Little Creatures

This article is about the Talking Heads album. For the Australian brewery, see Little Creatures Brewery.

Little Creatures is the sixth studio album by American rock band Talking Heads, released June 10, 1985, by Sire Records. The album examines themes of Americana and incorporates elements of country music, with many songs featuring steel guitar. It was voted album of the year in The Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics poll, and is the band's best-selling studio album, with more than two million copies sold in the United States. The cover art was created by outsider artist Howard Finster, and was selected as album cover of the year by Rolling Stone.

Little Creatures
Studio album by Talking Heads
Released	June 10, 1985
Recorded	October 1984 – March 1985
Studio	Sigma Sound, New York City
Genre	New wave pop rock roots rock[1]
Length	38:38
Label	Sire
Producer	Talking Heads
Talking Heads chronology
Stop Making Sense (1984) Little Creatures (1985) True Stories (1986)
Singles from Little Creatures
"The Lady Don't Mind" Released: May 1985 "Road to Nowhere" Released: June 1985 "And She Was" Released: August 1985[2] "Stay Up Late" Released: 1985 (US)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
Chicago Tribune	[4]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[5]
Hot Press	11/12[6]
Pitchfork	8.0/10[7]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[8]
Spin Alternative Record Guide	8/10[9]
Tom Hull – on the Web	A[10]
Uncut	9/10[11]
The Village Voice	A[12]

Track listing

All tracks are written by David Byrne, except where noted.

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"And She Was"		3:36
2.	"Give Me Back My Name"	Byrne, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison, Tina Weymouth	3:20
3.	"Creatures of Love"		4:12
4.	"The Lady Don't Mind"	Byrne, Frantz, Harrison, Weymouth	4:03
5.	"Perfect World"	Byrne, Frantz	4:26

Side two

No.	Title	Length
6.	"Stay Up Late"	3:51
7.	"Walk It Down"	4:42
8.	"Television Man"	6:10
9.	"Road to Nowhere"	4:19

1985 UK CD Bonus Track

No.	Title	Length
10.	"The Lady Don't Mind" (Extended Mix)	6:51

2005 reissue bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
10.	"Road to Nowhere" (Early version)	4:37
11.	"And She Was" (Early version)	3:36
12.	"Television Man" (Extended mix)	7:52

Personnel

Talking Heads

• David Byrne – guitar, vocals
• Chris Frantz – drums
• Jerry Harrison – keyboards, guitar, backing vocals
• Tina Weymouth – bass guitar, backing vocals

Additional musicians

• Ellen Bernfeld – backing vocals on "Perfect World" and "Walk It Down"
• Andrew Cader – washboard on "Road to Nowhere"
• Erin Dickens – backing vocals on "Television Man" and "Road to Nowhere"
• Diva Gray – backing vocals on "Road to Nowhere"
• Gordon Grody – backing vocals
• Lani Groves – backing vocals
• Jimmy Macdonell – accordion on "Road to Nowhere"
• Lenny Pickett – saxophones
• Steve Scales – percussion
• Naná Vasconcelos – percussion on "Perfect World"
• Eric Weissberg – steel guitar on "Creatures of Love" and "Walk It Down"
• Kurt Yahjian – backing vocals

Recording

• Jack Skinner – mastering
• Eric Thorngren – engineer, mixing
• Melanie West – second engineer

Charts

Weekly charts Weekly chart performance for Little Creatures Chart (1985) Peak position Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[13] 2 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[14] 4 Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[15] 18 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[16] 4 European Albums (Music & Media)[17] 14 Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[18] 37 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[19] 9 Italian Albums (Musica e dischi)[20] 22 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[21] 1 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[22] 16 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[23] 10 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[24] 12 UK Albums (OCC)[25] 10 US Billboard 200[26] 20 Weekly chart performance for Little Creatures Chart (2023) Peak position Croatian International Albums (HDU)[27] 3 Hungarian Physical Albums (MAHASZ)[28] 12

Year-end charts 1985 year-end chart performance for Little Creatures Chart (1985) Position Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[29] 7 Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[30] 57 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[31] 39 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[32] 47 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[33] 5 UK Albums (Gallup)[34] 77 1986 year-end chart performance for Little Creatures Chart (1986) Position Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[35] 17 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[36] 12 UK Albums (Gallup)[37] 59 Decade-end charts Decade-end chart performance for Little Creatures Chart (1980–1989) Position Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[38] 21

Certifications and sales

Certifications and sales for Little Creatures

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia	—	150,000[39]
Germany (BVMI)[40]	Gold	250,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[41]	Platinum	15,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[42]	Gold	100,000^
United States (RIAA)[43]	2× Platinum	2,000,000^
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.