Featured Essay: Same As It Ever Was? The Many Versions of Stop Making Sense

by Paul Prescott

The Talking Heads album Stop Making Sense is one of my favorite live albums. So much that I have developed an obsessive relationship with it. I would argue that this is not entirely my fault. Had Talking Heads actually released the movie soundtrack on the “soundtrack” album, then my obsession would never have developed.

However, Talking Heads decided that they wanted the Stop Making Sense “soundtrack” album to be a different entity than the actual film. This has led me on a decades long pursuit examining the different versions of the soundtrack albums that have been released over the years.

This is not a new phenomenon. Led Zeppelin has released numerous different versions of their “soundtrack” album The Song Remains the Same, that have differed significantly from the actual film. The excellent Garden Tapes website gives a complete breakdown of these differences and is the inspiration for this essay.

By the time Stop Making Sense came out in 1984, I was well versed in Talking Heads, thanks to my local college radio station. Upon the release of the Stop Making Sense album, I duly went to my local shopping mall record store to buy it. I was about to grab the vinyl album from the display when I noticed the cassette version, which was packaged with a booklet and festooned with a sticker that screamed “Limited Edition With Extended Versions.”

Extended versions? This is a live album, how can there be “extended” versions of the songs? 

It turned out that six of the album’s nine tracks were edited for the vinyl release, losing a total of almost six minutes. I suppose the marketing department would have balked at giving the vinyl album the sticker: “Edited Songs- Less Music!” The breakdown is as follows; the original CD version has the same versions as the cassette:

As an example, the vinyl version of “Girlfriend Is Better” is over ninety seconds shorter than the “Extended Version.” The vinyl version shortens the instrumental intro and outro sections and completely skips the second verse to achieve this time saving. The other shortened songs are similarly achieved through selective editing. I have no idea why “Slippery People” is listed as “Different Mix” rather than “Extended Version.” To my ears the mixes are the same.

I was quite happy with my Stop Making Sense cassette and played it regularly. The film never reached the suburban Connecticut movie theaters, so it wasn’t until the VHS tape was released in 1985, that I was able to finally see the movie. I had the songs well memorized, so I was quite surprised to notice that the versions in the movie were noticeably different from what was on the “soundtrack” album. 

The first major difference is the song “Psycho Killer.” On the album, the backing percussion is completely different, and the “breakdown” towards the end, where Byrne is staggering around the stage, is completely cut from the album. I also noticed that the mix was also significantly different. The film has louder crowd noise and the various onstage chatter between the musicians is easily heard. For me, the film really gives the impression of being right on stage with the band. For example, during Bernie Worrell’s keyboard solo in “Burning Down the House,” Chris Frantz can be heard in the film yelling, “Go Woo!” This is excised from the soundtrack album. Another example is that the bass guitar line during the chorus of “Girlfriend Is Better” has been removed from the soundtrack album.

The VHS also contained three additional songs not in the original move: “Cities” and the medley “Big Business-I Zimbra.” As I far preferred the soundtrack album, I dubbed my own cassette from the VHS tape. This tape is how I listened to Stop Making Sense for the next fourteen years. 

In 1999, a new version of Stop Making Sense was released on CD and DVD. The cover of this “Special New Edition” promised that it “contains all the songs from the classic movie.” Even though it didn’t contain the three bonus songs on the VHS tape, I was still intrigued enough to buy it.

I was immediately disappointed that the same mix differences on the original soundtrack albums were also present on the 1999 version. However, what really pissed me off was the change to “Genius of Love.” In the original film, after the second verse Chris Frantz raps:

Psychedelic and punkadelic,

Uh-huh,

And too much of that goddam Snow White,

All night.

As the previous verse mentions cocaine, the Snow White is clearly a reference to the popular recreational drug of the time.

On the 1999 soundtrack album, this was changed to:

Psychedelic and punkadelic,

Uh-huh,

And everyone is jumping out of sight,

All night.

