Promotion and Release
After completing Fear of Music, Talking Heads embarked on their first Pacific region tour in June 1979 and played concerts in New Zealand, Australia, Japan, and Hawaii. The album was released worldwide on 3 August. The LP sleeve was designed by band member Jerry Harrison. It is completely black and embossed with a pattern that resembles the appearance and texture of diamond plate metal flooring. The rest of the artwork was crafted by Byrne and includes heat-sensitive photography created by Jimmy Garcia with the help of Doctor Philip Strax. Harrison suggested the "ludicrous" title to the band. According to Weymouth, it was accepted because it "fit" with the album's themes and the fact that the quartet was under a lot of stress and pressure when making it.
A U.S. tour to showcase the new material was completed during August 1979. At the time, Byrne told Rolling Stone, "We're in a funny position. It wouldn't please us to make music that's impossible to listen to, but we don't want to compromise for the sake of popularity." The band shared the headliner slots with Van Morrison and The Chieftains at the Edinburgh Festival in September and embarked on a promotional European tour until the end of the year. Fear of Music was certified Gold by Recording Industry Association of America on 17 September 1985 after more than 500,000 copies were sold in the U.S.
Read more about this topic: Fear Of Music (album)
Famous quotes containing the words promotion and/or release:
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