The B-52's
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This article is about the rock band. For other meanings of B-52, see B-52.
The B-52's is a rock band from Athens, Georgia; the first of many from the college town that has become one of the most important centers in alternative rock.The name comes from the bouffant wigs that are a part of the band's distinctive look, worn by singers Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson. Along with Wilson and Pierson, drummer Keith Strickland, guitarist Ricky Wilson (Cindy's older brother) and vocalist Fred Schneider formed the band after a drunken night at a Chinese restaurant. Their sound is particularly marked by the vocals of Wilson and Pierson, with Kate singing in a slightly deeper voice, along with the generally monotone or spoken-word vocals of Schneider. Aside from their vocals, the band also had a unique New Wave sound that was a combination of dance and surf music and the unusual guitar-string tunings utilized by Ricky Wilson. Although part of the new wave movement, their music was more experimental than most new wave, indulging in all manner of odd vocal and synthesizer effects. It created a quirky dance sound that became very popular.
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Early Recording Success
Image:TheB-52'sTheB-52's.jpg Their first single, "Rock Lobster", recorded for DB Records in 1978 (see 1978 in music), was an underground success that led to the B-52's performing at CBGB's and Max's Kansas City in New York City. "52 Girls" was the B-side.
Their debut album, The B-52's, contained rerecorded versions of Rock Lobster and 52 Girls, along with seven more originals and a remake of Petula Clark's classic "Downtown."
The album was eventually certified platinum and "Rock Lobster" gave the band its first entry on Billboard's Hot 100 chart.
The follow-up, Wild Planet, reached the Top 20 on the Billboard 200 in 1980 and was certified gold. "Private Idaho" became their second Hot 100 entry and around this time the B-52's performed a breakout set on Saturday Night Live.
Party Mix! was released next, a remix album that took tracks from the first two LPs and presented them in extended forms.
Mid-point
Although recording sessions with David Byrne (of Talking Heads) failed, the recordings were released as the Mesopotamia EP in 1982 (Party Mix! and Mesopotamia would later be combined and released together on a single CD).
The Whammy! album in 1983 brought the band into electronic and drum machine experimentation, much to the chagrin of some of their early fans. "Legal Tender" became their third chart single. After the initial pressings of Whammy! were released, copyright issues with Yoko Ono led to the song "Don't Worry" being pulled and replaced on future copies of the album with a new track called "Moon 83", a variation on "There's A Moon in the Sky (Called the Moon)" from their debut album.
1984 brought about an eponymous solo album from Fred Schneider (Fred Schneider & the Shake Society) and the band reformed shortly after to record Bouncing Off the Satellites. On October 12, 1985 Ricky Wilson died at age 32 of what was originally reported as cancer but was later revealed to be AIDS-related. Devastated, the band went into immediate seclusion and the album sank without any tour or promotion behind it.
Mainstream Success
Image:The B-52's - Cosmic Thing.jpg After spending over two years recovering, Strickland switched from drums to guitar, and the B-52's resurfaced with a backing rhythm section in 1988 with the song "Cosmic Thing" on the soundtrack to the movie Earth Girls are Easy. In 1989 they followed that with an album that would become their long-awaited mainstream breakthrough. "Channel Z," released as a teaser-single to the new album Cosmic Thing in 1989 became a major alternative and college radio hit, receiving significant airplay on MTV's modern rock show 120 Minutes.
"Love Shack" came next. With its party vibe and colorful music video (featuring a cameo by a then-unknown RuPaul) "Love Shack" not only became their first song to hit the U.S. Top 40, but it went on to peak at #3. That peak was matched in early 1990 when "Roam" also hit #3.
A third single, "Deadbeat Club," became a Top 30 hit. The Cosmic Thing album climbed into the Top 5 and earned multi-platinum certification. The group also had a hugely successful tour to support the record.
Continuing to be busy through 1990, Pierson lent her vocals to Iggy Pop's song "Candy," which gave him his first (and only) Hot 100/Top 40 hit. 1991 saw the repackaging and re-release of Schneider's solo record and gave him his first Hot 100 entry when "Monster" climbed to #85, and Pierson again guest-starred on a popular track, this time it being R.E.M.'s "Shiny Happy People," which hit the Top 10.
In 1990 Cindy Wilson took time off from the band. As a trio, The B-52's released Good Stuff in 1992, which gave them another top 40 hit. Subsequent singles were not as successful and the album sold nowhere near as much as Cosmic Thing.
The band had its most recent chart entry in 1994 when, as "The BC-52's" they appeared in The Flintstones live-action movie and sang the title song. A career retrospective, Time Capsule: Songs For a Future Generation, appeared in 1998 and Cindy Wilson rejoined the group on two new songs and a tour to promote the collection. A more extensive anthology, Nude on the Moon: The B-52's Anthology appeared in 2002.
As a pioneering quartet of '80s music, The B-52's continue to electrify audiences with their unique, innovative style, headlining concerts and music festivals around the country. Recently, the band announced they will release a new album as well as a compilation of new remixes of their earlier work. Fred Schneider recently commented on the official website [1] that the band is still "working away" and looking forward to "another productive session... there is still plenty of work to do".
