History Music / TrueStories

** The track name "Radio Head" might ring a bell to younger listeners, given that it served as the namesake of [[Music/{{Radiohead}} one of the most popular alternative rock bands since the mid-1990s]]. During his induction of Radiohead into the 2019 Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, David Byrne expressed a longstanding lighthearted sense of bewilderment at the fact that they chose ''that'' particular song, bemusedly describing it as a Tex-Mex ditty that he never held in much regard.

''True Stories'' is the seventh album by American AlternativeRock band Music/TalkingHeads, released in 1986. Despite having the same name as [[Film/TrueStories the film]] released that same year, which Talking Heads frontman David Byrne both directed and starred in, and despite the fact that every song on the album is featured in the film, it is not a true soundtrack album. Only three of its songs ("Wild Wild Life" "Love For Sale", and "City of Dreams", in film order) were used as-is in the movie; the rest were re-recorded by a variety of other artists for use in the film.

* CoversAlwaysLie: The back of the North American CD release by Creator/SireRecords features a stock disclaimer stating that the album was recorded on analog equipment and that any problems with the sound quality is simply owed to the source tape. However, the album was actually recorded with digital equipment, one of two Talking Heads albums to be made this way (alongside its follow-up, ''Music/{{Naked}}''). Meanwhile, the concurrent international CD by Creator/{{EMI}} correctly sports a SPARS code of DDD (i.e. digitally recorded, digitally mixed, and digitally mastered) on its own back cover.

Regarding the Talking Heads album, ''True Stories'' continues the shift away from the eccentric PostPunk that defined the band's 1977-1983 output, a change in sound that had been instigated by the previous album, ''Music/LittleCreatures''. Doing away with the latter's CountryMusic influences (save for the penultimate track, "People Like Us"), the album presents the most mainstream-friendly album that Talking Heads ever put out, though still retaining the quirkiness from the band's prior output. At the same time however, the album also hints at the fascination with Latin music and culture displayed in Talking Heads' next and final album, ''Music/{{Naked}}'', as well as Byrne's solo albums ''Rei Momo'' and ''Uh-Oh''. With the use of GratuitousSpanish in "Papa Legba" and the Tejano influences visible in "Hey Now" and "Radio Head", the album preludes to the more expansive exploration of Latin rhythms and instrumentation that Byrne would implement throughout the turn of the decade. Thus, ''True Stories'' can be thought of as a transitional album, sitting between the country-influenced pop rock of ''Little Creatures'' and the ''Music/RemainInLight''-esque blend of PostPunk & NewWaveMusic with Latin funk throughout ''Naked''.

* VariantCover: Cassette releases feature a revised version of the front cover that includes both the band name and album title in rectangular bars on the front, with the colors of the text and background swapped around (namely, "Talking" and "True" are in white text against a red backdrop, while "Heads" and "Stories" are in black text against a white backdrop). A modified version of this is also used for international CD releases by Creator/{{EMI}}; Creator/SireRecords' US [=CDs=], meanwhile, stick with the LP cover.

** The track name "Radio Head" might ring a bell to younger listeners, given that it served as the namesake of [[Music/{{Radiohead}} one of the most popular alternative rock bands of the mid-1990's]]. During his induction of Radiohead into the 2019 Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, David Byrne expressed a longstanding lighthearted sense of bewilderment at the fact that they chose ''that'' particular song, bemusedly describing it as a Tex-Mex ditty that he never held in much regard.

-->'''Music/DavidByrne''' in the Talking Heads album's liner notes, explaining the complicated situation behind it.

* CallBack: The shot of the janitor trying out some very David Byrne-in-''Film/StopMakingSense''-style dance movies.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The film's scene for "Wild Wild Life", later repurposed as the song's music video when it was released as a single, had band members pretending to be popular musicians like Music/{{Prince}} and Music/BillyIdol.

** "Puzzlin' Evidence" name-drops Creator/{{CBS}}, Creator/{{ABC}}, ''Time'', and ''Newsweek''. The song title itself is also taken from a character in the lore for the Church of the [=SubGenius=], in which "Puzzlin' Evidence" is the name of the man who assassinates figurehead J.R. "Bob" Dobbs.

* SpecialGuest: Music/MeatLoaf in the video for "Wild Wild Life".

* UpdatedReRelease: The 2005 remastered version adds two extra bonus tracks in the form of the film versions of "Papa Legba" and "Radio Head", making this the only official audio release of any music from the film (beyond "Love for Sale", "Wild Wild Life", and "City of Dreams") prior to the 2018 soundtrack release.

