Tom Tom Club is an American new wave band founded in 1981 by husband-and-wife team

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 ...

and

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 ...

and as a side project from

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

. Their best known songs include "

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 r ...

", "

Genius of Love "Genius of Love" is a 1981 hit song by Tom Tom Club from their 1981 eponymous debut album. It reached number one on the '' Billboard'' Disco Top 80 chart. Background "Genius of Love" is Tom Tom Club's second single. Although the album had not ...

", and a

cover Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

The Drifters The Drifters are several American doo-wop and R&B/Soul music, soul vocal groups. They were originally formed as a backing group for Clyde McPhatter, formerly the lead tenor of Billy Ward and his Dominoes in 1953. The second group of Drifters, f ...

' " Under the Boardwalk", all released on their 1981 debut album ''

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 ...

''.

History

Formation and debut

Originally established as a side project from

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

, Tom Tom Club comprised a loose aggregation of musicians, sound engineers, and artists of the

Compass Point All Stars Compass Point Studios was a music recording studio in the Bahamas, founded in 1977 by Chris Blackwell, the owner of Island Records. The concept of the studio was of a recording facility supported by in-house sets of artists, musicians, producer ...

family, including Tina Weymouth's sisters and guitarist

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 ...

, the latter of whom toured with Weymouth and Frantz in the expanded version of Talking Heads in 1980 and 1981. Named after the dancehall in

the Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

where they rehearsed for the first time while on hiatus from Talking Heads in 1980, Tom Tom Club enjoyed early success in the dance club culture of the early 1980s with the hits "

" and "

", both of which were taken from their self-titled first album released on

Sire Sire is an archaic respectful form of address to reigning kings in Europe. In French and other languages it is less archaic and relatively more current. In Belgium, the king is addressed as "Sire..." in both Dutch and French. The words "sire" a ...

and

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

in the United States and

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 ...

elsewhere in 1981. Despite being dismissed by 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 ...

for its more commercial direction, the album was a moderate success, peaking at No. 23 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and certified gold by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

. "Genius of Love" has been sampled or reinterpreted by many artists, including

L'Trimm L'Trimm was a Miami bass hip-hop duo composed of Bunny D and Lady Tigra. Originally from Coconut Grove, Florida (origin neighborhood of the City of Miami), they recorded three albums for Atlantic Records: ''Grab It!'' in 1988 (which is certifi ...

, Redman,

Funkdoobiest Funkdoobiest was an American hip hop group from Los Angeles, California, United States, composed of rappers Jason "Son Doobie" Vasquez, Tyrone "Tomahawk Funk" Pacheco and DJ Ralph "Tha Phunky Mexican" Medrano. They are members of the Soul Assassi ...

Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers were a Jamaican-American reggae family group whose line-up consisted of the children of musicians, Bob Marley and Rita Marley, which includes lead singer Ziggy Marley with Sharon Marley, Cedella Marley, and ...

in "Tumblin' Down", the 12" Remix, and

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 ...

in her hit single "

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 ...

as well as Mark Morrison in Return of the Mack". "It's Nasty" (1982) by

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 ...

was one of the early hip-hop versions of the song; however, it was re-recorded by a live band, as interpolation and not sampling (using the actual original recording) was the more common practice at the time. Another version, "Genius Rap" (1981), by Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde, was the first cover version.

Max B Charley Wingate (born May 21, 1978), better known by his stage name Max B (short for Max Biggaveli), is an American rapper and singer. He is best known for his solo ''Public Domain'' and ''Million Dollar Baby'' series of mixtapes, and introduc ...

also sampled "Genius of Love" in his single "Get Outta Jail". Early British pressings of the first Tom Tom Club album featured shorter versions of "Genius of Love" and "Wordy Rappinghood", but to capitalize on the club success of these songs, Island Records reissued the album with the full 12-inch versions in 1982. A new single, a cover version of

' " Under the Boardwalk", which was the group's second and final UK Top 40 hit, replaced another song "Booming and Zooming". The US version did not contain these modifications until the album was released on

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...

in the 1990s. "Genius of Love" was featured in the 1984 Talking Heads concert film ''

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 ...

'' (filmed in December 1983). Frantz and Weymouth were credited as Tom Tom Club, but in this case the band was simply Talking Heads minus Byrne.

''Close to the Bone''

The following year, the group released a follow-up, '' Close to the Bone'', which was similar in style to their first album but did not fare as well, though " The Man with the Four Way Hips" was a minor hit on urban radio in the United States. The album was released on cassette and vinyl and was not released on CD until May 2009, as part of a Deluxe Edition package of Tom Tom Club's first album. The original British vinyl album was released in six different colors. One of the album's singles, "Pleasure of Love", was sampled in "Turning You On", by the

Treacherous Three The Treacherous Three was a pioneering American hip hop group that was formed in 1978 and consisted of DJ Easy Lee, Kool Moe Dee, L.A. Sunshine, Special K and Spoonie Gee (who left in the late 1970s), with occasional contributions from DJ Da ...

