Genius Of Love

by

The Tom Tom Club

Album: Tom Tom Club     Released: 1981

US Chart: 31      UK Chart: 65

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The Tom Tom Club is the side project of Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth, the drummer and bass player of the Talking Heads. They are married.

Frequently sampled. It was used by Mariah Carey on her 1995 #1 hit "Fantasy."

Mentions various artists that influenced Frantz and Weymouth, including Smokey Robinson, Bob Marley, Kurtis Blow, Bootsy Collins, and James Brown.

A bigger hit than anything the Talking Heads had done to that point. Frantz thinks this may have extended the life of the Talking Heads by convincing David Byrne to keep the group together.

Sampled by Grandmaster Flash on "It's Nasty/Genius Of Love" and by Ziggy Marley on a remix of "Tomorrow People."

Money from this earned from sampling royalties financed future albums from the group.

They released an updated version of this in 1999 called "Who Feelin' It," which mentions a new list of influences.

This was used in a 2002 commercial for Kia cars. It features young women driving the cars with men who are not exactly "geniuses."

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Comments:

I've always been intrigued by the foreign language in which Weymouth says a sentence or two in the song. Does anyone knwo what language that is? My guesses would be Welsh, Gaelic, or perhaps a Scandinavian language.
- Rick , Modesto, CA

"Stepping to the rhythm of a Kurtis Blow, who needs to think when your feet just go? With a hippity hop, and a hippity ho, who needs to think when your feet just go? Bohannan, Bohannan, Bohannan, Bohannan, who needs to think when your feet just go?"... Loved this song, remember it coming out when I was little even though it didn't do very well in the UK. 2-Pac and Mark Morrisson sampled it commercially as well as Mariah Carey, Ziggy Marley and Grandmaster Flash, although the list of cases where this song has been used as a rhythm sample is massive! The Tom Tom Club did have two bigger UK hits though, with "Wordy Rappinghood" (UK #7 in May 1981) and a cover version of The Drifters' "Under The Boardwalk" (UK #22 in August 1982), and they still enjoy a large cult following in Europe. A corrupted version of "Genius of Love" was also used in a long-running advertising campaign by the Bird's desserts company in the UK for most of the 1980s
- Dave , Cardiff, Wales

The Tom Tom Club rock! Mind you, they were the "little sister" band of the great Talking Heads, so no surprises there. Just shows that David Byrne wasn't the only talent in the 'Heads!
- Dave , Cardiff, Wales

Saw the video of the UK music TV station "VH1 Classic" last Saturday (09 Aug 2008), very weird indeed! An animated sequence based on the cartoon-ish picture (of sorts) that formed the front cover of the Tom Tom Club's first album - 20 years before the Gorillaz were creditted with inventing that concept. Even though it did not do very well in the UK Chart, stalling at #65 in 1981, it got a lot of radio airplay and was a massive club hit in the UK, and remains a cult favourite of sorts. Very catchy tune indeed!
- Dave , Cardiff, Wales

That's right! People do need to start coming up with their own tunes!!
- mayra , santa ana, CA

The video for this song is indeed very strange...
- Lydia , Tulsa, OK

"Mentions various artists that influenced Frantz and Weymouth, including Smokey Robinson, Bob Marley, Kurtis Blow, Bootsy Collins, and James Brown." Let's not forget Bohannon, Bohannon, Bohannon, Bohannon - who didn't have much of a career. This song had a very weird video, as I recall.
- Wes , Springfield, VA

This song makes me giggle
- kika , nyc, NY

Sampled? You mean completely and totally taken. At least she asked permission and paid for using it. I just wish people would come up with their own tunes.
- Tim , prescott, AZ

Isn't this the song that Mariah Carey sampled for her 90's tune "Fantasy" ?
- Jo , Newcastle, Australia

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