Discography
Albums
| Year | Album | US | UK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | The B-52's | 59 | 22 |
| 1980 | Wild Planet | 18 | 18 |
| 1982 | Party Mix | 55 | 36 |
| 1982 | Mesopotamia | 35 | 18 |
| 1983 | Whammy! | 29 | 33 |
| 1986 | Bouncing Off the Satellites | 85 | - |
| 1989 | Cosmic Thing | 4 | 8 |
| 1990 | The Best Of the B-52's: Dance This Mess Around (UK only) | - | 36 |
| 1991 | Party Mix / Mesopotamia (re-issue) | 184 | - |
| 1992 | Good Stuff | 16 | 8 |
| 1998 | Time Capsule: Songs For a Future Generation (singles collection) | 93 | - |
| 1998 | Time Capsule: the Remixes (remix album) | - | - |
| 2002 | Nude on the Moon: The B-52's Anthology | - | - |
| 2006 | TBA | - | - |
Singles
| Year | Song | US | US Dance | US Mod. Rock | UK | Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | "Rock Lobster" | 56 | - | - | 37 | The B-52's |
| 1979 | "Planet Claire"/"Rock Lobster"/"Dance This Mess Around" | - | 24 | - | - | The B-52's |
| 1980 | "Private Idaho" | 74 | - | - | - | Wild Planet |
| 1980 | "Private Idaho"/"Give Me Back My Man"/"Party Out Of Bounds" | - | 5 | - | - | Wild Planet |
| 1982 | "Mesopotamia"/"Deep Sleep"/"Cake" | - | 13 | - | - | Mesopotamia |
| 1983 | "Legal Tender" | 81 | - | - | - | Whammy! |
| 1983 | "Whammy Kiss"/"Legal Tender"/"Song For a Future Generation" | - | 9 | - | - | Whammy! |
| 1986 | "Rock Lobster"/"Planet Claire" (re-issue) | - | - | - | 12 | - |
| 1986 | "Summer Of Love" | - | 3 | - | - | Bouncing Off the Satellites |
| 1986 | "Girl From Ipanema Goes To Greenland" | - | 10 | - | - | Bouncing Off the Satellites |
| 1989 | "(Shake That) Cosmic Thing" | - | - | 7 | - | Earth Girls Are Easy soundtrack, Cosmic Thing |
| 1989 | "Channel Z" | - | - | 1 | - | Cosmic Thing |
| 1989 | "Love Shack" | 3 | 7 | 1 | 2 | Cosmic Thing |
| 1990 | "Roam" | 3 | 10 | 6 | 17 | Cosmic Thing |
| 1990 | "Deadbeat Club" | 30 | - | - | - | Cosmic Thing |
| 1992 | "Good Stuff" | 28 | - | 1 | 21 | Good Stuff |
| 1992 | "Tell It Like It T-I-Is" | - | - | 13 | - | Good Stuff |
| 1994 | "(Meet) The Flintstones" (as "The BC-52's") | 33 | 3 | - | 3 | The Flintstones soundtrack |
| 1998 | "Debbie" | - | 32 | 35 | - | Time Capsule |
- In the seventies and eighties, Billboard's Dance Chart policy allowed multiple songs (or in some cases all songs) from an album or an EP to occupy the same position if more than one track was receiving significant play in dance clubs.
Videos
- The B-52's 1979-1989 (1989) VHS video tape - with remarkably good sound quality.
- The B-52's Time Capsule: Videos for a Future Generation 1979-1998 (1998) VHS video tape.
Biographical Books
- The B-52's by Della Martini, 32 pages, paperback (published in 1990 by Wise Publications, New York City, NY).
- Party Out of Bounds: The B-52'S, R.E.M., and the Kids Who Rocked Athens, Georgia by Rodger Lyle Brown, 221 pages, paperback (published in 1991 by Plume).
- The B-52's Universe: The Essential Guide to the World's Greatest Party Band by Mats Sexton, 231 pages, hard-cover (published in 2002 by Plan-B Books, Minneapolis, MN) is the most exhaustive biography about the B-52's.
Trivia
- Some models of the Amiga computer had the name of a B-52's song written on their motherboard. For example, the Amiga 500 had "B-52's Rock Lobster" written on it.
- According to The B-52's Fan Club Newsletter, circa 1982, "Song for a Future Generation" took a full 24 hours straight to record at A & M Records (Herb Alpert's then-company and site of the former Charlie Chaplin Studios in Los Angeles).
- Singer Julee Cruise filled in for Cindy Wilson on the 1992-1993 Interdimensional Tourgasm, as well as the band's summer 1999 tour, when Cindy went on sabbatical.
- The band also performed the theme song for Nickelodeon's "Rocko's Modern Life".
- In another link to Nickelodeon, Kate Pierson made an cameo appearance on The Adventures of Pete and Pete as the Blind Millionaire.
- The B-52's made a guest appearance and performed a new song called "Pump" in episode 7 of the third season of the TV series The L Word, which is broadcast on the cable TV channel Showtime. The new song entitled "Pump" is one of the songs to be released on The B-52's upcoming new album that is expected to be released in 2006.
See also
External links
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