WEBVTT - Talking Heads: Punk Rock, New Wave, Blackouts, and Psycho Killers (Rewind) 0:00:00.720 --> 0:00:20.360 Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. This is a 0:00:20.400 --> 0:00:23.799 story about the band Talking Heads, but it's also the 0:00:23.840 --> 0:00:27.159 story about a singer and a serial killer. It's a 0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:32.560 wild story, a story that involves six murders, unsuspecting young people, 0:00:32.840 --> 0:00:35.560 snuck up on in the darkness and shot in cold 0:00:35.560 --> 0:00:38.920 blood by a psycho. And it's a story about a 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:43.040 singer trying to channel that detached psychotic feeling into song. 0:00:44.040 --> 0:00:47.000 A story about punk rock, the New Wave, the New 0:00:47.080 --> 0:00:51.480 York Yankees, the Mets, a garbage strike, and a blackout 0:00:51.520 --> 0:00:56.600 that brought terror and violence. All that aside, this is 0:00:56.640 --> 0:01:01.080 also a story about great music, Unlike that music I 0:01:01.120 --> 0:01:03.480 played for you at the top of the show that 0:01:03.680 --> 0:01:07.280 wasn't great music. That was a preset loop from my 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:13.399 mellotron called Fears of a Clown MK two. I played 0:01:13.440 --> 0:01:16.080 you that loop because I can't afford the rights to 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:20.640 Kiss and Say Goodbye by the Manhattans. And why would 0:01:20.680 --> 0:01:24.320 I play you that particular slice of Backseat Dark End 0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:28.320 of the Street Cheese? Could I afford it? Because that 0:01:29.080 --> 0:01:32.560 was the number one song in America on July twenty ninth, 0:01:32.720 --> 0:01:36.559 nineteen seventy six, and that was the day that David 0:01:36.560 --> 0:01:41.360 Berkowitz kicked off a murderous rampage that terrorized New Yorkers 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:45.400 for over a year, a year during which Talking Heads 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:50.600 recorded their landmark first album and their signature song, Psycho Killer. 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:56.640 On this episode, a singer, a serial killer, the son 0:01:56.680 --> 0:02:02.360 of Sam and Talking Heads. I'm Jake Brennan and this 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:42.120 is Disgraceland snare drum, high hat baseline. It was a 0:02:42.160 --> 0:02:45.639 groove so loud and so low that you didn't even 0:02:45.680 --> 0:02:49.160 hear it, You just felt it there in your chest. 0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:53.919 It's the kind of groove that animates bodies. And those 0:02:54.000 --> 0:02:56.440 kinds of records, they get the crowd on the dance 0:02:56.480 --> 0:03:00.440 floor and then they keep them there. These the kinds 0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:02.920 of records. A Tonya motto spawned at the Peach Tree 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:07.200 right now at ten thirty pm, Tony was keeping the 0:03:07.240 --> 0:03:12.359 tempo at a moderate ninety five beats per minute. By 0:03:12.400 --> 0:03:14.480 one am, he'd work it all the way up to 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:17.560 one hundred and forty bpm as thousands of kids in 0:03:17.600 --> 0:03:22.200 their late teens and early twenties boogied down. Then Tony 0:03:22.320 --> 0:03:25.679 gradually relaxed the pace and cooled them all out. By 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:31.360 closing time. It wasn't studio fifty four, But in nineteen 0:03:31.480 --> 0:03:34.840 seventy six, in the suburb of New Rochelle, New York, 0:03:35.480 --> 0:03:38.200 the peach Tree was as close as it got to 0:03:38.280 --> 0:03:44.320 that midtown field. Besides, New York City was a cesspool. 