Rocktrospectiva: The Trendy And Influential "Tom Tom Club" Turns 45

 

Released on October 1981 "Tom Tom Club" was the debut studio album by the US new wave band Tom Tom Club, containing the UK hit singles "Wordy Rappinghood", which reached No. 7 in June 1981 and "Genius of Love", which reached No. 65 in October of the same year. It was re-released in the UK in 1982 to include "Under the Boardwalk", which reached No. 22 in August 1982. When released in the United States, "Genius of Love" peaked at No. 31 on the Billboard Hot 100 and both "Wordy Rappinghood" and "Genius of Love" topped the US dance chart.

 

Tom Tom Club was a side project formed by Talking Heads members Chris Frantz (drums) and Tina Weymouth (bass) as an escape from the stress they were experiencing with their main band. Little did they know that the project would capture the public imagination and become an early, influential work for the hip-hop genre, thanks to the melting pot of ideas and influences infused into their record. 

 

That unique combination gave the band an exotic appeal that piqued audience curiosity, unexpectedly propelling the project to popularity. Initially, they wanted to work with reggae producer Lee "Scratch" Perry, but nothing materialized; consequently, they adopted a DIY punk ethos and handled everything themselves. 

 

They enlisted a young sound engineer named Steven Stanley, and—aided by Adrian Belew's guitar work and riffs—began crafting intriguing compositions that diverged from the Talking Heads sound, in fact, most of the album's tracks proved perfect for sampling by rap and hip-hop artists. While some of these samples yielded interesting results, others were less successful—or even ruined the original song entirely.  

 

As we said befofe, four singles were released from the album; the first, "Wordy Rappinghood," reached No. 1 in 17 countries. It was partly based on the Moroccan children's song "A Ram Sam Sam"—a tune many of us sang in kindergarten, the next single, "Genius of Love," was even more famous; it reached No. 31 on the Billboard Hot 100 but achieved top rankings on the R&B and Dance charts. Its music video saw heavy rotation on MTV and remains one of the group's most memorable. They also released "On, On, On, On" (exclusively for Japan) and their own version of "Under the Boardwalk." The album was a surprise and a breath of fresh air back then, in the early days of MTV. 

 

Unintentionally, it became influential in the hip-hop world, as many of its tracks had the perfect vibe for sampling by artists in the genre. Luminaries such as 2Pac, Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, Coolio, and LL Cool J all utilized tracks from the album for their own work. Unfortunately, that was all most people ever heard of the duo; radio stations paid little attention to their subsequent releases, partly because they didn't achieve the same level of success. Still, they certainly got us all dancing at the time; without realizing it, we were listening to eclectic sounds infused with alternative music vibes, even though many simply labeled it as pop. 

 

Tom Tom Club Track List:  

 

1. Wordy Rappinghood

2. Genius Of Love

3. Tom Tom Theme

4. L'éléphant

5. As Above, So Below

6. Lorelei

7. On, On, On, On...

8. Booming And Zooming

9. Under The Boardwalk

10. Lorelei (remix)

11. Wordy Rappinghood (long version)

12. Genius Of Love (long version)