Last updated March 18, 1998
Yes, it's them again. Like a thorn in the chart's flesh, sticking in the rump end of the top 100, Talk Talk have returned. The pesky threesome always manage it, coming back after constant critical lashing and public misunderstanding.
This time they're rearing their ugly heads (their words, not mine) with 'Dum Dum Girl' which has absolutely nothing to do with bullets or stupid women. And it's certainly going to do nothing to discourage the image of mainman Mark Hollis as a bit of a misery guts.
'It's My Life', the album, seemed to send reviewers reeling into a downward spiral of despondency. Does Mark enjoy making people feel depressed ? "I don't think I make people feel miserable, I really don't," he counters. "I don't think it's about misery...it's soul, that's where it all comes from. It's sad because that's what soul music is. You look at Otis Redding's 'Try A Little Tenderness' and 'I've Been Loving You Too Long', it's all love, innit ? It's got to be.
"'Dum Dum Girl' isn't miserable, I just think of it as an anti-prostitution song, that's what it is. I think the songs have got to be sung with feeling, so they've got to be written with feeling."
So Talk Talk seem irrevocably stuck with a doomy image. Are they really so terribly misunderstood ? "I don't even know if it matters any more if people misunderstand us," says Mark, determinedly. "We don't really care. This three years since we signed with EMI has been a wising-up process. We've met people along the way who've actually realized what we're talking about, so we work with them. Like with Tim Pope and the videos, he's a good boy, he understands where we're at. And with the records what matters is that we make what we think is a good record."
Such a shame, as the song goes. Doesn't it stick in the craw just a teensy bit, Mark ? "It is a shame a lot of people out there don't actually understand what the music is about. I just don't think we've got time to worry about it any more. Who gives a toss, as Shakespeare once said..." Profound, Mark, profound....
"What we're trying to do is put a load of different areas of music together. But what that means is that we don't know what the market is for that material. To me, the best music takes as little as it can from as many different areas as it can, 'cos nothing's original. That's why it's difficult for people to know where we're at 'cos we do take from a wider area."
And there's always been this little problem of image. TT now avoid the issue by using distinctly surrealistic illustrations on all their artwork. So what on earth can Joe Public think when he looks at them ? Mark : "I don't think many of them ever see us. we use illustrations because it says a lot more about the music than having us three on the front, smiling. I'm aware of the anonymity thing, which I think is wrong, I'm aware that people should think 'I like that record, and he's alright', but that's not what music should base itself on."
Never mind. They seem to be getting through to somebody, somewhere, adhering to the simple formula of making records for the sake of it. "I think Eno's been doing it for years," Mark says, in their defence.
The way Mark works these days is heavily influenced by Luke Reinhardt's classic novel, 'The Dice Man', all about a chap who puts his entire life in the hands of a pair of dice. Talk Talk's video for their previous single 'Such A Shame' was done with Mark playing different roles as dictated by the dice, in a very spontaneous way. Had he ever thought of extending the dice influence into the writing of songs?
"In actual fact, there was a little bit of that in 'Shame', one line comes from the book, about trembling hands. I thought the imagery was good and I liked the way it related to the book directly."
Ah, there's more to these boys than meets the die (groan). But Mark still likes songs to say it all. In America that's all they seem to worry about; not only have TT soared to the top of the US Dance Charts recently, but they also make a fair showing in the actual Top 100 an' all. So what do they call 'em in the States?
Mark : "New wave. I like that, it's just like being called contemporary. That's fine, it dates you to a period rather than a type. 'Pop band' is such a horrible description. To me it means bland, disposable, instant, not very long lasting. We're an albums band, I only worked it out today - it's because we don't release our best tracks as singles!"
So Talk Talk are not a pop band, OK? And I think a man who honestly feels that smashing a tambourine to smithereens onstage is the ultimate statement has to be believed.
Betty Page