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:48.520 It was dangerous and it was dirty. The suburbs were safer, 0:03:49.000 --> 0:03:51.960 and this gig was easier, and based on the pair 0:03:52.000 --> 0:03:55.200 of brunettes that just walked by, the peach tree was 0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:59.360 plenty good enough for Tony. Just then, a young guy 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:02.160 in a wrinkled button down shirt shuffled into the DJ 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:06.240 booth holding a glass of water for Tony. Normally, the 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:11.400 DJ booth was Tony's sacred space, no guests and no requests, 0:04:12.600 --> 0:04:15.320 but he felt sorry for this quiet young guy with 0:04:15.360 --> 0:04:19.240 the intense black eyes and the wild hair. He always 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:22.680 came to the club alone, and he never danced. He 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:25.000 just hung at the edge of the DJ booth and 0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:29.919 watched Tony work. Eventually, Tony took pity on him and 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:33.719 showed him the turntables and mixing board tonight. The guy 0:04:33.839 --> 0:04:36.960 handed Tony's a glass of water and stared over his 0:04:37.040 --> 0:04:41.400 shoulder at the turntables. Tony tried to fill the awkward silence. 0:04:42.040 --> 0:04:45.599 He asked the guy if he liked disco. Nah. The 0:04:45.640 --> 0:04:50.039 guy said he preferred Philly's soul. Tony changed his strategy 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:54.920 dy like girls, and the guy's eyes flashed with anger. 0:04:55.600 --> 0:05:00.040 He just stared at his shoes. Tony felt that it 0:05:00.120 --> 0:05:03.880 was clear that this guy wasn't a ladies man, but Jesus, 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:08.760 he was just trying to make conversation. An uncomfortable silence 0:05:08.839 --> 0:05:11.440 hung in the air for another minute, and finally the 0:05:11.480 --> 0:05:14.640 guy muttered goodbye and quickly turned and walked out of 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:18.240 the booth, And as he turned the corner, Tony called 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:28.040 out after him, Hey, David, catch you later. Meanwhile, twenty 0:05:28.040 --> 0:05:31.960 miles south, another awkward young man clung to a doorframe 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:35.880 in a tiny damp room. A future mix of smells 0:05:35.920 --> 0:05:42.320 filled his nostrils. Piss, cockroach, spray, Chanelle number five, a 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:47.880 combination so thick it enveloped him. All the same, he 0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:50.640 couldn't leave. He knew what was waiting just on the 0:05:50.680 --> 0:05:53.799 other side of the door. He could hear the huge dog, 0:05:53.960 --> 0:05:57.080 panting in the summer heat, nudging at the door with 0:05:57.160 --> 0:06:01.800 its nose, scraping its claws across the wooden floor. He 0:06:01.880 --> 0:06:03.760 knew the dog wouldn't let up. Now that it had 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:10.400 his attention, and soon he would have to do its bidding. Finally, 0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:13.440 the young man pushed the door open, and the black 0:06:13.480 --> 0:06:16.280 dog trotted forward and stopped right in front of him. 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:20.080 It looked up with those sad eyes, eyes that were 0:06:20.120 --> 0:06:23.919 almost human, and for a moment it seemed like the 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:28.480 mutt was going to speak. It paused, it circled, and 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:32.720 then took a shit right there on the wooden floor. 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:37.520 The dog forced its muzzle into his hands, leaving David 0:06:37.560 --> 0:06:40.359 Byrne with no choice but to scratch the ears of 0:06:40.360 --> 0:06:43.400 the big sluki hound until it turned and ran back 0:06:43.480 --> 0:06:47.400 to a man standing at the bar. That man was 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:51.960 Hilly Crystal. He ran seebegb this tiny dive on the Bowery, 0:06:52.480 --> 0:06:56.760 and his dog Jonathan was the club's unofficial mascot. By 0:06:56.839 --> 0:07:00.679 July nineteen seventy six, not much remained of Hill's original 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:03.880 vision of what was once called country, Bluegrass and Blues, 0:07:04.400 --> 0:07:09.400 hence CBGV. Instead, the club was the epicenter of a 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:13.640 new wave of music, powered by bands including Television Blondie, 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:20.000 The Ramones, and tonight's headliner Talking Heads. David Byrne and 0:07:20.040 --> 0:07:24.360 his bandmates Bassist Tina Weymouth and drummer Chris Franz hardly 0:07:24.360 --> 0:07:26.320 looked like a band at the center of the emerging 