Sep 25, 2025 - Music

Talking Heads' one-night comeback that rocked the Hall of Fame

Troy Smith

Tina Weymouth, David Byrne, Chris Frantz and Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads perform on stage. — Tina Weymouth, David Byrne, Chris Frantz and Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads. Photo: KMazur/WireImage

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductions have hosted several eventful reunions, and one of the biggest took place on March 18, 2002.

Flashback: 27 years after playing their first gig at CBGB, Talking Heads were inducted into the Rock Hall at New York City's Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

The group's performance that night marked the first time David Byrne, Tina Weymouth, Jerry Harrison and Chris Frantz had played together since 1984.

Friction point: The reunion was far from a certainty, given how bad things ended.

Group-leader Byrne announced the group's split, unbeknownst to his bandmates, in a December 1991 article in the Los Angeles Times.

Zoom in: The members put differences aside at the ceremony to perform "Burning Down the House," "Psycho Killer" and "Life During Wartime," which felt especially potent given the buildup to the Iraq War.

''I'd like to thank the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for giving this band a happy ending," Frantz said during his speech.

State of play: Fans hoping for more from Talking Heads would have to wait 21 years.

The members wouldn't appear together again until 2023 to mark the 40th anniversary of the 1984 concert film "Stop Making Sense," which screened at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Go deeper: 10 greatest moments in Rock Hall ceremony history

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Talking Heads' one-night comeback that rocked the Hall of Fame

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