# "Love For Sale" (4:30)

# "City Of Dreams" (5:06)

# "City Of Steel" (3:34)

# "Love Theme From ''True Stories''" (1:28)

# "Love For Sale" (4:31)
# "Soy De Tejas" (2:45)

# "City Of Dreams" (5:08)

[-Note: CD releases are on a single disc-]

* UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheories: "Puzzlin' Evidence" plays off of the idea of a church preacher believing in every possible conspiracy he can think of regarding mass media and commercialism, as portrayed in the film.

* EpicRocking: "Puzzlin' Evidence", "Papa Legba", and "City of Dreams" on the Talking Heads album, and "Mall Muzak", "Papa Legba", and "City of Dreams" on the 2018 soundtrack album.

* WordSaladLyrics: A mild example on "Hey Now"; whatever "space face" and "cherry face" means is never actually explained, though they respectively sound sorta like a children's attraction and a type of candy. The oddly disjointed nature of the lyrics in "Hey Now" tie in with the fact that the song appears in the film as a tune being sung by a crowd of young boys, and it's entirely likely that the song isn't ''supposed'' to make sense specifically ''because'' it's meant to be sung by literal children.

** The video for "Wild Wild Life" features a scene of Jerry Harrison miming a Music/{{Prince}} impersonation, complete with goatee and frilly costume. Another actor appears in the video imitating Music/BillyIdol.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/talking_heads_true_stories_a_film_by_david_byrne_the_complete_soundtrack.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Love is here, c'mon and try it! I got love for sale!"'' (top: the 1986 Talking Heads album; bottom: the 2018 film soundtrack)]]

Regarding the Talking Heads album, ''True Stories'' continues the shift away from the eccentric PostPunk that defined the band's 1977-1983 output, a change in sound that had been instigated by the previous album, ''Music/LittleCreatures''. Doing away with the latter's CountryMusic influences (save for the penultimate track, "People Like Us"), the album presents the most mainstream-friendly album that Talking Heads ever put out, though still retaining the quirkiness from the band's prior output. As a result, ''True Stories'' exists as the black sheep of the band's studio discography, having received middling to outright hostile reviews from critics. Fans are more kind to the album, agreeing that it's still a decent pop rock record on its own merits and -- especially in hindsight -- an amusing riff on 1980's materialism. However, nonetheless the general consensus is that ''True Stories'' is Talking Heads' artistic nadir.

At the same time however, the album also hints at the fascination with Latin music and culture displayed in Talking Heads' next and final album, ''Music/{{Naked}}'', as well as Byrne's solo albums ''Rei Momo'' and ''Uh-Oh''. With the use of GratuitousSpanish in "Papa Legba" and the Tejano influences visible in "Hey Now" and "Radio Head", the album preludes to the more expansive exploration of Latin rhythms and instrumentation that Byrne would implement throughout the turn of the decade. Thus, ''True Stories'' can be thought of as a transitional album, sitting between the country-influenced pop rock of ''Little Creatures'' and the ''Music/RemainInLight''-esque blend of PostPunk & NewWaveMusic with Latin funk throughout ''Naked''.

''True Stories'' is the seventh album by the American music band Music/TalkingHeads, released in 1986. Despite having the same name as [[Film/TrueStories the film]] released that same year, which Talking Heads frontman David Byrne both directed and starred in, and despite the fact that every song on the album is featured in the film, it is not a true soundtrack album. Only three of its songs ("Wild Wild Life" "Love For Sale", and "City of Dreams", in film order) were used as-is in the movie; the rest were re-recorded by a variety of other artists for use in the film.

Regarding the Talking Heads album, ''True Stories'' continues the shift away from the eccentric PostPunk that defined the band's 1977-1983 output, a change in sound that had been instigated by the previous album, ''Music/LittleCreatures''. Put simply, the result is even more blatantly poppy than ''Little Creatures'', doing away with the latter's CountryMusic influences (save for the penultimate track, "People Like Us") and presenting the most mainstream-friendly album that Talking Heads ever put out, though still retaining the quirkiness from the band's prior output. As a result, ''True Stories'' exists as the black sheep of the band's studio discography, having received middling to outright hostile reviews from critics. Fans are more kind to the album, agreeing that it's still a decent pop rock record on its own merits and -- especially in hindsight -- an amusing riff on 1980's materialism. However, nonetheless the general consensus is that ''True Stories'' is Talking Heads' artistic nadir.