0:07:26.360 --> 0:07:30.160 punk sy where the Ramones rocked black leather and shades, 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:34.680 Talking Heads wore polo shirts with little alligators on them. 0:07:35.000 --> 0:07:39.680 Clean cut, nerdy, almost they were, as rock critic Lester 0:07:39.760 --> 0:07:45.960 Bangs later put it, so uncool that they became cool tonight, however, 0:07:46.480 --> 0:07:49.320 they were well on their way to becoming cool. Only 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:52.480 a year after their first gig as Talking Heads, they 0:07:52.520 --> 0:07:54.800 were gearing out for their second sold out show of 0:07:54.880 --> 0:07:58.920 the night. As the line grew outside the club, David 0:07:58.920 --> 0:08:04.120 Byrne felt tense, nervous. He couldn't relax and the pressure 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:08.160 was on in addition to the huge crowd outside. Sire 0:08:08.240 --> 0:08:12.480 Records founder seymour Stein was inside the building. He had 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:15.240 been scouting the band for months. He saw one of 0:08:15.280 --> 0:08:17.680 their first shows a year prior, and now he was 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:21.679 ready to check on the band's progress. The doors opened 0:08:21.800 --> 0:08:24.920 and the crowd rushed in, and when the band kicked off, 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:29.640 seymour Stein was pressed up against the front of the stage. 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:33.000 He watched David Byrne twitch in convulse like a man 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:38.120 possessed his singing voice was just as jittery, swinging wildly 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:41.760 up and down in pitch, but there was something oddly 0:08:41.800 --> 0:08:46.200 compelling about it. He was intense, he was passionate. In 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:49.520 the right hands, he could be the star, which is 0:08:49.600 --> 0:08:54.440 exactly why Seymour wanted the band for Sire Records. The 0:08:54.520 --> 0:08:59.160 first song ended and the crowd roared. David waited a 0:08:59.160 --> 0:09:02.400 moment before step into the microphone to announce their next one. 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:06.439 The name of this band is Talking Heads. The next 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:12.320 song is called Psycho Killer. While Talking Heads finished their 0:09:12.400 --> 0:09:16.880 late set back in New Rochelle, Tonyamato watched that pair 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:20.040 of brunettes walk out of the Peach Tree too bad. 0:09:21.000 --> 0:09:26.520 Tony recognized one of them. What was her name? Debbie? Diane? No, Donna, 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:29.520 that was it. He was hoping she might stick around 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:32.840 a chat, but unfortunately that wasn't in the cards. Tonight, 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:36.520 Donna and her friend Jody slipped out of the club 0:09:36.559 --> 0:09:39.800 and into the bomby night Air. They hopped into Jody's 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:43.559 oldsmobile and headed south to the Bronx to Pelham Bay, 0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:47.960 where Donna lived with her parents. Jody double parked in 0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:51.560 front of the house. The girls didn't notice the guy 0:09:51.640 --> 0:09:55.200 who was following them. He pulled his yellow Ford Galaxy 0:09:55.240 --> 0:09:58.440 to the curve half a block away, replaying the scene 0:09:58.440 --> 0:10:01.640 from the disco in his mind, he let out a hard, 0:10:01.800 --> 0:10:06.440 angry laugh. Of course he liked girls, but girls hardly 0:10:06.480 --> 0:10:10.400 noticed him, just like everyone else, and when they did, 0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:13.959 it was just to pity him. Even that DJ back 0:10:13.960 --> 0:10:18.160 at the peach Tree, he was so patronizing. None of 0:10:18.200 --> 0:10:22.120 them truly saw him. Not really. He was going to 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:27.920 fix that starting tonight. Soon the whole city would notice him. 0:10:28.360 --> 0:10:30.840 He pulled a revolver from his pocket and massaged it 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:36.280 in his hands. Somewhere a dog was barking. He tried 0:10:36.320 --> 0:10:38.120 to block it from his mind and focus on what 0:10:38.160 --> 0:10:42.440 he was here to do. Make them notice. He opened 0:10:42.440 --> 0:10:44.960 the door of his forward Galaxy and stepped out into 0:10:45.000 --> 0:10:49.360 the night. E oldsmobile idle just up ahead, a few 0:10:49.400 --> 0:10:53.000 feet away. Now he crept up on the passenger side. 