Was this change some sort of anti-drug hysteria, or did their record label get a threatening letter from a Disney attorney? I found this edit to be completely jarring, and this made the CD unlistenable for me. Yes, this is a minor difference, but after listening to the original version innumerable times, this version was strongly imprinted upon my brain. To suddenly hear something not just different, but arbitrarily different, was sacrilege for me.

I then opted for the DVD, hoping that it would contain the original mix. The DVD mix was closer to the VHS mix, but similar to the CD, the onstage chatter had been all but completely removed. It also had the same senseless edit to “Genius of Love.”

At this point I was seriously pissed off. I wanted to listen to the original film soundtrack mix and it apparently wasn’t available. I then discovered that there was one format that had the original mix: the 1989 Japan-only LaserDisc version. A quick search on eBay showed that there were a few sealed copies still available for sale. An online search also revealed a company in Florida that would transfer LaserDisc to DVD. I contacted them and they said that they could easily transfer the LaserDisc soundtrack to CD for me. I purchased the LaserDisc from Japan and had it shipped directly to the conversion company in Florida. They sent me the CDs and the LaserDisc. Yes, this had cost me about $100, but I finally had the complete original film soundtrack with the three bonus songs.

Fast forward to 2024 and I see that Stop Making Sense is being re-released yet again. This time on Blu-Ray, and all the songs are also being released on double CD and vinyl albums. After the experience of the 1999 release, I was skeptical. However, in the interest of completeness, I figured it was worth checking to see how they differed from the original.

The new film soundtrack on the 2024 Blu-Ray does sound magnificent. The remaster is well done and it has a much fuller sound than the 1985 mix. The onstage chatter has been restored, although it is not quite as loud as the original mix. Unfortunately the “Genius of Love” edit is still there, in slightly different form. This time the Chris Frantz rap is:

Psychedelic and punkadelic,

Uh-huh,

All night.

And everybody is jumping out of sight.

Fortunately, the Blu-Ray does contain the “Jonathan Demme Extended Cut” audio track that was originally released in 1985 so it finally does have a proper re-release, complete with the cocaine reference.

The new version of the soundtrack album, however, still has many differences from the actual film. Here’s how all the versions compare:

In general the film versions have more crowd noise between tracks, hence the generally longer run times. However, a closer track-by-track analysis shows that this new version is every bit as edited as the original vinyl album.  For the new 2024 soundtrack album, about half of the songs are the same length as the film version (first beat to last beat). The other half have edits that range from eight seconds to over two-and-a-half minutes:

For example, the film version of “Take Me to the River” ends with the chorus repeated four times. On the 1999 and 2024 soundtrack albums, it has been edited down to three choruses. This means that the 2024 version of “Take Me to the River” is actually shorter than the 1984 vinyl album version which did contain all four choruses. 

A total of almost seven minutes of music have been cut, with most cuts being instrumental sections. The largest cut is the 2:20 of band introductions during “Take Me to the River.” 

I do not understand the logic behind these edits. Are they afraid that people listening will get bored if “Found a Job” or “Slippery People” are ten seconds longer? This does seem to be a recent trend where artists are editing out longer instrumental passages for recent releases of archival live recordings (Hello Peter Gabriel). 

Talking Heads also did this on the otherwise excellent CD reissue of The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads. The 1:10 slow instrumental introduction of “Crosseyed and Painless” found on the original vinyl album had been edited out of the new extended CD version. None of these edits seem to be for format restrictions (vinyl album side or CD length restrictions). At this point, my only conclusion is that Talking Heads just like to annoy me.

I am grateful that the original excellent mix of Stop Making Sense is available once again. Talking Heads fans all agree that Stop Making Sense is unmitigated genius. Listening to the soundtrack should be a similar experience. Why settle for the shorter edited “soundtrack” album when the full experience is available? Revel in the extended sections of crowd noise and the full versions of the songs. Demand the off-hand cocaine reference. As fans, we deserve nothing less.

Paul Prescott is a retired engineer from Maine. He is co-editor of an oral history book about Canadian punk rock band NoMeansNo: From Obscurity to Oblivion. He is also the editor of Ready to Die for Xiu Xiu. He currently lives in Belize.