"Genius of Love" is a 1981 hit song by

Tom Tom Club Tom Tom Club is an American new wave band founded in 1981 by husband-and-wife team Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth and as a side project from Talking Heads. Their best known songs include "Wordy Rappinghood", "Genius of Love", and a cover of T ...

from their 1981 eponymous debut album. It reached number one on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' Disco Top 80 chart.

Background

"Genius of Love" is Tom Tom Club's second single. Although the album had not been released in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, over 100,000 copies of the single sold as imports from

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

UK, at which point

Sire Records Sire Records (formerly Sire Records Company) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Records. History Beginnings The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer ...

made a deal to release the single and the album in

in late 1981.

Tina Weymouth Martina Michèle Weymouth (born November 22, 1950) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and a founding member and bassist of the new wave group Talking Heads and its side project Tom Tom Club, which she co-founded with her husband, Tal ...

sings the lead and also co-wrote the song: although she was responsible for writing the bassline and intended to play it on record, she was forced to pass on the latter task to another musician. As she related in a 1997 interview with ''Bassplayer.com'', "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 ''(Frantz)'' 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."'Tina Talks Heads, Tom Toms, and How to Succeed at Bass Without Really Trying'
- article by Gregory Isola in ''Bassplayer.com'', March 1997 (hosted on webarchive.com) The lyrics also pay tribute to many notable black musicians and singers, including George Clinton,

Bootsy Collins William Earl "Bootsy" Collins (born October 26, 1951) is an American bass guitarist and singer. Rising to prominence with James Brown in the early 1970s, and later with Parliament-Funkadelic, Collins established himself as one of the leading n ...

Smokey Robinson William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive director. He was the founder and front man of the Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he was also chief ...

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...

Sly and Robbie Sly and Robbie were a prolific Jamaican rhythm section and production duo, associated primarily with the reggae and dub genres. Drummer Sly Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare teamed up in the mid-1970s after establishing themselves separa ...

Kurtis Blow Kurtis Walker (born August 9, 1959), professionally known by his stage name Kurtis Blow, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record/film producer, b-boy, DJ, public speaker and minister. He is the first commercially successful rapper a ...

Hamilton Bohannon Hamilton Frederick Bohannon (March 7, 1942 – April 24, 2020), often credited and known professionally simply as Bohannon, was an American percussionist, band leader, songwriter, arranger, and record producer, who was one of the leading figures ...

, and

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honor ...

. Frantz and Weymouth performed the song as Tom Tom Club in the 1984

Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.Talkin ...

concert movie ''

Stop Making Sense ''Stop Making Sense'' is a 1984 American concert film featuring a live performance by the American rock band Talking Heads. Directed by Jonathan Demme, it was shot over the course of three nights at Hollywood's Pantages Theater in December 1983 ...

'', as an interlude to allow Talking Heads frontman

David Byrne David Byrne (; born 14 May 1952) is a Scottish-American singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, writer, music theorist, visual artist and filmmaker. He was a founding member and the principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of ...

to change into costume for the film's performance of "

Girlfriend is Better "Girlfriend Is Better" is a 1984 song by new wave band Talking Heads, from their fifth studio album ''Speaking in Tongues''. The song's single version was a live version, recorded at Pantages Theatre, Hollywood, from the soundtrack of their 1984 ...

Chart performance

"Genius of Love" became a commercial success that performed better than Tom Tom Club's previous singles.

Chris Frantz Charton Christopher Frantz (born May 8, 1951) is an American musician and record producer. He is the drummer for both Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club, both of which he co-founded with wife and Talking Heads bassist Tina Weymouth. In 2002, Frant ...

credited the success of the single for convincing

to "soldier on with Talking Heads". On its release in November 1981, "Genius of Love" became a huge hit in the clubs and on the R&B and dance charts worldwide, soon earning the ''Tom Tom Club'' LP a Gold Sales Award in 1982. In the U.S., the song reached No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' Disco Top 80 chart along with "

Wordy Rappinghood "Wordy Rappinghood" is the debut single by American new wave band Tom Tom Club, from their 1981 self-titled debut album. It uses part of a traditional Moroccan children's song and game, "A Ram Sam Sam", made popular by the 1971 Rolf Harris re ...