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:57.560 Suddenly the passenger door swung open. It was Donna. She 0:10:57.679 --> 0:11:01.320 saw him there waiting for her, his heart pounding, that 0:11:01.480 --> 0:11:04.320 snub nosed piece in his hands, shimmering under the moonlight. 0:11:04.920 --> 0:11:09.839 She screamed, who the hell are you? The flash and 0:11:09.880 --> 0:11:13.079 the revolver was blinding. The shots cut through the night 0:11:13.120 --> 0:11:16.839 air like thunder. Donna fell to the ground. He gave 0:11:16.920 --> 0:11:19.560 to Jody in the driver's seat. She looked like she 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:24.200 was about to puke. He fired three more shots. The 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:27.240 first one tore through her leg. She screamed in pain 0:11:27.320 --> 0:11:30.880 as blood spilled out into the driver's seat, and then 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:36.160 he turned and ran. Doma's parents bolted out of the house. 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:39.360 They rushed down to the car, but it was too late. 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:43.880 At just eighteen years old, their daughter's life was over. 0:11:45.240 --> 0:11:48.600 For the rest of New York City, The nightmare was 0:11:48.720 --> 0:12:22.760 just Beginning April nineteen seventy seven, Manhattan Sun Dragon's Studios, 0:12:23.480 --> 0:12:27.160 something was bothering David Byrne. The music coming out of 0:12:27.200 --> 0:12:31.439 the control room speakers was not good, not good at all. 0:12:32.840 --> 0:12:36.880 David's bandmates, Tina Weymouth, Chris Franz, and their latest edition 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:41.520 multi instrumentalist Jerry Harrison, formerly of The Modern Lovers, they 0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:45.360 all agreed. Listening to this first playback of their song 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:50.360 Psycho Killer, they realized that something was off. The cold 0:12:50.400 --> 0:12:54.160 detached persona that David created so easily on stage at 0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:58.559 CBGB was no match for the cold detached atmosphere the 0:12:58.600 --> 0:13:07.480 recording studios. Isolated vocal booth on Tate. David's voice sounded timid, weak, uninspired. 0:13:09.120 --> 0:13:13.360 He hated it. The track should have been better than this. 0:13:14.040 --> 0:13:17.040 It was the band's oldest song, one they wrote in 0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:20.120 nineteen seventy four while they were all still art students 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:23.680 at Rhode Island School of Design. David came up with 0:13:23.720 --> 0:13:27.080 the concept after listening to Alice Cooper's shock rock masterpiece 0:13:27.120 --> 0:13:31.200 Billion Dollar Babies on repeat. Back then, he imagined it 0:13:31.200 --> 0:13:35.160 as a creepy rock ballad, but Chris added a funky 0:13:35.240 --> 0:13:38.000 and propulsive beat that took the song in a totally 0:13:38.000 --> 0:13:42.360 different direction. Tina, who was dating Chris, listened as the 0:13:42.360 --> 0:13:45.439 guys tried to come up with a bridge. She offered 0:13:45.480 --> 0:13:48.400 to write something in French, seeing as she was fluent, 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:53.120 and soon the song was done. Tina grew up taking 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:56.000 music lessons, but at the time she hadn't even picked 0:13:56.040 --> 0:13:59.200 up a bass yet. Even now, in nineteen seventy seven, 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:02.959 only been playing for a year and a half. That 0:14:03.080 --> 0:14:06.720 was another thing bothering David. After finally signing with Sire 0:14:06.800 --> 0:14:10.120 Records in November, Talking Head's debut album was going to 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:13.480 make or break. If it succeeded, it could launch him 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:16.720 into a long career in music. If it flopped, you 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:20.360 