this is not pitchfork

[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
B-52s at MySpace