History Film / StopMakingSense

* VillainSong: The "Swamp" sequence could be interpreted as this. The song itself is already creepy, thanks to David's creepy nasal voice, the zombie-like synth chorus, and lyrics that reference things like the Devil, blood, and the atom bomb. Now couple that with the film's visuals, which include a red background, David ''rising off the ground like a vampire'', and dance moves that include lurching and fascistic marching, and we've got some serious potential NightmareFuel. Compare this to the way "Psycho Killer" is staged: while it certainly has the lyrics of a VillainSong, it's much more playful and loose and David looks like he's having fun.

The music itself is, broadly speaking, [[NewWaveMusic New Wave]], but with a host of other influences, especially {{funk}}. Just under half of the songs are from the ''Music/SpeakingInTongues'' album, which their tour was supporting; in fact, all but three songs from the album ("I Get Wild/Wild Gravity", "Moon Rocks", and "Pull Up the Roots") appear on the setlist. However, the band also plays a number of their older hits, as well as "What a Day That Was", a piece from David Byrne's soundtrack to Twyla Tharp's 1981 dance performance ''The Catherine Wheel''.[[note]]Another piece from the ''Catherine Wheel'' soundtrack, "Big Business", was performed and filmed, but was cut from the theatrical release alongside performances of "Cities" and "I Zimbra". Yet another song from the soundtrack, "Big Blue Plymouth (Eyes Wide Open)" was performed at the shows but apparently not filmed, or at least no official footage has surfaced. "Love → Building on Fire" and "The Book I Read" were also performed on the tour, but were dropped for these performances and from the handful of subsequent concerts early in 1984; incidentally, the live arrangements of these songs were much more faithful to the studio releases compared to the funk-oriented rearrangements of the rest of the setlist, which may at least partly explain why they were dropped.[[/note]]