might not get another shot. Was it really wise to 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:24.800 trust their sound to such an inexperienced player. Maybe Tina 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:31.720 was the problem, or maybe the problem was Tony bon Gioviy. Yes, 0:14:32.200 --> 0:14:35.520 that's first cousin to mister living on a Prayer, John 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:39.520 bon Jovi, who in nineteen seventy seven was already a 0:14:39.520 --> 0:14:44.520 big time producer. Jimmy Hendrix, Gloria Gaynor, and most importantly, 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:49.440 Tony Bonjioviy produced two Dynamics Soaring albums for the ramones 0:14:50.520 --> 0:14:53.200 seymour Stein thought that Tony bon Gioviy would be a 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:58.000 perfect fit for the Talking Head's debut. From the start, however, 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:01.120 it was not a perfect fit. It was a badfit. 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:05.320 Tony didn't understand the band's sound. He was dismissive about 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:09.480 Tina's playing, he hated David singing, and he spent most 0:15:09.520 --> 0:15:12.760 of his time bragging about his new private jet. He 0:15:12.840 --> 0:15:16.600 read airplane magazines while the band recorded, and he left 0:15:16.640 --> 0:15:19.760 sessions to oversee the creation of the power station studio 0:15:19.840 --> 0:15:23.200 he was building in Hell's kitchen. When he did pay attention, 0:15:23.920 --> 0:15:28.000 his attempts to drop knowledge off and backfired. Like right now, 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:32.320 the studio was silent as the playback ended. Everyone in 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:35.120 the room knew that the vocals were all wrong. Tony 0:15:35.240 --> 0:15:38.440 casually put down the Airplane magazine and he took off 0:15:38.440 --> 0:15:41.320 his shades and walked out of the room. When he 0:15:41.400 --> 0:15:44.640 returned from the studio small kitchen, he was holding an 0:15:44.720 --> 0:15:48.360 eight inch long butcher knife. He walked up to David 0:15:48.400 --> 0:15:52.280 and placed the knife in his hand. Look, Tony said, 0:15:52.800 --> 0:15:56.280 you're a psycho killer right, It's time to get into character. 0:15:58.640 --> 0:16:01.440 It couldn't be more clear that Tony didn't understand the 0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:05.520 song at all. He wanted David to scream soulfully like 0:16:05.680 --> 0:16:09.720 Al Green, instead of delivering a cold monotone like Lou Reed. 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:14.800 He wanted a novelty song. The song wasn't a joke. 0:16:15.680 --> 0:16:18.600 This was David's life. If they didn't get it right 0:16:18.720 --> 0:16:24.360 this go round, there would not be another. David looked 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:26.840 down at the knife in his hand, and the anger 0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:30.440 boiled up inside of him. He felt like a dog, 0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:34.720 an animal. He wanted a lunge at Tony, gouge the 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:38.440 producer's eyes out, to plunge the knife into his fucking chest. 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:45.120 Do it. The voice inside him screamed, do it. No 0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:47.920 he said to himself as much as he said to Tony, 0:16:48.840 --> 0:16:51.760 I don't think we're going to do that. Then he 0:16:51.800 --> 0:16:53.920 handed back the knife and stormed out of the room. 0:16:55.960 --> 0:16:58.440 While David Byrne was trying to channel a psycho killer 0:16:58.480 --> 0:17:02.120 in Manhattan, of Queens and the Bronx were becoming aware 0:17:02.160 --> 0:17:05.439 of a psycho killer prowling their neighborhood for real. The 0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:08.159 shooting in the Bronx in July nineteen seventy six that 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:11.359 killed eighteen year old Donna Laia and wounded her nineteen 0:17:11.400 --> 0:17:14.639 year old friend, Jody Valenti was reported with a meager 0:17:14.720 --> 0:17:18.880 two paragraph mentioned in the Long Island Press. Similar attacks 0:17:18.880 --> 0:17:22.679 in October in November garnered a few more articles, but 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:26.840 nothing like the headlines that David Berkowitz expected. In a 0:17:26.880 --> 0:17:30.119 city with over fifteen hundred homicides a year, it was 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:36.800 hard to break through, but David Berkowitz did breakthrough, specifically 0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:40.919 at about seven thirty pm on March eighth, nineteen seventy seven, 0:17:41.359 --> 0:17:44.399 when he approached a nineteen year old Columbia student walking 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:48.800 home in Queen's the books that Virginia of Oscar Richian carried. 