This Punk Band Helped Boost The Talking Heads Early in Their Career (But at What Soggy, Smelly Cost?)

In the months leading up to their full-length album debut, Talking Heads toured Europe with iconic punk rockers The Ramones. This was a huge break for Talking Heads, for whom this would be their first European tour and a chance to put themselves in front of audiences they might not have reached otherwise. A great deal, to be sure.

However, there was a rising trend in the punk scene that left David Byrne and the rest of Talking Heads with the distinct feeling that maybe, just maybe, being in front of the audience isn’t always the prime spot we think it to be.

How The Ramones Helped Talking Heads in 1977

An opening tour slot for a well-established band is an invaluable opportunity for an up-and-coming band like Talking Heads. In a 2026 interview with The Guardian, Byrne reflected, “There was something really great about that tour because other than maybe a few singles the audience had never seen us, so there was a lot of curiosity and openness to us and Ramones, as different as we were.”

Byrne recalled one specific show at the Roundhouse in London. The bands were playing back-to-back on a Sunday and Monday at the U.K. venue, and as Byrne remembered, “Somebody in the audience was gobbing on the bands and, of course, Ramones really didn’t like this. Understandably enough, they didn’t see it as a sign of respect. ‘We’re with you, so we’re gonna spit on you.’”

The Talking Heads frontman added, “Ramones got more of that than we did. But at least they had leather jackets. We didn’t.”

Gobbing Offered Quite the Introduction to a New Scene

When you’re the new player in a scene, there is always a learning curve while you figure out that particular community’s traditions, norms, and expectations. But we’d imagine that Talking Heads could have done little to prepare for the stomach-turning phenomenon of “gobbing,” which is when audience members hawk giant gobs of spit onto the musicians while they perform. (And sometimes vice versa.)

According to The Vibrators drummer John “Eddie” Edwards, gobbing started after a reporter for The Evening Standard wrote that “punks liked to be spat on while onstage, and that was it. The following week, every time you went to a gig, there were kids down the front gobbing on the band. There wasn’t a band that liked that” (via Medium).

Of course, some punks enjoyed it. The Clash’s Joe Strummer once called it a way to connect with the players. Iggy Pop has been cited as the original source, spitting on the audience to antagonize them. Much to the chagrin of everyone else, these endorsements were all the punks needed to get behind this trend.

And indeed, one can only imagine what was going through Talking Heads’ collective head as they saw gobs of spit flying at them from the crowd. Then, the second horror: feeling the spit soak into your clothes. Suddenly, The Ramones’ leather-clad look seemed more functional than ever.

Photo by David Corio/Redferns

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