* ("x record" being the one immediately before Cosmic Thing, at the very very latest.)
― Nitsuh, Friday, 7 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Sean, Friday, 7 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― philT, Friday, 7 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Still, how do you measure up to the genius of "52 Girls"?
― Dan Perry, Friday, 7 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Arthur, Friday, 7 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― alex in nyc, Friday, 7 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Ally, Friday, 7 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 7 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― fritz, Friday, 7 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Jason, Friday, 7 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
(See how I'm baiting a contrarian to come along and disagree?)
― Nitsuh, Saturday, 8 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Geoff, Saturday, 8 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
US/UK cultural equivalences: B-52s / Adam And The Ants??
― Tom, Saturday, 8 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Andy, Saturday, 8 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― anthony, Saturday, 8 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Tracer Hand, Sunday, 9 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Arthur, Sunday, 9 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― mark s, Sunday, 9 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
No. I have no problem with the B-52s, but saying that is like saying "A Regular Ass Candy Wrapper / The Candy Wrapper With The Golden Ticket??"
― Ally, Sunday, 9 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 9 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― David Gunnip, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― scott, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Nick, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― palpable, Tuesday, 11 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 11 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
In any event, I'm listening to Nude on the Moon right now, so REVIVE!
And look.....even Killing Joke approves! (check out Youth's shirt!)
http://www.an-irrational-domain.net/images/youth/youth15.JPG
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 20:12 (twenty years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 20:15 (twenty years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 8 July 2003 20:36 (twenty years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 20:41 (twenty years ago) link
CLASSIC
― Millar (Millar), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 20:47 (twenty years ago) link
― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:11 (twenty years ago) link
― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:15 (twenty years ago) link
This description is so classic, it hurt my hips.
― donut bitch (donut), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:27 (twenty years ago) link
My answer is stupid, but: Los Fabulosos Cadillacs.
― Cacaman Flores, Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:43 (twenty years ago) link
― John Bullabaugh (John Bullabaugh), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 01:49 (twenty years ago) link
― di smith (lucylurex), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 02:03 (twenty years ago) link
― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 11:56 (twenty years ago) link
― Colin Meeder (Mert), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 12:09 (twenty years ago) link
― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 12:16 (twenty years ago) link
― Shaeky Mo Collier, Monday, 18 April 2005 22:38 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Monday, 18 April 2005 22:44 (nineteen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier, Monday, 18 April 2005 22:48 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Monday, 18 April 2005 22:52 (nineteen years ago) link
― miccio (miccio), Monday, 18 April 2005 22:53 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Monday, 18 April 2005 22:55 (nineteen years ago) link
― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Monday, 18 April 2005 22:56 (nineteen years ago) link
― donut debonair (donut), Monday, 18 April 2005 23:24 (nineteen years ago) link
― donut debonair (donut), Monday, 18 April 2005 23:25 (nineteen years ago) link
― donut debonair (donut), Monday, 18 April 2005 23:26 (nineteen years ago) link
They were here in concert on Sunday but I didn't go. I thought about about starting a TS: B-52s vs. King Crimson, since they were here recently too, and I didn't go to that either. Seemingly polar opposites, prog vs. new wave, both hugely influential to me in their heydays, both led me into rabbit holes of unfamiliar music (KC: classical and jazz, B-52s: surf music and Henry Mancini.) And I don't listen to either a whole lot these days, although I always love 'em when I do.
― smug dinner-jazz atrocity (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 5 July 2017 14:10 (six years ago) link
Glove slap, baby, glove slap.
― The Anti-Climax Blues Band (Turrican), Wednesday, 5 July 2017 14:49 (six years ago) link
Fripp played in the B-52s once!
http://www.elephant-talk.com/wiki/Interview_with_Robert_Fripp_in_Best
― kurt schwitterz, Wednesday, 5 July 2017 17:01 (six years ago) link
whoa and The Screamers?!?!?
― sleeve, Wednesday, 5 July 2017 17:05 (six years ago) link
damn
Ruby Ray JUST posted all her pics of the night Fripp played with The Screamers https://www.facebook.com/ruby.ray.752/posts/10214036279682579?pnref=story
― kurt schwitterz, Wednesday, 5 July 2017 17:29 (six years ago) link
saw them last night in L.A. -- they still sound amazing. It wasn't a super long set, they were on a bill w/OMD and Berlin (Berlin was decent, only caught the last couple songs, OMD was astonishing as per usual), but they played all the key hits. Rock Lobster closed it out. They had someone in a lobster suit dancing around onstage with them. good times!
