153. B-52s – Self Titled
[I get a lot of requests for reviews, and I try to honor every one where I own the album. I'm going to start giving props to the people who asked for the reviews. So, this one is for Stephen]
One one side of 1979, there was The Clash and The Buzzcocks and Joy Division. On the other side was Pink Floyd, AC/DC and The Police. There was a quiet complacency between the two, an easy drift between punk and rock. And then there were the B-52s, who rested on neither side and who shook our labeled sensibilities to the core. What the hell was this, anyhow? It wasn’t new wave, it wasn’t punk, it wasn’t rock and roll. But somehow, it was a combination of all that, combined with 1960’s dance grooves and the feel that all of that stuff mashed together was being played in a world where there were flying cars and Spacely Sprockets.
Forget Rock Lobster. While it’s a great song, it comes off a sort of a novelty now, played at weddings and bat mitzvahs to get the kids onto the dance floor. It’s the other songs – Planet Claire, There’s a Moon.., 52 Girls and especially Dance This Mess Around that turn this quirky album into a flamboyant, sensory overload of camp and kitsch that comes off as much more than those things. This is the album Frankie and Annette would play, if their beach was on Planet Claire.
Favorite Song: Dance This Mess Around
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January 4th, 2009
Kate Pierson’s voice should be bottled and marketed as an ED cure.
January 4th, 2009
All the bands you mentioned were British. The B52 were an important band, showing that Americans could be cool AND popular. Funky but important. Funny and serious at the same time. Weird but not. They channeled a funny/serious American music that went back decades with the added element of punk. Loved this record. it still gets me going. You can tell how old I am because I said “record.”
January 5th, 2009
Here in Memphis there is this big garden place that in the spring and summer months hosts different bands. The B-52s played this past summer. One of my coworkers lives very close to this place and can here the bands play from his backyard as though he paid for a ticket.
We sat in his backyard and jammed out. I still love these guys.
January 5th, 2009
Arjun, AC/DC were not a British band. They were Australian.
January 19th, 2009
Has anybody seen a dog dyed dark green?
Awesome.
July 11th, 2009
B-52’s get written off as a novelty act and it’s a shame cause they are a damn good (and original) band. I think the new album (Funplex) is great. Saw them in May in Atlantic City and they still got it. Kate Pierson is one of the greatest vocalists ever.