When you're young, anything is possible. That's the only reason I have for why--in the lazy days of late summer in 1989--this Smiths/Morrissey obsessed teen, who had New Order's Technique on heavy rotation, more black in his wardrobe than a professional Greieving Italian Woman, and the biggest adolescent chip on his shoulder since Tina Yothers realized she was the Keaton nobody liked--fell in love with The B-52's.
I may have missed out on the band in those halcyon days of Rock Lobersting and Satellite bouncing, but I made up for it in spades with the release of Cosmic Thing. They made me smile. That sounds quite simple and trivial, but really.. they made me smile even when I had nothing to smile about. People noted the difference in me. People couldn't figure out what had happened to me, but they knew that I was in a better mood than before, and enjoying life in a different way. It was transformative, and it was exciting, and it made me believe that anything is possible.
So in anticipation of the release of The B-52's new album, Funplex, I've decided that a small refresher course is in order for the next generation of music listeners who are going to re-discover one of Athens, Georgia's lost musical treasures.
Today, we'll revisit the bands first two albums, the eponymous debut, and it's follow-up, Wild Planet. The band played their first gig on Valentine's Day, 1977 at a house party. Their sound suited the function--new wave surfer music coated by lush female harmonies and jabs of spoken word exclamations coming live off the floor and right outta their mouths as they thought about it. It wasn't studied or calculated, but it was fun and catchy and hugely kitschy.
"Rock Lobster" became their calling card, and the band's first foray into mainstream charts. Their popularity overseas over shadowed their success at home, but slowly and surely, music fans the world over were falling for the skatter-shot pop brilliance that Kate Pierson, Cindy Wilson, Fred Schneider, Keith Strickland and Ricky Wilson were creating.
The B-52's "Rock Lobster" [The B-52's, 1979, Warner Bros.]
When it came time to follow that album up, the band cranked the amps, sped up the playing, and came up with Wild Planet. The name suits it perfectly--the music seems like it's been captured in an intergalactic jungle somewhere on Planet X and shipped back to an unsuspecting Earth. It went gold a year after release, and situated the band as part of the new wave vanguard that was beginning to emerge from the ashes of punk rock.
The B-52's "Private Idaho" [Wild Planet, 1980, Warner Bros.]
There's more to come! We'll take a look at the two EPs they released between albums #2 and #3; the death of Ricky Wilson and the birth of Cosmic Thing, Good Stuff and their newest, Funplex later on this week.
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