Genius of Love

"Genius of Love" is a 1981 hit song by Tom Tom Club from their 1981 eponymous debut album. The song reached number one on the Billboard Disco Top 80 chart, and was performed by Talking Heads (the group from which Tom Tom Club originated) in the 1984 concert film Stop Making Sense.

"Genius of Love"
Artwork used as front cover of the French single and as back cover of the U.K. single
Single by Tom Tom Club
from the album Tom Tom Club
B-side"Lorelei"
ReleasedSeptember 6, 1981
October 2, 1981 (U.K.)[1]
Recorded1980
Genre
Length3:36 (7" single)[6][7]
5:34 (album version)
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Chris Frantz
  • Steven Stanley
  • Tina Weymouth
Tom Tom Club singles chronology
"Wordy Rappinghood"
(1981)		 "Genius of Love"
(1981)		 "Under the Boardwalk"
(1982)
Music video
"Genius of Love" on YouTube

Background

"Genius of Love" is credited to songwriters Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz, guitarist Adrian Belew, and producer Steven Stanley. According to Talking Heads biographer David Bowman, the song originated after Frantz "copped a beat from Zapp's 1980 hit 'More Bounce to the Ounce'." Belew created a rhythm guitar part, Stanley created the keyboard melody, and Weymouth later wrote the words.[8]

The lyrics also pay tribute to many notable black musicians and singers, including George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Smokey Robinson, Bob Marley, Sly and Robbie, Kurtis Blow, Hamilton Bohannon, and James Brown.[9]

"Genius of Love" was designated as Tom Tom Club's second single. Although the album had not been released in North America, over 100,000 copies of the single sold as imports from Island Records UK, at which point Sire Records made a deal to release the single and the album in North America in late 1981.

Frantz and Weymouth performed the song as Tom Tom Club in the 1984 Talking Heads concert movie Stop Making Sense, as an interlude to allow Talking Heads frontman David Byrne to change into the "big suit" costume for the film's performance of "Girlfriend is Better".[10] The recording of the song was also included on the soundtrack to the film.

Recording

Weymouth sings the primary lead on "Genius of Love." Frantz plays drums and sings the song's later male vocals. Weymouth's sisters Lani and Laura feature on backing vocals. Adrian Belew is credited with guitar, Tyrone Downie with synthesizers, and Uziah "Sticky" Thompson with percussion.

Identity of bass player on studio version

Although Tina Weymouth was responsible for writing the bassline and intended to play it on record, she was forced to pass on the latter task to another musician. As she related in a 1997 interview with Bassplayer.com:

"We were given extremely limited studio time – just three days – and when it was time to do that track my whole right arm seized up in a terrible cramp, and I couldn't play. I had never played in the studio around the clock like we were doing, so I didn't even know that could happen. I ended up waking the assistant engineer - he was asleep under the console - and I showed him the part, and he played it. Chris (Frantz) was mad, but I really couldn't play; my hand wouldn't even close. So we did what we had to do. These things happen."[11]

Chart performance and music video

"Genius of Love" became a commercial success that performed better than Tom Tom Club's previous singles. Chris Frantz credited the success of the single for convincing David Byrne to "soldier on with Talking Heads".[12] The official hand-drawn crayon and colored pencil animated music video for "Genius of Love" was produced by the band along with Cucumber Studios Ltd.[13]

On its release in November 1981, "Genius of Love" became a huge hit in the clubs and on the R&B and dance charts worldwide, soon earning the Tom Tom Club LP a Gold Sales Award in 1982. In the U.S., the song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Disco Top 80 chart along with "Wordy Rappinghood", and also reached No. 2 on the Hot Soul Singles chart. It later went on to peak at No. 31 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1982,[14] becoming Tom Tom Club's only entry on the Hot 100.

"Genius of Love" reached No. 65 on the UK Singles Chart, while both of the other two singles released from the Tom Tom Club LP achieved top 30 placings in the UK. The single also became a club success all around Europe, and peaked at number 28 in New Zealand, the first of three top 40 hits for the band there.

Legacy

Use as a sample

The song is one of the most sampled rhythm tracks of the 1980s,[15] particularly within the hip hop and R&B genre. Notable versions include Dr. Jeckyl & Mr. Hyde's "Genius Rap" in 1981, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five's "It's Nasty" in 1982, Mariah Carey's "Fantasy" in 1995, The X-Ecutioners' "Genius of Love 2002" in 2002, and Latto's "Big Energy" in 2021.

