Jeremiah Griffin Harrison (born February 21, 1949) is an American musician, songwriter, producer, and entrepreneur.[1] He began his professional music career as a member of the band the Modern Lovers, before becoming keyboardist and guitarist for the new wave group Talking Heads.[2] In 2002, Harrison was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Talking Heads.[3]
Following David Byrne's announcement of Talking Heads' disbanding in 1991,[4] Harrison has focused more on producing other bands, a role he started while still with Talking Heads, first producing the album Milwaukee with Elliott Murphy, and then later working with Violent Femmes on their third album, The Blind Leading the Naked, in 1986.[5][6]
During the 1990s, he produced a number of hit albums for bands such as Live, The Verve Pipe, Big Head Todd and the Monsters, and Kenny Wayne Shepherd among others. He has also released three albums of solo music (all while Talking Heads were still active) and has participated in a number of partial reunions of Talking Heads. In 1999, he helped found the online music community GarageBand.com.
In 1972, Harrison met Jonathan Richman, and they formed the Modern Lovers.[9] Harrison was introduced to Richman by mutual friend and journalist Danny Fields and the pair bonded over their shared love of the Velvet Underground. He joined The Modern Lovers in early 1971, playing on their debut album in 1972 in California (not released until 1976 and produced by John Cale), and left in February 1974,[1] when Richman wished to perform his songs more quietly. Devastated by the breakup of the band, Harrison returned to Harvard to get his Master's degree in architecture.
Talking Heads
Harrison joined Talking Heads in 1977, after the release of their debut single, "Love → Building on Fire".[10] He was offered a spot in the band in 1976, while he was still studying at Harvard. Tina Weymouth phoned Harrison to ask him to come and see Talking Heads play in Boston, not knowing he had already seen them and had been impressed by their material. After the performance, Harrison did not give a precise answer about whether he would join the group. In September 1976, Harrison told Weymouth he would come to New York City to jam with the band, but he did not have enough money to take a bus. He instead helped his friend, former Harvard classmate and Modern Lovers bassist, Ernie Brooks move to New York, hitching a ride with him in the process.
Harrison designed the cover for the band's third album in 1979, Fear of Music, which received a Grammy nomination for Best Recording Package. Between tours, Harrison started producing records, working with a group called the Escalators in New York and also New Wave soul singer Nona Hendryx. In 1980, Remain In Light caused a dispute in the band due to the credits when Harrison was given additional writing credit for "The Overload" and "Houses in Motion" alongside Brian Eno and David Byrne.
Harrison has released three solo albums. Many have assumed that the title of his debut, The Red and the Black in 1981, derived from Stendhal's novel of the same name. But in 2021, Harrison admitted that the name was inspired by the group of Situationists. Some members who had come to the United States to join the protests at Harvard against the Vietnam War ended up living in Harrison's room and would constantly talk about their philosophy and Wilhelm Reich, which fascinated Harrison. From this time, Harrison remembered a pamphlet that Guy Debord created named "The Red and The Black" and he "just really liked" the title. The main thoughts behind the album were the ideas of communism and anarchism.[12]
In 1988, he created Casual Gods, recorded in Milwaukee in a bomb shelter-turned studio by the brother of Harrison's best friend in elementary school. During the day Harrison took care of his mother and during the night he worked at the studio.[13] The track "Man with a Gun" was featured in the 1988 film Two Moon Junction, and the instrumental version of the same song was used in the 1986 Jonathan Demme film Something Wild. The single "Rev It Up" reached a high-point of number seven on the US Mainstream Charts in April 1988;[14] In an interview, Harrison recounts taping the music video with a room full of babies.[15]
In 2021, Harrison joined Turkuaz and Adrian Belew for a series of shows celebrating forty years of the album Remain in Light, in his first public performances since the 1996 tour to support No Talking, Just Head.[19]