrne was taking sole writing credit for songs that others had a hand in, then he can fuck right off too.

spaghetamine

I thought it was common knowledge they all hate each other now. I remember reading an interview with Tina Weymouth from about ten years ago where she makes basically all the same points and also accuses Byrne of being a crossdresser as if it's the worst thing in the world.

Sin Agog

Always has to make out like he's the Byrne victim.

D.B.'s turn on the Sack Lunch Bunch was so lovely that I can't help but side with him in all these arguments, even if Tom Tom Club was better than most of those later Heads releases.

Lisa Jesusandmarychain


dr beat

Frantz and Weymouth don't hate each other, I read a few chapters of his book and they seem a remarkably devoted couple after 43 years and working so closely together.

Frantz seems genuinely happy with his lot although that could be performative. I might read the rest of the book.

jobotic

"I didn't say I wrote it - look it says lyrics and music David Boo-urn."

Lisa Jesusandmarychain

I like to think of that Jerry feller who used to be in The Modern Lovers  as completely oblivious to all this, sort of the Trigger of the group. He may not have even noticed that Talking Heads split up a while ago.

TheMonk

Quote from: Lisa Jesusandmarychain on July 22, 2020, 11:21:37 AM
I like to think of that Jerry feller who used to be in The Modern Lovers  as completely oblivious to all this, sort of the Trigger of the group. He may not have even noticed that Talking Heads split up a while ago.
Unfortunately he was involved in this travesty.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Talking,_Just_Head
And I think he was about to take another Talking Heads cover band out on the road before Covid stopped his plans.

rue the polywhirl

Always thought this David Byrne was a bit of an iffy character. Can't be hating on the other guy because he chooses to speak out.

#BelieveFrantz

phantom_power

I think there is always tension in bands between the "main" songwriter and the other band members about credit. The songwriter thinks that the lyrics and melody are the main thing whereas the others see the bass and rhythm as being intrinsic to the song and therefore worthy of credit. I can see both sides of this really though tend to side with the latter view.

Front people are always going to be a bit more egotistical than the people behind them though, and it is pretty clear from Byrne's solo stuff that he was the main driving force in the band, and for me it is clear from Tom Tom Club that Franz and Weymouth were important for the rhythm and groove of Talking Heads and that is a significant part of the songs.

I don't think either party are cunts. It is just normal band politics I think where the ones who aren't the leader have major input into songs but lack the ability to forge consistent careers of their own and so rely on the parent band

famethrowa

True. Songwriting credits are a shark tank and you have to fight for them. If you just play the nice guy you'll probably get ripped off. DB just does what's good for Dave, Chris and Tina are Mr & Mrs nice so it was bound to happen. Byrne was wrong about her bass playing, listen to Heads 77, the bass is amazing and solid throughout, funk and rock and punk all mastered.

The Weymouths had to put up with Shaun Ryder and his lot, so good luck to em.

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: phantom_power on July 22, 2020, 11:28:13 AM
I think there is always tension in bands between the "main" songwriter and the other band members about credit. The songwriter thinks that the lyrics and melody are the main thing whereas the others see the bass and rhythm as being intrinsic to the song and therefore worthy of credit. I can see both sides of this really though tend to side with the latter view.
Was apparently a reason why Robert Smith decided, when the Cure started doing really well, to credit the songs to everyone in the band - no resentment over individual members getting more cash or the drummer insisting they do one of his songs so he gets some publishing.

In this instance, it's hard to know without having been in the room at the time - if Frantz and Weymouth were playing a rhythm, then Byrne comes in and puts a vocal and guitar part on top of it, I'd say that was an equal split.

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: The Culture Bunker on July 22, 2020, 11:36:17 AM
Was apparently a reason why Robert Smith decided, when the Cure started doing really well, to credit the songs to everyone in the band - no resentment over individual members getting more cash or the drummer insisting they do one of his songs so he gets some publishing.

In this instance, it's hard to know without having been in the room at the time - if Frantz and Weymouth were playing a rhythm, then Byrne comes in and puts a vocal and guitar part on top of it, I'd say that was an equal split.

Smith's a bit of an unusual frontman given his stance on life is basically 'I never asked to be born'.

I've got fuck all interest in acts like this digging up decades-old feuds. Nobody comes out looking good, it's easier to just ignore it and continue to enjoy their work.

SteveDave

QuoteLou Reed advised Byrne never to go onstage in a short-sleeved shirt.
The first time they met, Reed said Byrne's arms were "too hairy" for audiences to handle.

I laughed out loud because I can hear Lou Reed saying this in a very sincere way to him.

PaulTMA

Just started on this last night, it's the only Heads-related book I've attempted since this utterly obnoxious one called This Must Be The Place by David Bowman, which paints Tina as a histrionic psychopath who was secretly in love with David Byrne.  Always wanted to take Byrne's side, just cos he's clearly ace, but fuck knows what was going on.  Perhaps they really were a shower of cunts and Jerry Harrison should have joined The Knack instead.

