From their earliest days, Talking Heads were a band that defied categorization. Playing in New York during the height of the mid-1970s punk scene, Talking Heads were a preppy-looking trio that became a punk band by association. Despite being musically different, Talking Heads' minimalist sound, their musical combination of energy and intelligence, and their self-conscious and unpretentious demeanor connected them to punk. Some critics tried using the term "Art Rock" to describe the band's intellectual approach to their music, but the term fell short: Talking Heads were cerebral, but they were also eminently danceable, too. Like the characters in their songs, Talking Heads' music dramatized the human predicament of the duel between head and heart.

David Byrne (vocals and guitar), Tina Weymouth (bass), and Chris Frantz (drums) began as a trio in 1975, after dropping out of the Rhode Island School of Design and relocating to...