When I saw the story via the Guardian, I was bummed because Mark Hollis was a name I hadn’t heard in a long time. As much as I dug Talk Talk, I never remembered the individual band members but their first two albums were part of my personal soundtrack, especially in the Eighties. My friend Mark (Mark M) is a bigger fan and is more familiar with their post It’s My Life (1984) material which I’ve heard is really great (note to self, hunt down last three Talk Talk albums). Anyway, Hollis had a very distinctive voice and its emotional resonance is why the songs “The Party’s Over,” “It’s So Serious,” “Talk Talk,” “It’s My Life” and “Life Is What You Make It” stand out. Thankfully, No Doubt failed to completely ruin his legacy with their mediocre cover of “It’s My Life” over a decade ago; Gwen Stefani’s voice has potential but she chose to be a poor-man’s Madonna with her boring solo crap.
Check out the article. Mark Hollis had numerous fans in odd places and while I was channel surfing on my car radio, I caught the tail end of Sound Opinions paying their respects. One of the Chicago blowhards mentioned how Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips was a huge fan. I guess after Talk Talk broke up around the early Nineties, Mark became a favorite amongst writers and musicians as the general public forgot him.
Thanks for everything Mark. Your hit “It’s My Life” arrived at the right time in my personal story. I was 15 going on 16 and filled with anger, angst, whatever due to our move from a happening place to the dying Midwest. I recall it was also used in the semi-Fantasy movie Firstborn in which a teen boy beats the crap out of Peter Weller for being abusive to his divorced mother.