", and also reached No. 2 on the Hot Soul Singles chart. It later went on to peak at No. 31 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in April 1982, becoming Tom Tom Club's only entry on the Hot 100. "Genius of Love" reached No. 65 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, while both of the other two singles released from the ''Tom Tom Club'' LP achieved top 30 placings in the UK. A song based on the keyboards-and-bass rhythm in "Genius of Love" was later used in a long-running TV advertising campaign in the UK by the

Bird's Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, warm-blooded, egg-laying animals. Birds may also refer to: Literature * ''The Birds'' (play), an ancient Greek play by Aristophanes * ''The Birds'' (novel), a novel by Tarjei Vesaas * "The Birds" (story), ...

desserts company between 1985 and 1992, the commercials featuring a spin on the psychedelic animation of the Tom Tom Club video using rudimentary CGI. In 2002, it was also used in a popular TV commercial for

Kia Motors Kia Corporation, commonly known as Kia (, ; formerly known as Kyungsung Precision Industry and Kia Motors Corporation), is a South Korean multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It is South Korea's second lar ...

. The single also became a club success all around Europe, and peaked at number 28 in New Zealand, the first of three top 40 hits for the band there.

Music video

The official hand-drawn crayon and colored pencil animated

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for "Genius of Love" was produced by the band along with Cucumber Studios Ltd.

Personnel

– vocals, bass *

– vocals, drum machine *

Adrian Belew Robert Steven "Adrian" Belew (born December 23, 1949) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. A multi-instrumentalist primarily known as a guitarist and singer, he is noted for his unusual and impressionistic approach to ...

– guitar *

Tyrone Downie Tyrone Downie (20 May 1956 – 5 November 2022) was a Jamaican keyboardist and pianist best known for his involvement as a member of Bob Marley and The Wailers.Foster, Chuck (1999) ''Roots Rock Reggae'', Billboard Books, , p. 66, 116 He studi ...

– synthesizers *

Uziah "Sticky" Thompson Uzziah "Sticky" Thompson (1 August 1936 – 25 August 2014) was a Jamaican percussionist, vocalist and deejay active from the late 1950s. He worked with some of the best known performers of Jamaican music and played on hundreds of albums. Biog ...

– percussion *Laura Weymouth – backing vocals *Lani Weymouth – backing vocals, spoken words in gibberish (mixture of English, Korean and Japanese)

Singles

* "Genius of Love" / "Lorelei" (Instrumental) UK, 1981 (7"/12")
Discografia - Sítio Oficial
'' * "Genius of Love" / "Lorelei" (Instrumental)

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, 1981 (7"/12") * "Genius of Love" / "Lorelei" (Instrumental) Germany, 1981 (7") * "Genius of Love" / "Lorelei" (Instrumental) United States, 1981 (7"/12")

Charts

Samples

The song is one of the most sampled rhythm tracks of the 1980s, particularly within the hip hop and R&B genre. Notable versions include Dr. Jeckyl & Mr. Hyde's "Genius Rap" in 1981;

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were an American hip hop group formed in the South Bronx of New York City in 1978. The group's members were Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel, Kidd Creole (not to be confused with Kid Creole), Keef Cowboy, Sc ...

's "It's Nasty" in 1982;

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey (; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Referred to as the " Songbird Supreme", she is noted for her five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style and signature use of the whi ...

's "

Fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

" in 1995,

The X-Ecutioners The X-Ecutioners are a group of American hip hop DJs/turntablists from New York City, New York. The group formed in 1989 and currently consists of three DJs, including Total Eclipse, DJ Boogie Blind, DJ Precision. Original members of the grou ...

' "Genius of Love 2002" in 2002, and

Latto Alyssa Michelle Stephens (born December 22, 1998), professionally known as Latto or Big Latto (formerly known as Mulatto), is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. She first appeared on American rapper Jermaine Dupri's reality television s ...