DrGreggles

Quote from: phantom_power on July 22, 2020, 11:28:13 AM
I think there is always tension in bands between the "main" songwriter and the other band members about credit. The songwriter thinks that the lyrics and melody are the main thing whereas the others see the bass and rhythm as being intrinsic to the song and therefore worthy of credit. I can see both sides of this really though tend to side with the latter view.

I always liked Blur's approach to this, crediting each track as:
Song: *main writer* (usually Albarn); Music: Albarn, Coxon, Cheese Cunt, Rowntree

So each band member gets a decent cut.

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on July 22, 2020, 11:44:24 AM
Smith's a bit of an unusual frontman given his stance on life is basically 'I never asked to be born'.
True enough. U2 are another example of splitting the cash equally, which has obviously worked very well for them in terms of longevity. And I remember reading back in the 90s how Dave Grohl split the royalties for the first Foo Fighters album equally between the band who toured it, despite the fact pretty much all the parts on it were him on his own.

buzby

Quote from: The Culture Bunker on July 22, 2020, 11:58:17 AM
True enough. U2 are another example of splitting the cash equally, which has obviously worked very well for them in terms of longevity. And I remember reading back in the 90s how Dave Grohl split the royalties for the first Foo Fighters album equally between the band who toured it, despite the fact pretty much all the parts on it were him on his own.
This was true of Joy Division and New Order too (at least up to Republic, when the agreement was changed to give Sumner got a bigger share as he was doing the bulk of the writing), on the advice of Rob Gretton to save any future aggro (which ultimately didn't quite work out).

rue the polywhirl

Queen began to split it all equally after a certain point in the 80s in order to quash any quarrelling about credits. It's what Radiohead also do as well as other good bands such as Coldplay and the aforementioned U2.

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: buzby on July 22, 2020, 12:07:08 PM
This was true of Joy Division and New Order too (at least up to Republic, when the agreement was changed to give Sumner got a bigger share as he was doing the bulk of the writing), on the advice of Rob Gretton to save any future aggro (which ultimately didn't quite work out).
Indeed - the impression I got from his book is that Hook feels aggrieved at Gillian Gilbert getting her quarter slice when (in his view) she wasn't contributing much. I've pretty much put that down to him being a twat, though.

Enrico Palazzo

Quote from: TheMonk on July 22, 2020, 11:25:07 AM
Unfortunately he was involved in this travesty.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Talking,_Just_Head
And I think he was about to take another Talking Heads cover band out on the road before Covid stopped his plans.

Forgot all about that. It was really fucking bad.

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: The Culture Bunker on July 22, 2020, 11:58:17 AM
True enough. U2 are another example of splitting the cash equally, which has obviously worked very well for them in terms of longevity. And I remember reading back in the 90s how Dave Grohl split the royalties for the first Foo Fighters album equally between the band who toured it, despite the fact pretty much all the parts on it were him on his own.

Proof that legal equality and ego's are two separate things I suppose.

greenman

Quote from: rue the polywhirl on July 22, 2020, 12:14:05 PM
Queen began to split it all equally after a certain point in the 80s in order to quash any quarrelling about credits.

Probably helped though that things were naturally becoming more even by that point though with Taylor and Deacon writing a lot of hits.

The point when Talking Heads songs were most likely coming about though extended jamming(Remains in Light, Little Creatures) the credits were evenly distributed as well just with Byrne taking the lyrics. By the time of the late 80's stuff it is I think easier to imagine Byrne was coming up with most of a track like And She Was himself.

I'm guessing as well that the Eno/Byrne axis was potentially a point of tension as well and perhaps pressure to break that up from the rest dampened relations from that point onwards.

spaghetamine

Quote from: dr beat on July 22, 2020, 11:16:14 AM
Frantz and Weymouth don't hate each other, I read a few chapters of his book and they seem a remarkably devoted couple after 43 years and working so closely together.

Frantz seems genuinely happy with his lot although that could be performative. I might read the rest of the book.

yeah I worded that badly, meant that the rest of the Heads all hate Byrne

Famous Mortimer

Quote from: TheMonk on July 22, 2020, 11:08:09 AM
More of the same below from The Guardian. I always felt a bit sorry for Frantz for some reason, but he can fuck right off.
https://t.co/xiu9yy6us1

He doesn't have a lot of time for Eno, either - the producing was so bad they had to call in an engineer to fix it; demanded the band pay for his flights on Concorde; wanted to be a full member of the band, get on the album covers, etc.

non capisco

David Byrne curling out a big tod in a hotel bed and addressing it 'for the maid' is the detail that makes me think he might be a bit of a weird tosspot, or at least was.

I get the impression that Frantz's memoirs might be a bit more even handed in whole and these articles are seizing on all the Byrne slagging as the main focus, the Vulture one more or less says so at the start. There's clearly no love lost but I doubt the whole book is page after page of  'And that that cunt Byrne only went and did this, the hairy armed prick'.