0:17:48.840 --> 0:17:52.720 He couldn't stop the slug from David Berkowitz's gun. She 0:17:52.840 --> 0:17:54.960 held the books up to try and shield the inevitable, 0:17:54.960 --> 0:17:59.240 but it was no use. David shot her point blank 0:17:59.240 --> 0:18:02.639 in the mouth. Virginia's body collapsed in a heap on 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:05.919 the sidewalk. David Berkowitz pulled a cap down over his 0:18:06.000 --> 0:18:09.200 face and took off running. He left behind the thirty 0:18:09.200 --> 0:18:14.000 five dollars in Virginia's purse. This was the murder that 0:18:14.040 --> 0:18:17.040 compelled New York City Mayor A Beam to hold a 0:18:17.080 --> 0:18:19.960 press conference in which he alerted the public that the 0:18:19.960 --> 0:18:23.960 same weapon, a forty four Bulldog Revolver, had been used 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:29.200 in at least two of the recent shootings. A month later, 0:18:29.560 --> 0:18:33.440 opening day at Yankee Stadium, the tabloid headlines weren't talking 0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:37.520 about the early struggles of new right fielder Reggie Jackson. Instead, 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:40.080 the New York Post and their chief rival, the New 0:18:40.119 --> 0:18:43.919 York Daily News were focused on yet another brutal killing. 0:18:45.359 --> 0:18:49.320 David Berkowitz was crouching in the shadows, watching a couple 0:18:49.560 --> 0:18:52.399 as they kissed in a parked car. He felt for 0:18:52.480 --> 0:18:54.919 the letter in his jacket pocket, the one he'd written 0:18:54.960 --> 0:18:59.840 earlier that day. It was addressed to NYPD Sergeant Joseph Barelli, 0:19:00.240 --> 0:19:04.080 who was leading the investigation into the killings, killings in 0:19:04.119 --> 0:19:07.680 which David Berkowitz was the sole perpetrator, as well as 0:19:07.720 --> 0:19:11.480 the sole person to know this fact. He continued to 0:19:11.520 --> 0:19:13.480 watch the couple make out in their car like a 0:19:13.520 --> 0:19:16.200 man watching a dirty movie alone in a darkened theater. 0:19:16.880 --> 0:19:19.560 And then he pulled that big forty four caliber handgown 0:19:19.600 --> 0:19:23.960 from a bag that gave him purpose. The interior light 0:19:24.000 --> 0:19:26.600 in the car went out, and the couple's heads were 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:29.640 silhouetted by the residual glow of a nearby street light. 0:19:30.359 --> 0:19:33.960 And they were so unaware, so happy, they should have 0:19:33.960 --> 0:19:38.800 been terrified. David made his approach, slowed his New York 0:19:38.880 --> 0:19:41.920 power walk to a crawl. He could hear them now, 0:19:42.600 --> 0:19:48.080 their moans, ecstasy, heavy, petty. The sounds gave him confidence. 0:19:48.960 --> 0:19:53.800 No wild shots, tonight, no missus. He dropped to his knee, 0:19:54.119 --> 0:20:00.520 braced his arm and aimed this happy couple would feel pain. 0:20:01.560 --> 0:20:05.800 He fired four bullets. Each one found its target. His 0:20:05.960 --> 0:20:10.399 victims slumped in their seats, dead or nearly so. He 0:20:10.440 --> 0:20:12.679 calmly pulled the letter from his pocket and dropped it 0:20:12.680 --> 0:20:16.159 in the car before turning to leave. The citizens of 0:20:16.160 --> 0:20:19.600 New York City didn't fear him, not yet. They called 0:20:19.640 --> 0:20:22.000 him a killer, but they had no idea that he 0:20:22.080 --> 0:20:25.520 was so much more. He was the son of evil. 0:20:25.880 --> 0:20:28.840 He was the son of the devil. He was the 0:20:28.880 --> 0:20:34.000 son of Sam, which is exactly what the letter said. 0:20:35.400 --> 0:20:37.560 The cops tried to keep the letter a secret from 0:20:37.600 --> 0:20:41.719 the press, but the Daily News managed to bribe someone, 0:20:41.840 --> 0:20:44.400 and the very next day, the paper ran the full 0:20:44.520 --> 0:20:47.000 text of the letter, along with a massive, bold face 0:20:47.080 --> 0:20:51.200 headline that read killer to cops, I'll do it again. 