's "

Big Energy "Big Energy" is a song by American rapper Latto. It was released through Streamcut and RCA Records on September 24, 2021, as the lead single from Latto's second studio album, ''777'' (2022). It was written by Latto, A1 LaFlare, Jaucquez Lowe, Ran ...

" in 2021. Other artists have incorporated "Genius of Love" into their works, including

Public Enemy "Public enemy" is a term which was first widely used in the United States in the 1930s to describe individuals whose activities were seen as criminal and extremely damaging to society, though the phrase had been used for centuries to describe p ...

's " Leave This Off Your Fuckin' Charts",

X Clan X Clan (formerly stylized as XCLAN and often incorrectly spelled X-Clan) is a hip hop group from Brooklyn, New York, originally consisting of Grand Verbalizer Funkin' Lesson Brother J, Professor X the Overseer, Paradise the Architect, and Su ...

’s “In The Ways of the Scales”, Redman's " Brick City Mashin'",

Cam'ron Cameron Ezike Giles (born February 4, 1976), better known by his stage name Cam'ron, is an American rapper, record executive, and actor from Harlem, New York City. Beginning his career in the mid-1990s as Killa Cam, Giles signed to Lance "Un" ...

's " Me, My Moms & Jimmy",

2nd II None 2nd II None is a rap group from Compton, California. It consists of cousins KK (born Kelton L. McDonald) and Gangsta D (born Deon Barnett). They were members of the Elm Street Piru Bloods.Niggaz Trippin'", Fresh Kid Ice's "Roll Call",

2Pac Tupac Amaru Shakur ( ; born Lesane Parish Crooks, June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known as 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. He is widely considered one of the most influential rappers of all time. Shakur is among the b ...

's "High Speed",

Seagram The Seagram Company Ltd. (which traded as Seagram's) was a Canadian multinational conglomerate formerly headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. Originally a distiller of Canadian whisky based in Waterloo, Ontario, it was once (in the 1990s) the lar ...

's " I Don't Give a Fuck",

Busta Rhymes Trevor George Smith Jr. (born May 20, 1972), known professionally as Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after NFL and CFL wide receiver ...

' "One",

Ant Banks Anthony Banks (born March 4, 1966) is an American record producer and rapper from Oakland, California. Biography As a child, he took part in a band at school and then learned to play a variety of instruments along the way. At school he only le ...

' "Roll 'Em Phat",

P.M. Dawn P.M. Dawn was an American hip hop and R&B act that formed in 1988 by the brothers Attrell Cordes (known by his stage name Prince Be, sometimes credited as Prince Be the Nocturnal) and Jarrett Cordes (known as DJ Minutemix) in Jersey City, New J ...

's "Gotta Be... Movin' On Up",

Menajahtwa Menajahtwa was a female rap duo from Compton, California composed of female rappers Spice and Royal T. They were signed to Eazy-E's Ruthless Records in the 1990s. History The duo made their debut in 1992 on Eazy-E's EP, '' 5150: Home 4 tha ...

's "I Ain't Nasti",

50 Cent Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, and businessman. Born in the South Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 2000, when he produced ...

's "When I Get Out",

Erick Sermon Erick Sermon (born November 25, 1968) is an American rapper, musician, and record producer. He is best known as one-third—alongside PMD & DJ Scratch—of 1980s/1990s hip hop group EPMD and for his production work. Career Sermon started profe ...

's "Genius E Dub",

Mac Dre Andre Louis Hicks (July 5, 1970 – November 1, 2004), known by his stage name Mac Dre, was an American rapper from Vallejo, California. He was an instrumental figure in the emergence of hyphy The term hyphy ( ) is Oakland slang meaning "h ...

's "Chop that Ho", Dream Warriors' "And Now the Legacy Begins", T.I.'s "Down Like That",

R.A. the Rugged Man R.A. Thorburn, better known by his stage name R.A. the Rugged Man, is an American rapper and producer. He began his music career at age 12, building a reputation locally for his lyrical skills. Thorburn signed with major label Jive Records at ...

