Similar sounding bands.

I thought Petty's vocals reminded me of Roger (formerly Jim) McGuinn of the Byrds, but I can see the Dylan connection too.

I'll grant you that Verlaine and Byrne kinda' sound the same as vocalist, but Television was a guitar driven rock band. I can't even recall a guitar solo in any of the early Talking Heads albums.

Check out Chuck Prophet, especially "Soap & Water" and tell me you don't hear Tom Petty? The vocal styling, the familiar tempo of the guitar? The basic driving beat/undertone of the songs here. Huh?

Onhwy61: I've listened quite a lot to my comparison of Television vs. Talking Heads, The 1st @ 3rd songs on side two of "Marquee Moon" make (me) scratch my head and say, "which came first"? There has to be a correlation here? As far as the overall output of the bands are concerned, you may be correct. My point here is, how can two bands sound so eerily similar and not have some kind of connection? Maybe It's Divine Intervention?

Dido "No Angel" vs. Beth Orton "Central Reservation"?

To me, the similarities are striking.

"Marquee Moon" and "Talking Heads '77" both came out in the same year with the Television record being released first. Both bands were regular performers at CBGBs and were probably well acquainted with each others' music.