0:20:53.080 --> 0:20:56.640 That headline caught the eye of many New Yorkers, including 0:20:56.720 --> 0:20:59.600 David Byrne, who spotted the paper as he stepped out 0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:03.520 of Sun Dragon's studios. As he read the article, he 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:07.560 was struck by the letter's cold, detached tone. These weren't 0:21:07.560 --> 0:21:10.240 the words of a lunatic waving a knife around in public. 0:21:10.840 --> 0:21:12.760 They were the words of a man who blended in, 0:21:13.359 --> 0:21:18.320 who wouldn't be noticed until he struck. When David Byrne 0:21:18.400 --> 0:21:22.200 returned to the studio, he ran into engineer Ed Stasium. 0:21:22.960 --> 0:21:26.480 He confessed to Ed that he was beyond uncomfortable singing 0:21:26.520 --> 0:21:29.879 in front of Tony. Ed suggested they wait for the 0:21:29.920 --> 0:21:32.280 producer to clear out for the day and then finish 0:21:32.320 --> 0:21:35.679 the vocals when he wasn't around, which is exactly what 0:21:35.720 --> 0:21:40.200 they did. They pieced together Psychokiller behind their producer's back 0:21:40.960 --> 0:21:45.320 while Tony talked about Tina's playing ed. The engineer reassured 0:21:45.400 --> 0:21:47.719 David and the rest of the band that her bassline 0:21:47.800 --> 0:21:53.560 absolutely made the song and that she was impossible to replace. Eventually, 0:21:54.320 --> 0:21:58.080 David Byrne found ways to relax, to bring the excitement 0:21:58.119 --> 0:22:02.080 of the band's live performances to the cold, isolated vocal booth. 0:22:03.000 --> 0:22:07.080 The psycho Killer was taking shape. Eight or nine other 0:22:07.160 --> 0:22:10.440 songs were close behind, but now the band was going 0:22:10.480 --> 0:22:13.639 to have to push pause on the recording. In three days, 0:22:13.680 --> 0:22:16.359 they were boarding a plane to England. The band was 0:22:16.400 --> 0:22:21.240 going on tour with The Ramones. So while David Byrne 0:22:21.240 --> 0:22:24.680 worked on building a buzz for his band's debut album Abroad, 0:22:25.359 --> 0:22:28.040 David Berkowitz worked on a project that would land him 0:22:28.040 --> 0:22:31.879 more headlines back home. His letter to the Cops was 0:22:31.920 --> 0:22:36.520 a success. It massively increased the news coverage of his killings, 0:22:37.280 --> 0:22:40.239 and now the son of Sam was working feverishly on 0:22:40.280 --> 0:22:46.040 a follow up, something bigger, longer, more ornate. He took 0:22:46.080 --> 0:22:49.520 his time writing it, he worked carefully on the calligraphy, 0:22:50.000 --> 0:22:54.919 the layout. It was a killer press release, or should 0:22:54.920 --> 0:22:58.119 I say a press release for a killer, which is 0:22:58.160 --> 0:23:02.320 why Berkowitz sent it to a Jimmy Breslin, the lead 0:23:02.440 --> 0:23:06.320 calumnist for the New York Daily News, and like any 0:23:06.359 --> 0:23:11.320 good press release, it promoted an event, another killing to 0:23:11.359 --> 0:23:15.439 come in July, on the one year anniversary of the 0:23:15.440 --> 0:23:26.439 Son of Sam's first shooting. We'll be right back after this. 0:23:26.640 --> 0:23:39.120 We're We're, We're. July nineteen seventy seven. New York's brutal 0:23:39.119 --> 0:23:42.760 heat wave seemed to be never ending. Ditto for the 0:23:42.840 --> 0:23:46.040 rotting garbage piled in the streets the result of a 0:23:46.119 --> 0:23:50.080 sanitation worker strike. If that didn't put you on edge, 0:23:50.520 --> 0:23:53.280 then knowing that psychos Son of Sam was still out 0:23:53.320 --> 0:23:57.800 there did. Some days, it seemed like the only bright 0:23:57.840 --> 0:24:01.000 spot in the city was the New York yan who 0:24:01.000 --> 0:24:03.280 were starting to rise to the top of the American 0:24:03.359 --> 0:24:06.480 League East standings just a few days before the All 0:24:06.520 --> 0:24:11.280 Star break. Yankee Stadium was dark tonight, though with the 0:24:11.280 --> 0:24:14.400 Bronx Bombers on the road, but across town in Queens 0:24:14.920 --> 0:24:17.240 Shay Stadium was lit up with the Mets and the 0:24:17.320 --> 0:24:20.320 Chicago Cubs. Heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, 0:24:21.560 --> 0:24:23.840 you could almost see the stadium lights from the roof 0:24:23.880 --> 0:24:26.639 of the Long Island City loft that David Byrne shared 0:24:26.680 --> 0:24:31.119 with Tina Weymouth and Chris France. David wasn't looking towards 0:24:31.119 --> 0:24:34.520 Shay Stadium, though, he was looking out across the East 0:24:34.600 --> 0:24:39.359 River at the buildings of Manhattan. The next day, in 0:24:39.400 --> 0:24:42.640 one of those buildings, he and his bandmates would head 0:24:42.680 --> 0:24:45.200 to Sun Dragon and put the final touches on their 0:24:45.280 --> 0:24:50.520 debut album. Despite the heat, everyone was at a celebratory 0:24:50.600 --> 0:24:55.879 mood Hamburgers and chickens sizzled on a barbecue grill, Glasses clinked, 0:24:56.400 --> 0:24:59.160 friends down cold beer and white wine as the group 0:24:59.240 --> 0:25:04.320 toasted the complete of their record. David Byrne, however, stood alone. 