Editing Stop Making Sense (section)

==Synopsis==
Lead singer [[David Byrne]] walks on to a bare stage with a portable [[cassette tape]] player and an acoustic guitar. He introduces "[[Psycho Killer]]" by saying he wants to play a tape, but in reality a [[Roland TR-808]] drum machine starts playing from the [[mixing board]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2013/12/beat_box_review_drum_machine_gets_its_due_in_joe_mansfield_book.html |title=Select-a-Rhythm |last=Hamilton |first=Jack |date=December 5, 2012 |work=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |access-date=March 21, 2018 |publisher=[[Graham Holdings Company]]}}</ref>

With each successive song, Byrne is joined by more members of the band: first by [[Tina Weymouth]] for "[[Heaven (Talking Heads song)|Heaven]]" (with [[Lynn Mabry]] providing harmony vocals from backstage), second by [[Chris Frantz]] for "[[Thank You for Sending Me an Angel]]", and third by [[Jerry Harrison]] for "Found a Job". Performance equipment is wheeled out and added to the set to accommodate the additional musicians: back-up singers [[Lynn Mabry]] and [[The Ritchie Family|Ednah Holt]], keyboardist [[Bernie Worrell]], percussionist Steve Scales, and [[guitarist]] [[Alex Weir (musician)|Alex Weir]]. The first song to feature the entire lineup is "[[Burning Down the House]]", although the original 1985 RCA/Columbia Home Video release (which featured three additional songs in two performances edited into the film) has the entire band (minus Worrell) performing "[[Cities (song)|Cities]]" before this song. The band also performs two songs from Byrne's soundtrack album ''[[The Catherine Wheel (album)|The Catherine Wheel]]'', "What a Day That Was" and (as a bonus song on the home video release) "Big Business".

Byrne leaves the stage at one point for a costume change, during which the Weymouth–Frantz-led side-band [[Tom Tom Club]] perform their song "[[Genius of Love]]". The Tom Tom Club performance allows Byrne to don his "big suit", an absurdly large business suit that he wears for the song "Girlfriend Is Better".

In a departure from most concert films, the audience is mostly unseen during the concert. During the final song, "[[Crosseyed and Painless]]," the viewer sees shots of the audience for the first time.<ref name="40th">{{Cite web |last=Krause |first=Gary M. |date=2023-09-21 |title="Stop Making Sense," the best concert film ever, converted me into a Talking Heads fan |url=https://www.salon.com/2023/09/21/stop-making-sense-talking-heads-rerelease/ |access-date=2024-06-16 |website=Salon}}</ref>