They were fucking great, and I usually hate music from that era. I think they were maligned by their genre ambiguity, failing as both funk and punk they kinda got rolled into "new wave" which deserves its reputation as being faggy but I'd argue talking heads were either the exception or misclassified. Remain in Light, in particular, is a masterpiece. People tend to get distracted by the (admittedly killer) hooks and the singles like Once in a Lifetime but look at tracks like Born Under Punches or Houses in Motion which have a real sense of musicality, song structures which remain interesting and innovative even 30 years later. The alternating phases of almost stifling density and sparse, almost transcendent mellody make for a really interesting, stimulating listening experience.
