How Talking Heads preempted R.E.M.’s satirical proclamation of the end of the world
In R.E.M.‘s 1987 track ‘It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)’, an apocalyptic aura infiltrates a whirlwind of words while its rapid-fire velocity propels listeners through a stream of consciousness, serving as a musical reflection on, as the title suggests, the end of the world. However, two years before R.E.M. dropped one of the world’s most iconic tongue-in-cheek dystopian works, Talking Heads shared the same sentiment on their single ‘Road To Nowhere’.
As a deceptively bouncy pop-rock song about facing a dire future with optimism, ‘Road To Nowhere’ envisions future-gazing towards darkness as something that can be done with positivity. “I wanted to write a song that presented a resigned, even joyful look at doom,” recalls David Byrne in the liner notes of Once in a Lifetime: The Best of Talking Heads. “At our deaths and at the apocalypse… (always looming, folks). I think it succeeded. The front bit, the white gospel choir, is kind of tacked on, ’cause I didn’t think the rest of the song was enough… I mean, it was only two chords. So, out of embarrassment or shame, I wrote an intro section that had a couple more in it.”
Byrne’s evident macabre outlook laced with dichotomous optimism added a level of intrigue to the song’s overall appeal; its subject matter may be dark, but the song itself is catchy and inviting. Michael Stipe shared the same approach when writing ‘It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)’, though much of its inception was conjured within a dream. During an interview in 1990, he claimed that the ‘L.B.’ references came from a dream he had in which there were a series of famous people who all shared those initials.
“The words come from everywhere,” Stipe explained in 2002. “I’m extremely aware of everything around me, whether I am in a sleeping state, awake, dream-state or just in day-to-day life, so that ended up in the song along with a lot of stuff I’d seen when I was flipping TV channels. It’s a collection of streams of consciousness.”
For Byrne, however, once he had the chorus for ‘Road To Nowhere’, the rest of the song fell together. The four lines that started the whole thing and became the chorus were the haunting echoes: “We’re on a road to nowhere /Come on inside /Takin’ that ride to nowhere /We’ll take that ride.”
However, drummer Chris Frantz often disagreed with Byrne’s story, claiming that it had a different origin entirely. Whatever the truth may be, ‘Road To Nowhere’ captures Byrne’s intentions of looking upon doom with lightheartedness and even hope within its reflected themes of self-discovery, journey, and the search for meaning.
Though R.E.M. would later put their own spin on apocalyptic storytelling, both entries masterfully tackle the subject with effortless upbeat rhythms which almost mask their true meanings. However, perhaps that’s what music is all about; maybe ‘Road To Nowhere’ and ‘It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)’ exist as a testament to the art form’s hilarity in the face of danger. Either way, Talking Heads clearly saw the value of remaining cheery at the prospect of a dark future in 1985, but by 1987, R.E.M.’s reimagining was considerably more ironic and amusing.
