Psycho Killer is a song written by David Byrne, Chris Frantz, and Tina Weymouth and first played by their band The Artistics in 1974, and as Talking Heads in 1975, with a later version recorded for their 1977 album Talking Heads: 77. In the liner notes for Once in a Lifetime: The Best of Talking Heads (1992), Jerry Harrison wrote of the b-side of the single, an acoustic version of the song that featured Arthur Russell on cello, Im glad we persuaded Tony and Lance that the version with the cellos shouldnt be the only one.

The bands signature debut hit features lyrics which seem to represent the thoughts of a serial killer. Originally written and performed as a ballad, Psycho Killer became what AllMusic calls a deceptively funky new wave/no wave song with an insistent rhythm, and one of the most memorable, driving basslines in rock roll.

Psycho Killer was the only song from the album to appear on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 92. It reached number 32 on the Triple J Hottest 100 in 1989, and peaked at number 11 on the Dutch singles chart in 1977. The song is included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fames 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.

The song was composed near the beginning of the bands career and prototype versions were performed onstage as early as December 1975. When it was finally completed and released as a single in December 1977, Psycho Killer became instantly associated in popular culture with the contemporaneous Son of Sam serial killings. Although the band always insisted that the song had no inspiration from the notorious events, the singles release date was eerily timely and marked by a macabre synchronicity.

Talking Heads performed the song on the BBC2 television show The Old Grey Whistle Test on January 31, 1978. The performance was later released on a DVD compilation of performances from the show.

A live version was released on The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads in 1982 and the later CD release included a second, later live version from the Remain in Light tour. In 1984 later, another live version was included on the soundtrack for the bands concert movie Stop Making Sense. The film opens with Byrne alone onstage, announcing Hi. Ive got a tape I want to play... The Bobs, Moxy Früvous, Rico, Victoria Vox and the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain at the 2009 BBC Proms.

Massachusetts-based band The Fools parodied the song and entitled it Psycho Chicken; it was included as a bonus record with their major-label debut album Sold Out in 1980. Rapper Ice-T says that Psycho Killer was a starting influence for Body Counts controversial hit Cop Killer. Singer Selena Gomez samples the bassline on her 2017 single Bad Liar. A Talking Heads tribute band based in Baltimore, active since 2011, call themselves the Psycho Killers.