6 September 2021

Band: TOM TOM CLUB
Who: Side project of Talking Heads members
Chris Frantz (drummer) and Tina Weymouth (bassist)
Active: Since 1981 / 6 studio albums

Single: GENIUS OF LOVE
More than 31 million spins on Spotify

Released: 6 September 1981 – 40 years ago today – except
in the USA where it came out, along with the self-titled debut
album, later in that year following the fact that over more than
100.000 copies of the single were sold via import. Eventually
Genius Of Love topped the Billboard Disco Top 80 chart.

Tina Weymouth about being incapable of playing the bassline she
wrote herself: “We were given extremely limited studio time – just three days –
and when it was time to do that track my whole right arm seized up in a terrible
cramp, and I couldn’t play. I had never played in the studio around the clock like
we were doing, so I didn’t even know that could happen. I ended up waking the
assistant engineer – he was asleep under the console – and I showed him the
part, and he played it. Chris was mad, but I really couldn’t play; my hand
wouldn’t even close. So we did what we had to do. These things happen.”

Here comes the genius of Tom Tom Club…

TOM TOM CLUB: History