. As it happened with "It's Nasty", the sample was re-recorded by a live band rather than just taken from the original recording.

''Boom Boom Chi Boom Boom'' and ''Dark Sneak Love Action''

There was then a four-year gap until the band's next album, the first version of ''

Boom Boom Chi Boom Boom ''Boom Boom Chi Boom Boom'' is the third studio album by Tom Tom Club, released in 1988. It includes a cover of the Velvet Underground's "Femme Fatale", with David Byrne, Lou Reed, and Jerry Harrison. The track "Suboceana" was released as a single ...

'', released in 1988. By this stage, the band's non-US deal with Island had expired and the album was released outside the United States on

Fontana Fontana may refer to: Places Italy *Fontana Liri, comune in the Province of Frosinone *Fontanafredda, comune in the Province of Pordenone *Fontanarosa, comune in the Province of Avellino *Francavilla Fontana, comune in the Province of Brindisi * ...

PolyGram PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be a ...

. On the album, the group adapted a more conventional rock style with a harder edged sound and a hint of menace in the lyrics of some songs. The group's line-up was also solidified along more conventional commercial lines. Whereas the previous two albums had been recorded by a loose collective of a dozen musicians, the band was now reduced to the trio of Weymouth, Frantz, and Weymouth's sister Laura Weymouth. Members Bruce Martin and Victoria Clamp were part of the recording of this album and there were a number of prominent guest musicians on the record, including

Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. ...

and Talking Heads' front man

on a cover of Reed's "

Femme Fatale A ''femme fatale'' ( or ; ), sometimes called a maneater or vamp, is a stock character of a mysterious, beautiful, and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, deadly traps. She is an archetype of ...

". The fourth member of Talking Heads,

Jerry Harrison Jeremiah Griffin Harrison (born February 21, 1949) is an American songwriter, musician, producer, and entrepreneur. He began his professional music career as a member of the cult band the Modern Lovers before becoming keyboardist and guitarist ...

, also featured on some tracks. As with ''Close to the Bone'', the album was not a commercial success although "Suboceana" received some radio play, mainly in the UK, and the single "Don't Say No" made the UK Singles Chart (Tom Tom Club's fifth, and to date final, single to do so). The album was the first Tom Tom Club album to be issued on CD and the Japanese CD version featured an added bonus track, the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

"Devil, Does Your Dog Bite?", which was also featured on the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

to the film ''

Married to the Mob ''Married to the Mob'' is a 1988 American crime comedy film directed by Jonathan Demme, and starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Matthew Modine, Dean Stockwell, Mercedes Ruehl, and Alec Baldwin. Pfeiffer plays Angela de Marco, a gangster's widow from ...

''. "Suboceana" and " Don't Say No" were also remixed for dance clubs in Deep House and Acid House styles respectively by

house music House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...

pioneer

Marshall Jefferson Marshall Julius Jefferson (born September 19, 1959) is an American musician, working in the house music subgenres of Chicago house and deep house. Biography Sometimes known as the father of house music, Jefferson was originally a record produce ...

in 1988. The following year, in a bid to recapture the attention of the US market, the group and Sire Records decided to issue a radically altered version of the album in the United States. The US version of ''Boom Boom Chi Boom Boom'' replaced four songs with four others, one of which, "I Confess", was a total overhaul of the original album's "Mighty Teardrop". The running order of the rest of the album was shuffled while the artwork was revamped. However, the changes had little effect on the album's US commercial success. In 1991, Frantz and Weymouth built the Clubhouse, a painting and music studio, over their garage near Gamecock Island, Connecticut. In 1992, they released the fourth Tom Tom Club album, '' Dark Sneak Love Action'', which included a cover of

Hot Chocolate Hot chocolate, also known as hot cocoa or drinking chocolate, is a heated drink consisting of shaved chocolate, melted chocolate or cocoa powder, heated milk or water, and usually a sweetener like whipped cream or marshmallows. Hot chocolate ...

's "

You Sexy Thing "You Sexy Thing" is a song recorded by British group Hot Chocolate. It was written by lead singer Errol Brown and bass guitarist Tony Wilson, and was produced by Mickie Most. The song was released in October 1975 as the second single from thei ...

". The album focused on the burgeoning

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often ch ...

music scene. A single, "Sunshine and Ecstasy", featured remixes by

Roger Sanchez Roger Sanchez (born June 1, 1967) is a Dominican-American house music DJ, remixer and producer. He won a Grammy Award for his remix of "Hella Good" by No Doubt in 2003, and is best known for his song " Another Chance", which was an internationa ...

