Mary Harron, 1980, ‘Pop Art/Art Pop: The Andy Warhol Connection’ in Hoskyn, 2003, The Sound and the Fury: A Rock’s Backpages Reader, Bloomsbury
No Warhol – no Roxy Music no Bowie no Talking Heads…(list incomplete)
I was lucky enough to see Talking Heads at the Hammersmith Palais in December 1980. They were stunning. Musically rounded and colourful. They smiled. They got off on the audience reaction. It has to be one of my favourite gigs.
Harron in her article argues that a significant difference between London and New York groups at the time was the respective stances on society, politics and moral issues. Young UK groups were apparently earnest and serious whereas their US counterparts taking from Warhol were largely curious and ironic.
Too neat of course but of everyone knows that Andy Warhol did play a crucial part in the creation of the most interesting pop and rock music of that era. Not a svengali but simply a fascinating human being.