's " Tom Thum",

Mark Morrison Mark Morrison (born 3 May 1972) is a British R&B singer. His single, "Return of the Mack", became a No. 1 or top 10 hit in several European countries in 1996. The song peaked at No. 2 in the United States the following year. Career Mark Mo ...

's "

Return of the Mack "Return of the Mack" is a song written and recorded by British R&B singer Mark Morrison, released as the third single from his debut album by the same name (1996). It topped the UK Singles Chart a month after its release, then became a Euro ...

Ice Cube An ice cube is a small piece of ice, which is typically rectangular as viewed from above and trapezoidal as viewed from the side. Ice cubes are products of mechanical refrigeration and are usually produced to cool beverages. They may be produc ...

's "

Bop Gun (One Nation) "Bop Gun (One Nation)" is the third single from American rapper, actor and filmmaker Ice Cube's fourth album, ''Lethal Injection'' (1993). The song samples the Funkadelic song "One Nation Under a Groove". It reached number six on the US ''Billboa ...

WC and the Maad Circle WC and the Maad Circle was an American hip hop group from Los Angeles, California that consisted of WC, Big Gee, Coolio and DJ Crazy Toones. History MAAD stands for ''Minority Alliance of Anti-Discrimination''. Following the dissolution of Low ...

's "Curb Servin'",

Warren G Warren Griffin III (born November 10, 1970) is an American rapper and producer known for his role in West Coast rap's 1990s ascent.Steve Huey"Warren G: Biography" ''AllMusic.com'', Netaktion LLC, visited May 8, 2020. Along with Snoop Dogg and N ...

's "

What's Love Got to Do with It What's Love Got to Do with It may refer to: *Tina Turner: ** "What's Love Got to Do with It" (song), a 1984 song by Tina Turner ** ''What's Love Got to Do with It'' (1993 film), a biographical film about Tina Turner ** ''What's Love Got to Do with ...

", the D-Influence Real Live Mix of Billie's "

Girlfriend A girlfriend is a female friend, acquaintance or partner, usually a female companion with whom one is platonically, romantically, or sexually involved. In a romantic context, this normally signifies a committed relationship where the indi ...

", and

Paramore Paramore is an American rock band from Franklin, Tennessee, formed in 2004. The band currently consists of lead vocalist Hayley Williams, guitarist Taylor York and drummer Zac Farro. Williams and Farro are founding members of the group, whil ...

's "

Rose-Colored Boy "Rose-Colored Boy" is a song by American rock band Paramore. It was released on March 2, 2018, through Fueled by Ramen as the fourth single off their fifth studio album, ''After Laughter'' (2017). Composition "Rose-Colored Boy" has been described ...

", during their shows at the '' After Laughter Tour''.

In other media

The song's musical bridge, which contains a repeated chant of "Bohannon", was one of several theme songs used for many years by a syndicated U.S.

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

program hosted by

Jim Bohannon James Everett Bohannon (January 7, 1944 – November 12, 2022) was an American broadcaster who worked in both television and radio. He is best known for hosting the nationally syndicated late night radio talk show ''The Jim Bohannon Show'' orig ...

. However, the chant was a reference to record producer and disco pioneer

References

External links

Official Discography
by

Review A review is an evaluation of a publication, product, service, or company or a critical take on current affairs in literature, politics or culture. In addition to a critical evaluation, the review's author may assign the work a content rating, ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

Song Page
at

WhoSampled WhoSampled is a website and app database of information about sampled music or sample-based music, cover songs and remixes. History Nadav Poraz founded the site in London, England in 2008, as a way to track musical samples and cover songs. ...

{{authority control 1980 songs 1981 singles Animated music videos Tom Tom Club songs Songs written by Adrian Belew Songs written by Chris Frantz Songs written by Tina Weymouth Songs written by Steven Stanley Post-disco songs Music videos directed by Annabel Jankel Music videos directed by Rocky Morton Sire Records singles Warner Records singles Funk songs