Baker's Dozen

Artists discuss the 13 records that shaped their lives

9. Talking HeadsStop Making Sense

This album’s the fun side of me seeking my independence. It’s my friend and I driving around in her little car, 1994 or 1995, with real freedom.

There’s a lot of fun in my life now, but the kind of fun you experience when you leave your parents’ house for the first couple of years, it’s like… there’s just no other fun like it. You have no idea what’s headed your way, and there’s no sense of consequence really. I felt really in the present moment back then. I hadn’t chosen my career path, I think that was a big part of it. In the marketplace there’s this thing, you have to fit somewhere, so that changes your relationship to music – at least it did for me. I’m not sure if anyone has escaped the need to fit into this mechanism. It changes the way I listen to music, it changes whether or not I listen to it. I don’t listen freely like I used to. It’s not a clean relationship anymore, it’s not an innocent relationship anymore.

Stop Making Sense signifies the light-hearted me living hand to mouth, rockin’ around with my sweetest friend, and singin’ along.

Selected in other Baker’s Dozens: Andy Bell, Vashti Bunyan, El P
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