― omar little, Monday, 5 August 2019 18:38 (four years ago) link
Cool. Was Tracy W on bass?
― U or Astro-U? (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 5 August 2019 18:42 (four years ago) link
yep! that band was super tight.
― omar little, Monday, 5 August 2019 18:44 (four years ago) link
"Some say she's from Mars or one of the seven stars that shine after 3:30 in the morning. WELL, SHE ISN'T!" just jumped out at me. Never really noticed the last part before.
Listening at work, no one can see me laughing under this COVID mask.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Thursday, 18 June 2020 15:59 (three years ago) link
I only just noticed this morning that for their formative (pre-mainstream) days, the B-52s didn't have a bassist!
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 6 October 2021 12:55 (two years ago) link
There's a Bass in the Band (And It's Called the Bass)
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 6 October 2021 13:25 (two years ago) link
the gypsies had no home and the b-52s had no bass
― na (NA), Wednesday, 6 October 2021 13:53 (two years ago) link
https://www.vintagesynth.com/sites/default/files/2017-05/sb100.jpg
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 6 October 2021 14:26 (two years ago) link
iirc ricky wilson tuned the bottom two strings down, removed the middle two strings, and played "bass" on the low strings simultaneously with guitar on the high strings.
― Thus Sang Freud, Wednesday, 6 October 2021 14:56 (two years ago) link
A number of songs are CFxxFF, where x is missing string.
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 6 October 2021 15:25 (two years ago) link
and Kate Pierson handled the rest on her keyboard xpost
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 6 October 2021 15:36 (two years ago) link
I just tried experimenting with the CFxxFF tuning for the first time, and it's amazing! Taking the bottom strings down that far makes them ridiculously slack and floppy, but you instantly get *that* sound. (I'm guessing Ricky used thicker gauge strings for this?) And then tuning the top two to the same F is similarly weird, but it is the magical sound of the "down! down!" part of "Rock Lobster." The way he combined bass parts and lead parts on only four strings was wonderfully eccentric and original.
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 14 October 2021 15:02 (two years ago) link
yeah, that's amazing! i didn't know that at all
― typo hell #12: a hundreds of millions of people (Karl Malone), Thursday, 14 October 2021 15:09 (two years ago) link
I would assume one would be playing mostly unison on the top two strings, rather than a lot of minor and major seconds?
― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 14 October 2021 15:11 (two years ago) link
Yes, the "down!" riff is literally just placing one finger over both strings at the 12th fret, descending each step down the fretboard. The two unison strings create a sort of wavery sound, probably aided by just a touch of reverb, and voila.
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 14 October 2021 15:32 (two years ago) link
“Without anything but the love we feel”
― calstars, Sunday, 24 March 2024 03:13 (one month ago) link
otm
― poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 24 March 2024 04:17 (one month ago) link
bought "Good Stuff" on CD at Half Price today, but listened to another acquisition ("Chorus" by Erasure) on the way home instead
― the absence of bikes (f. hazel), Sunday, 24 March 2024 05:03 (one month ago) link
Waiting for bus number 99Goin to the store for hot dogs and wine
― brimstead, Sunday, 24 March 2024 15:13 (one month ago) link
A number of songs are CFxxFF, where x is missing string.― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, October 6, 2021 8:25 AM
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, October 6, 2021 8:25 AM
imagine if he had gotten his hands on one of those guitars with moveable frets.
― interstellar anthropologist+music philosopher, (Austin), Sunday, 24 March 2024 15:38 (one month ago) link
Cracked case copies of Good Stuff (probably harvested from long boxes) were staples of late-'90s Walmart cutout bins.
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 24 March 2024 16:35 (one month ago) link
yeah, that album was made for cutout bins.
― poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 24 March 2024 16:48 (one month ago) link
I remember buying it the day it was released at Peaches Records in Seattle and being disappointed.
― Requiem for a Dream: The Musical! (Dan Peterson), Sunday, 24 March 2024 17:26 (one month ago) link
I remember spending a summer almost wearing my cassette copy of Good Stuff out, even though I knew in my heart that it wasn’t quite as awesome of the prior album
― Marten Broadcloak, mild-mannered GOP congressman (Raymond Cummings), Sunday, 24 March 2024 18:06 (one month ago) link
This one's been stuck in my head all weekend:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpKEzFZYqBg
― poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 24 March 2024 18:16 (one month ago) link
It’s a good track. The 9 minute Shep Pettibone one works really nicely if you are a fan of 80s extended mixes.
