Tom Tom Club

Compass Point

Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth formed Tom Tom Club in 1981 as a side project of Talking Heads, named after a Bahamian dancehall where they rehearsed in 1980 during a Talking Heads hiatus. With David Byrne working with Brian Eno and Jerry Harrison planning a solo album, Frantz has said the rhythm section decided to record something. Robert Palmer got Island boss Chris Blackwell to see Talking Heads, and Blackwell invited the two to Compass Point Studios in Nassau to record a single. They aimed for a record that was good for dancing at New York clubs such as the Mud Club and Danceteria. Weymouth told The Quietus we didn't want to sound like our other band and compete with that. Lee Scratch Perry was booked to produce "Genius of Love" but never arrived.

"Wordy Rappinghood" came out first, in February 1981, and reached seven in the UK. The debut album followed in 1981 on Island in the UK and Sire in the US, and "Genius of Love" appears as an interlude in the 1984 film Stop Making Sense. Later albums were Close to the Bone (1983), Boom Boom Chi Boom Boom (1988), Dark Sneak Love Action (May 26, 1992), The Good, the Bad, and the Funky (September 12, 2000) and Downtown Rockers (September 4, 2012). They built a studio over their garage in Connecticut in 1991, the Clubhouse. Frantz and Weymouth entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Talking Heads in 2002, Frantz's memoir Remain in Love appeared in 2020, and a box set, Let There Be Love, is due August 7, 2026.