The B-52's turned on their kitschy crustacean lava light with the beehive balderdash of this new wave retro rock from outer space. The group was born after drinks at a Chinese restaurant in Athens, Georgia in October of 1976 with Cindy Wilson, her older brother Ricky, Kate Pierson, Keith Strickland, and Fred Schneider in an impromptu jam. Their first gig came on Valentine's Day in 1977 at a house party. They took regular trips to New York to play at various underground clubs and pretty soon the buzz led to a record deal. Their eponymous debut was recorded with Chris Blackwell at Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas. The album features Fred Schneider on cowbell, toy piano, synth bass, vocals, and walkie talkie; Kate Pierson on farfisa combo compact organ, guitar, synth bass, and vocals; Keith Strickland on percussion, drums, and "Planet Claire" sounds; Cindy Wilson on guitar, bongos, tambourine, and vocals; and Ricky Wilson on guitars and smoke alarm. 'The B-52's' went to number fifty-nine in the US, twenty-two in the UK, seven in Australia, and three in New Zealand.
Schneider says their throwback thrift style was not 'camp': "We were the outsiders in Athens. We’d go to parties and people would, like, bolt the door...Camp sort of means you don’t know what you’re doing, and we know what we’re doing. There are a lot of people who are considered camp who have no idea how ridiculous they are. But I just see us as sort of like surreal. It’s a different level...We’ve always shared everything – writing credits, all the royalties – and there’s no real leader because if there was one we’d immediately depose them. We’ve never tried to fit any mould because we already broke the one we started."
Cindy Wilson considers: "In one way, it was very easy for us because we were a group of friends. It wasn’t like being a hired performer to come in and be in a group. It was a bunch of friends getting together — artists and free thinkers. We’re from a college town, Athens, which was a great place to grow up because it wasn’t conservative. It was a very artistic scene there. So we came up through a more open-minded feeling, and had the sense of having fun and being outrageous and making each other laugh. We were lucky that we kind of came up through an organic situation like that...When we came to New York and people started coming to see us, I’m sure we looked like we were from a different planet. But we started getting an audience there and definitely hit a nerve, so it just became bigger and bigger after that. We were kind of our own thing."
Strickland remembers: “The downtown scene attracted artists like Warhol. And, of course, Max’s Kansas City was the first club we ever played in New York, and The Velvet Underground played there, and the Warhol crowd would hang out. There’s always been that interaction between rock’n’roll and art in New York. One of the first shows we played at CBGBs, William Burroughs came… Kate! You saw him, right?”
Pierson adds: “Yeah, he came to our soundcheck at The Mudd Club...Burroughs came with an entourage and he had a long raincoat and a fedora. And he was just sitting at the bar writing and writing during our soundcheck. Frank Zappa came to a show. David Bowie came to a show… We’d always get people saying, ‘Andy’s coming! Andy’s coming tonight!’ And I don’t think Andy ever came. Ha Ha! ... We always appealed to people outside the mainstream; and I think more people feel they’re outside the mainstream these days ... We call ourselves ‘The World’s Greatest Party Band’. And even though that’s somewhat tongue-in-cheek, there’s still something magical when we play that allows people to just bust loose and party and be crazy."
http://theb52s.com/
Rock Lobster was first released as a single by DB Records. It was re-recorded for their Island debut and went to number fifty-eight on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was a top 40 hit in New Zealand and the UK, made it to number three in Australia and became a number one hit in Canada. Strickland says: "Cindy does this scream that was inspired by Yoko Ono. John heard it in some club in the Bahamas, and the story goes that he calls up Yoko and says, Get the axe out – they're ready for us again! Yoko has said that she and John were listening to us in the weeks before he died."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szhJzX0UgDM
We were at a party
His ear lobe fell in the deep
Someone reached in and grabbed it
It was a rock lobster
We were at the beach
Everybody had matching towels
Somebody went under a dock
And there they saw a rock
It wasn't a rock
It was a rock lobster
Motion in the ocean
His air hose broke
Lots of trouble
Lots of bubble
He was in a jam
S'in a giant clam
Down, down
Underneath the waves
Mermaids wavin'
Wavin' to mermen
Wavin' sea fans
Sea horses sailin'
Dolphins wailin'
Red snappers snappin'
Clam shells clappin'
Muscles flexin'
Flippers flippin'
Down, down
Let's rock!
Boys in bikinis
Girls on surfboards
Everybody's rockin'
Everybody's fruggin'
Twistin' 'round the fire
Havin' fun
Bakin' potatoes
Bakin' in the sun
Put on your noseguard
Put on the lifeguard
Pass the tanning butter
Here comes a stingray
There goes a manta-ray
In walked a jelly fish
There goes a dogfish
Chased by a catfish
In flew a sea robin
Watch out for that piranha
There goes a narwhale
HERE COMES A BIKINI WHALE!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ug-iZIcxc60
Planet Claire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AOKPTbZEyA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVZ5KTxyOOY
'The B-52's'
full album:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrH_hK7UjuiTUuiewp4hK1P5uOVvXsPDV
1. Planet Claire 0:00
2. 52 Girls 4:35
3. Dance This Mess Around 8:12
4. Rock Lobster 12:49
5. Lava 19:40
6. There's A Moon In the Sky (Called the Moon) 24:36
7. Hero Worship 29:34
8. 6060-842 33:43
9. Downtown 36:37
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