Tom Tom Club "Genius Of Love"

With a break from their duties as the rhythm section for Talking Heads, husband and wife Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth took the opportunity to make a record decidedly less serious than their work with that band. Operating under the name Tom Tom Club, the pair enlisted guest musicians such as guitarist Adrian Belew and percussionist Steven Stanley for a bright, breezy disc of whimsical fun. To everyone's surprise, it became a smash.

Their 1982 self-titled album first caught the attention of clubgoers with its blend of dance and rock music which incorporated elements of hip-hop, reggae, and new wave (not to mention just about every other genre). The album crossed over to the mainstream with the song "Genius Of Love." The elastic track was both mysterious and child-like, namedropping R&B legends like James Brown and Smokey Robinson into the intoxicatingly giddy mix. The song was a monstrous hit in the clubs and reached #2 on the R&B charts, and, aided by a clever, animated video, also hit the pop charts.

Although "Genius Of Love" only reached #31 on the US Top 40 chart, it propelled Tom Tom Club to gold status in sales. Furthermore, the song would go on to be one of the most sampled tracks in history by everyone from Grandmaster Flash to Mariah Carey. The latter would essential remake the song as her #1 "Fantasy" fifteen years after "Genius Of Love" was first unleashed on the music world.

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