― Chewshabadoo, Sunday, 24 March 2024 18:42 (one month ago) link
nice, thanks, I do love extended 80s/90s mixes
― I painted my teeth (sleeve), Sunday, 24 March 2024 19:29 (one month ago) link
I like the Good Stuff remix too
― Requiem for a Dream: The Musical! (Dan Peterson), Sunday, 24 March 2024 20:06 (one month ago) link
I had Bouncing Off the Satellites on tape in high school (I took my car in for service and it was in the cassette player when I picked it up) and I think it's kinda slept on... has some of their very best songs (Summer of Love, Ain't It a Shame, Girl from Ipanema, Wig). She Brakes for Rainbows kinda points the way to Cosmic Thing, too.
― the absence of bikes (f. hazel), Sunday, 24 March 2024 20:21 (one month ago) link
yeah it's a solid LP imo, better than Whammy (which, in turn, sounded MUCH better when I revisited it recently)
― I painted my teeth (sleeve), Sunday, 24 March 2024 20:27 (one month ago) link
Bouncing Off The Satellites has been out of print for ages. Don't remember ever seeing a copy in the UK.
Good Stuff forms part an extremely incongruous 2-for-1 CD package.
https://countrymusicusa.com/cdn/shop/products/20190320_123_740x.jpg
― Wry & Slobby (Portsmouth Bubblejet), Sunday, 24 March 2024 20:40 (one month ago) link
Ahahaha!
Well, there are too many horn arrangements on Good stuff imo
― Requiem for a Dream: The Musical! (Dan Peterson), Sunday, 24 March 2024 20:43 (one month ago) link
That’s the Blood, Sweat and Tears album where Fred Schneider joined as lead singer
― Halfway there but for you, Sunday, 24 March 2024 20:44 (one month ago) link
Revisiting Whammy a few days ago, I was struck by how tinny and crudely programmed those sequencers and drums are. The songs are okay.
By contrast, Bouncing Off the Satellites bounce off the walls. "Ain't It a Shame" is their Secret Best Song. Sinead O'Connor killed it a decade ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUF5mrKUOVA
― poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 24 March 2024 21:08 (one month ago) link
can't be doing with any version of that song that doesn't have the Galaga samples
― the absence of bikes (f. hazel), Sunday, 24 March 2024 21:23 (one month ago) link
I totally love Whammy. Alfred, have you heard Plastics? I’ve written this elsewhere but the second time I saw the B-52s Plastics toured with them, and I’ve long thought the “tinny” rhythms on Whammy may have been Plastics-inspired. That period after Wild Planet that yielded Party Mix and Mesopotamia they were obviously casting about for what to do next.
I thought Bouncing off the Satellites was a minor letdown on release, but I’ve come to love that as well. It lacks anything that rocks me like “Trism” or “Queen of Las Vegas” though.
― Requiem for a Dream: The Musical! (Dan Peterson), Sunday, 24 March 2024 22:00 (one month ago) link
…which is crazy because Plastics were certainly inspired by the B-52s; Whammy seems to me like returning the favor.
― Requiem for a Dream: The Musical! (Dan Peterson), Sunday, 24 March 2024 22:11 (one month ago) link
I think I've said it before, but I love the Mesopotamia outtake version of Queen of Las Vegas (from the Nude on the Moon anthology):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4SAclO9JAE
― the absence of bikes (f. hazel), Sunday, 24 March 2024 22:12 (one month ago) link
Absolutely, it’s wonderful. I wish there were more outtakes like that, but there really aren’t.
― Requiem for a Dream: The Musical! (Dan Peterson), Sunday, 24 March 2024 22:16 (one month ago) link
yo I like The Plastics!! I have their Rough Trade 7"
― I painted my teeth (sleeve), Sunday, 24 March 2024 22:16 (one month ago) link
Yay! I often use ilx threads to decide what to play. This afternoon: Good Stuff, Whammy, and Welcome Back Plastics.
― Requiem for a Dream: The Musical! (Dan Peterson), Sunday, 24 March 2024 22:26 (one month ago) link
Good Stuff needed to be 20 minutes shorter, resequenced, and preferably done with other producers.
― Requiem for a Dream: The Musical! (Dan Peterson), Sunday, 24 March 2024 22:29 (one month ago) link
That "Queen..." outtake is what I heard in my head that the Whammy version doesn't produce.
― poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 24 March 2024 23:06 (one month ago) link
i completely forgot bouncing off the satellites even existed until we were listening to a b-52s mix in the car the other week and Wig came on. What a great song.
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Sunday, 24 March 2024 23:48 (one month ago) link