Before the Sex Pistols’ impresario Malcolm McLaren neatly bundled punk rock up in a package of safety pins, chicken bones, and gobbing audiences, the reality stateside was that most of the bands credited as the progenitors of the movement had little in common, apart from the fact that they didn’t want to sound like Styx and could only get gigs in a shitty country and western bar in the East Village. Amidst the leather jackets and jazz-poet pretensions of this phalanx of freaks marched a combo featuring former design students from Rhode Island collectively known as the Talking Heads who, despite relentless experimentation and idiosyncrasies, would become one of the most successful groups to emerge from New York’s underground of the late ‘70s.

While the Talking Heads originally evinced a sort of anti-image with ordinary clothes and aloof presence, the expressionless countenance and 1,000-yard stare of frontman David Byrne perpetuated by inventive music videos and groundbreaking concert films lent a striking visual now inseparable from the group’s sound. In this 1982 interview, the Scottish-born singer/songwriter describes how the band evolved by a method of pop-deconstruction, and also hints at an unlikely appreciation of Alice Cooper during a discussion of songwriting inspiration. While the latter admission may seem shocking, one of the more revealing aspects of this conversation is not in content, but in Byrne’s speaking tone. So similar to his singing voice and disarmingly fragile, it indicates a certain humanity not often attributed to his more sterile and angular music of this period.

In the years since the Talking Heads’ dissolution, Byrne has remained committed to his unique vision and has followed it in a myriad of musical and artistic directions. Though perhaps not always accessible, or even remotely understandable, his work has always reflected an unflinching integrity that keeps him rooted to the true punk ethic that he helped establish over 30 years ago. So, never mind the bollocks… here’s David Byrne.