0:25:05.160 --> 0:25:08.800 His stomach was in knots and the album was nearly done, 0:25:09.400 --> 0:25:13.960 and that thought was pure agony. What if the record flopped? 0:25:14.640 --> 0:25:17.320 What if radio programmers refused to play it because they 0:25:17.359 --> 0:25:19.800 thought it was punk and not new wave, as seymour 0:25:19.840 --> 0:25:23.120 Stein was insisting, what if they never got to make 0:25:23.160 --> 0:25:29.080 another record? Suddenly, David watched from the roof as an 0:25:29.320 --> 0:25:33.960 entire city block went dark, like someone had flipped off 0:25:33.960 --> 0:25:39.600 a giant power switch, then another, then another. Everyone at 0:25:39.600 --> 0:25:42.399 the party was pointing across the river as Midtown and 0:25:42.520 --> 0:25:47.080 downtown also went dark. They watched as the entire city 0:25:47.560 --> 0:25:54.440 was plunged into darkness. New York finally snapped. The heat, 0:25:54.800 --> 0:25:59.880 the trash, the fear, and now no electricity. Enough was enough. 0:26:00.560 --> 0:26:03.159 From Brooklyn to the Bronx, people flooded the streets to 0:26:03.240 --> 0:26:07.640 vent their frustration. They lift fires, smashed store windows. It 0:26:07.680 --> 0:26:11.920 was absolute pandemonium. The cops were already stretched to the 0:26:11.960 --> 0:26:14.879 breaking point with the Son of Sam manhunt. As the 0:26:15.000 --> 0:26:19.159 rioting spread, they were outnumbered and exhausted. They struggled to 0:26:19.200 --> 0:26:21.600 restore order. As the sun came up the next morning, 0:26:22.480 --> 0:26:25.639 thick smoke filled the air throughout Queen's as police and 0:26:25.720 --> 0:26:30.800 looters engaged in the street battle. Talking heads were huddled 0:26:30.800 --> 0:26:35.480 around a small television, watching in horror as all this unfolded, 0:26:36.200 --> 0:26:39.360 knowing that there was a very real possibility that their 0:26:39.400 --> 0:26:42.439 recording studio could be one of those buildings being looted. 0:26:43.560 --> 0:26:50.439 Twenty five hours passed, twenty five long hours. Finally the 0:26:50.560 --> 0:26:54.680 power came back on the phone at the band's loft 0:26:54.800 --> 0:26:59.520 rang it was ed stasium at the studio and everything, 0:26:59.720 --> 0:27:07.240 thanks was fine, the tapes were safe. As David Byrne 0:27:07.280 --> 0:27:10.600 and Talking Heads completed the final mix of their debut album, 0:27:10.760 --> 0:27:14.600 David Berkowitz was contemplating his own final plan as he 0:27:14.680 --> 0:27:19.320 clung to a doorframe in a tiny, dank bathroom. Outside, 0:27:19.920 --> 0:27:23.119 he could hear the dog pacing back and forth. He 0:27:23.240 --> 0:27:27.160 was terrified. Now that it had his attention, he knew 0:27:27.200 --> 0:27:30.480 that he would have to do its bidding. From the 0:27:30.480 --> 0:27:34.040 window of his tiny apartment in Yonkers, he looked outside 0:27:34.600 --> 0:27:36.879 in the yard below. He could see the big black 0:27:36.920 --> 0:27:40.800 dog staring at him. Its eyes were almost human. It 0:27:40.880 --> 0:27:43.639 was barking, It was snarling. It looked like it was 0:27:43.680 --> 0:27:47.480 about to start screaming at him. You fucking loser, you 0:27:47.680 --> 0:27:50.920 pathetic piece of shit. The world hates it. Why don't 0:27:50.920 --> 0:27:54.280 you just dieing worm? Do it? Do it now? Sam 0:27:54.400 --> 0:27:57.040 is hung with Sam wants to hunt. Get out there 0:27:57.119 --> 0:28:02.679 and kill, kill kill. David covered his ears, but he 0:28:02.680 --> 0:28:05.640 couldn't drown it out. He grabbed a small rifle from 0:28:05.640 --> 0:28:08.560 the couch and threw open the window. He fired wildly 0:28:08.640 --> 0:28:11.040 at the dog below as it ran wimpword back home. 0:28:14.680 --> 0:28:20.680 August nineteen seventy seven, despite a massive police manhunt, David 0:28:20.720 --> 0:28:25.119 Berkowitz had successfully killed again, a year almost to the 0:28:25.200 --> 0:28:28.920