Other artists have incorporated "Genius of Love" into their works, including Public Enemy's "Leave This Off Your Fuckin' Charts", X Clan’s “In The Ways of the Scales”, Redman's "Brick City Mashin'", Cam'ron's "Me, My Moms & Jimmy", 2nd II None's "Niggaz Trippin'", Fresh Kid Ice's "Roll Call", 2Pac's "High Speed", Seagram's "I Don't Give a Fuck", Busta Rhymes's "One", Ant Banks's "Roll 'Em Phat", P.M. Dawn's "Gotta Be... Movin' On Up", Menajahtwa's "I Ain't Nasti", 50 Cent's "When I Get Out", Erick Sermon's "Genius E Dub", Mac Dre's "Chop that Ho", Dream Warriors' "And Now the Legacy Begins", T.I.'s "Down Like That", R.A. the Rugged Man's "Tom Thum", Mark Morrison's "Return of the Mack", Ice Cube's "Bop Gun (One Nation)", Mack 10's "For the Money", WC and the Maad Circle's "Curb Servin'", Warren G's "What's Love Got to Do with It", the D-Influence Real Live Mix of Billie's "Girlfriend", and Paramore's "Rose-Colored Boy".

Personnel
  • Tina Weymouth – vocals
  • Chris Frantz – vocals, drum machine
  • Adrian Belew – guitar
  • Tyrone Downie – synthesizers
  • Uziah "Sticky" Thompson – percussion
  • Uncredited assistant engineer (either Kendal Stubbs or Benji Armbrister) – bass
  • Laura Weymouth – backing vocals
  • Lani Weymouth – backing vocals, spoken words in gibberish (mixture of English, Korean and Japanese)

Singles
  • "Genius of Love" / "Lorelei" (Instrumental) UK, 1981 (7"/12")[16]
  • "Genius of Love" / "Lorelei" (Instrumental) Netherlands, 1981 (7"/12")[16]
  • "Genius of Love" / "Lorelei" (Instrumental) Germany, 1981 (7")[16]
  • "Genius of Love" / "Lorelei" (Instrumental) United States, 1981 (7"/12")[16]

Charts
Sales chart performance for "Genius of Love"
Chart (1982) Peak
position
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[17] 26
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[18] 28
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[19] 65
US Billboard Hot 100[20] 31
US Hot Dance Club Songs (Billboard)[21] 1
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[21] 2

References
  1. "Tom Tom Club - Genius Of Love". 45cat (in Latin). Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  2. Flick, Larry (26 August 1995). "Mariah And Janet Tear Up The Dancefloor". Billboard. Vol. 107, no. 34. Nielsen Business Media. p. 26. ISSN 0006-2510. The surprising twist is the use of instantly recognizable keyboard samples from the Tom Tom Club's post-disco classic "Genius Of Love."
  3. "#TBTXPN New Wave Day: Watch the Tom Tom Club live in concert". The Key. July 7, 2016.
  4. Breihan, Tom (April 4, 2022). "The Number Ones: Mariah Carey's "Fantasy"". Stereogum. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
  5. Sheffield, Rob (2004). "Talking Heads". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 802–03. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  6. "Tom Tom Club - Genius of Love".
  7. "Tom Tom Club - Genius of Love".
  8. Bowman, David (2001). This Must Be the Place: Adventures of the Talking Heads in the Twentieth Century (e-book ed.). HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-195597-6.
  9. Bowman, David (2001). This Must Be the Place: The Adventures of Talking Heads in the 20th Century. New York: HarperCollins. pp. 215–216. ISBN 978-0-380-97846-5.
  10. Grow, Kory (August 1, 2014). "Talking Heads on 'Stop Making Sense': 'We Didn't Want Any Bulls–t'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
  11. 'Tina Talks Heads, Tom Toms, and How to Succeed at Bass Without Really Trying' - article by Gregory Isola in Bassplayer.com, March 1997 (hosted on webarchive.com)
  12. Plagenhoef, Scott; Schreiber, Ryan, eds. (November 2008). The Pitchfork 500. New York City: Simon & Schuster. p. 50. ISBN 978-1-4165-6202-3.
  13. Hayward, Philip, ed. (1990). "Industrial Light and Magic: Style, Technology and Special Effects in the Music Video and Music Television". Culture, Technology & Creativity in the Late Twentieth Century. London: John Libbey & Company Ltd. p. 132. ISBN 0-86196-266-4. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
  14. Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits (8th ed.). Los Angeles, California: Billboard Books. p. 110. ISBN 978-0823085545.
  15. Vincent, Rickey (2004). "Hip-Hop and Black Noise: Raising Hell". In Forman, Murray; Neal, Mark Anthony (eds.). That's the Joint!: The Hip-Hop Studies Reader. London, England: Routledge. p. 559. ISBN 0-203-64219-8.
  16. Discografia - Sítio Oficial Archived 2007-03-07 at the Wayback Machine
  17. "Tom Tom Club – Genius of Love" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  18. "Tom Tom Club – Genius of Love". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  19. "Tom Tom Club". Official Charts Company. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  20. "Tom Tom Club Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  21. "Tom Tom Club Awards". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
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