Synopsis

Talk Talk perform "Such A Shame" in a stark studio setting while Mark Hollis moves through a series of changing identities and emotional states. Dice rolls, shifting expressions, numbered references, and projected images of streets, houses, cars, trees, telephone boxes, and a bank create a portrait of a life surrendered to chance. The deliberately theatrical performance reflects the song's inspiration, Luke Rhinehart's novel *The Dice Man*, in which a psychiatrist lets dice determine his decisions and behavior.

Factoids & Trivia

• The song and video were inspired by Luke Rhinehart's 1971 novel *The Dice Man*. Mark Hollis described the book as a favorite, while making clear that he did not recommend adopting its philosophy as a lifestyle.

• Hollis plays several different personalities in the video. Contemporary coverage reported that the roles were selected through dice-based decisions, directly echoing the novel's premise.

• The visual language uses numbers, dice, changing faces, and deliberately unstable behavior rather than a conventional narrative. The result is closer to a compressed visual interpretation of the book than a straightforward performance clip.

• The band members also appear performing with their instruments, while projected footage supplies a stream of ordinary locations and objects. That contrast between mundane images and Hollis' increasingly volatile expressions gives the clip its uneasy atmosphere.

• Released in 1984 as the second single from *It's My Life*, "Such A Shame" became one of Talk Talk's biggest continental European successes. It reached the Top 10 in several countries, including France, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland, where it reached No. 1.

• The single was much less successful in the band's home country, reaching No. 49 on the UK singles chart. In the United States, it peaked at No. 89 on the Billboard Hot 100.