100 Greatest Songs of the 80’s #72 Tom Tom Club – Genius of Love

Released : 1981

Sometimes great outcomes happen by accident: Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz had booked dub reggae luminary Lee “Scratch” Perry to produce their first single Genius of Love, but he failed to show up at the Compass Point studio the pair were using – and the rest is sporadic history.

Originally designed to be distraction from the increasingly fraught world of Talking Heads, the pair found themselves blessed with what was perhaps unexpected success; if  Remain In Light, Talking Heads last album released the previous year, had been a pronounced full stop on the group’s efforts of the previous decade, here was something entirely different.

Converting the sunshine and relaxed vibes of their surroundings directly into music, the pair laced Vitamin D and weed into Genius of Love’s elastic gait, blending reggae, hip-hop and funk into a brew which was as scatty and sweet as any other pop record of the year. No shows be damned then, this was real genius at work.