ROCKTOBER: Day 19 - TALK TALK

For Day 19 of Rocktober, I am modeling a very special shirt of mine. It is a choice piece of my wardrobe for two reasons. First, it is a TALK TALK shirt, a band that I would consider my second favorite band of all time. The reason being is that Talk Talk, who started in the early 80's as Electro Pop New Wave band, gradually became more ethereal, abandoning all intention of creating "Pop" music. With each album, their music became less and less commercial. Without fail, especially after the second album ("It's My Life"), it would take months, if not even years, for me to completely embrace the music. By time 1991's "Laughing Stock" came out, their music was so far removed from the mainstream that it made Pink Floyd's "The Wall" look like Michael Jackson's "Thriller". I always had a great deal of respect for the band, because the only thing that mattered was the "art" of what they did... not selling records.

The second reason why this t-shirt is special is that it was custom made for me. Back in 2001, when I worked at the Tom Tom Music store in Bountiful, Utah, we had a regular customer that worked in a t-shirt silk screening warehouse. If you supplied the design, they would mass produce the shirts. As a gift to each of our store employees, he offered to make a t-shirt of an album cover. For those of familiar with Talk Talk, you will know that their artwork is very surreal, with each of the album covers painted by artist, James Marsh. I requested the "It's My Life" album cover, which features a very detailed painting of puzzle pieces and a butt-load of colors. Eric (said customer/t-shirt designer) said that it was going to be too difficult to do, and asked if I had any other ideas. I found this artwork from the first album, "The Party's Over". The resulting t-shirt was still surreal, but also minimalistic.

For your viewing pleasure, I am going to include videos from each of the first four Talk Talk albums. If you have the time, watch them and pay attention to how their sound altered throughout their career. Also, in the 2nd video ("Dum Dum Girl"), note that the vocals were recorded live when the video was being filmed. It will always be one of my favorite videos of all time.

"TALK TALK" from THE PARTY'S OVER