3 album covers in our archive
Talking Heads is featured in Behind the Covers' archive with 3 album covers spanning the 1970s and 1980s. Released across Sire Records, the artwork sits in the rock, alternative, electronic tradition. Each cover is documented in our archive with design notes covering photocopy, conceptual, monochrome, portrait, experimental, photography. Below you'll find the full story behind each Talking Heads cover — designers, photographers, label history, and the visual choices that defined the release.
David Byrne created this stark, unsettling cover by photocopying his own face repeatedly until the image degraded into a haunting, pixelated portrait that perfectly captured the album's paranoid themes.
A man in an oversized cream suit caught mid-motion, his head cropped clean off the frame by a black half-circle. Talking Heads turned a body in a too-big jacket into one of pop's most recognizable images, now hanging in MoMA. Here is the story behind the big coat.
Remain in Light by Talking Heads — album cover art and credits.