''The Good, the Bad, and the Funky'' and present activities

The group's next album, '' The Good, the Bad, and the Funky'', was released in 2000 and featured

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

s of

Donna Summer LaDonna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948May 17, 2012), known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the " Queen of Disco", while her mus ...

's " Love to Love You Baby" and

Lee "Scratch" Perry Lee "Scratch" Perry (born Rainford Hugh Perry; 20 March 1936 – 29 August 2021) was a Jamaican record producer, composer and singer noted for his innovative studio techniques and production style. Perry was a pioneer in the 1970s development o ...

's "Soul Fire". One of the album's tracks, "Who Feelin' It", was also featured in remixed form in

the soundtrack album ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

of the 2000 film ''

American Psycho ''American Psycho'' is a novel by Bret Easton Ellis, published in 1991. The story is told in the first person by Patrick Bateman, a serial killer and Manhattan investment banker. Alison Kelly of ''The Observer'' notes that while "some countr ...

''. Among the musicians on ''The Good, the Bad, and the Funky'' are Jamaican singer Mystic Bowie,

Charles Pettigrew Charles & Eddie were an American soul music duo composed of Charles Pettigrew and Eddie Chacon. Their single " Would I Lie to You?", taken from their 1992 debut album, ''Duophonic'', won Ivor Novello Awards in 1993 in the Best Contemporary Song, ...

and

Toots Hibbert Frederick Nathaniel Hibbert, (8 December 1942 – 11 September 2020), better known as Toots Hibbert, was a Jamaican singer and songwriter who was the lead vocalist for the reggae and ska band Toots and the Maytals. A reggae pioneer, he perform ...

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. The album's release was followed by one European and several American tours. Tom Tom Club also recorded a cover of Phish's "Sand" for a benefit CD, helping them bring in a new, jamband audience. In 2002, Frantz and Weymouth, along with their former Talking Heads bandmates, were inducted into the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and othe ...

. A complete live concert was released in 2003 on the double CD ''Live @ the Clubhouse'', recorded at Tom Tom Club's regular hide-out studio, the Clubhouse in Connecticut, in front of an audience of fifty guests. Since then, Tom Tom Club has done incidental live shows. In 2007, the band released a special Christmas single called "Mistletunes", containing two specially recorded Christmas songs: " Il est né" and "Christmas in the Club", which featured Mystic Bowie and scratcher/ turntableist Kid Ginseng (Weymouth and Frantz's son, Robin). The single was released by Dutch indie label La La Land Records, which was founded by the former Tom Tom Club merchandise crew. In 2009, a deluxe expanded edition of the band's first album was released, with ''Close to the Bone'' added on disc 2. That marked the first time the latter was ever released on CD in its entirety. On September 28, 2010, the band released ''Genius of Live'' on

Nacional Records Nacional Records is an independent record label based in Los Angeles, California. It is home to numerous artists including Manu Chao, Grammy-nominated Mexican electronica group Nortec Collective, Colombian rock band Aterciopelados, Argentine rock ...

. The album featured tracks from the album ''Live @ the Clubhouse'' as well as remix tributes of "Genius of Love" by such artists as

Ozomatli Ozomatli is an American rock band, formed in 1995 in Los Angeles. They are known both for their vocal activist viewpoints and incorporating a wide array of musical styles – including salsa, jazz, funk, reggae, hip hop, and others. The group ...

Nortec Collective Nortec Collective was a musical ensemble formed by various individual one- or two-man production projects. The group came together in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. Their genre mixes electronic music with musical elements and instrumentation o ...

, Kinky,

Mexican Institute of Sound Mexican Institute of Sound (MIS; es, Instituto Mexicano del Sonido — ''IMS'') is an electronic music project created by Mexico City-based DJ and producer Camilo Lara. Along with groups like Nortec Collective and Kinky, M.I.S. is part of a gr ...

Money Mark Mark Ramos Nishita (born February 10, 1960), known professionally as Money Mark, is an American producer and musician, best known for his collaborations with the Beastie Boys from 1992 until 2011. Early life Born in Detroit to a Japanese-Hawai ...

and

The Pinker Tones The Pinker Tones is an alternative pop band from Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. They have released six albums to this date, and have been included on many more. "Sampleame" is featured in most versions of EA Sports game '' FIFA 11''. Artists and ...

. Their first studio material in twelve years, ''Downtown Rockers'', was released in 2012 on Nacional Records and featured guitarist Pablo Martin and keyboard player Bruce Martin.

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

* 2003: ''Live @ the Clubhouse'' * 2010-09-28: ''Genius of Live''

Singles

References

External links

*
Tom Tom Club collection
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

's live music archive * * {{Authority control American dance music groups American new wave musical groups Fontana Records artists Island Records artists Musical groups established in 1981 Rykodisc artists Sire Records artists Talking Heads PolyGram artists Nacional Records artists Reprise Records artists Warner Records artists American pop music groups