Talking Heads were never punk in any strict sense of the term. Sometimes you’ll see the term “art punk” used to describe them but they were almost always more “art” than “punk.” “New wave” was created to describe groups like the Heads, who were clearly informed by the energy and attitude of punk but didn’t conform to the conventions of the genre. Still, there’s a lot in common between early punk and early new wave bands.
So it is perhaps an obvious idea to cover Talking Heads’ first ever hit, “Psycho Killer” as a punk song. What isn’t as obvious is to downplay the iconic bassline, which is what Cosmic Joke do on their new punk cover.
Cosmic Joke are a hardcore ish band from Los Angeles, so they don’t play the kind of punk that existed when Talking Heads released “Psycho Killer.” Their cover is definitely harder than that. But it’s also not classically “hardcore” in the late ’70s/early ’80s sense either. Lead singer Mac Miller – no, not that one – has a little more singing to his delivery than your average early hardcore shouter and the backing vocals are more melodic, closer to the California tradition that emerged over time.
Moreover the band slow the song down at the end and jam it out for the coda, giving the cover a little more sludgy almost groove metal feel to the conclusion. This is a pretty common trope in the world of hardcore/metal but in this instance it feels like a fresh way to end the song.
It’s really not that “hardcore” so don’t let the term scare you.
