David Byrne Shares The Talking Heads Hit Inspired By Alice Cooper

One of Talking Heads‘ biggest hits was David Bryne‘s second attempt at songwriting. Despite having doubts about making it in the music scene, the singer shared on 60 Minutes that two names played a part in making the song that changed his life; he said:

“I had no hopes of being a musician. I thought, [that] those people have proper training. They can play way better than I can; I’ll never catch up.”

Those two names were Alice Cooper and Randy Newman, and Bryne wanted to combine the two; he added:

“I think I tried to write one when I was in high school, and it was really bad. ‘Psycho Killer’ was a second attempt. It was inspired by Alice Cooper and Randy Newman. And I thought, ‘What if those two got together and wrote a song about a serial killer?'”

However, it turns out the initial inspiration for ‘Psycho Killer’ came from Cooper’s frightening stage shows. As David made progress with the song, he later imagined Cooper singing a Newman-style balled, and that was how the song came to be.

Bryne even explained his thought process of making the rack in the liner notes for the compilation album ‘Once in a Lifetime: The Best of Talking Heads’ where he wrote:

“When I started writing this (I got help later), I imagined Alice Cooper doing a Randy Newman-type ballad.”

You can watch David Byrne’s 60 Minutes interview here and listen to ‘Psycho Killer’ below.