"52 Girls" vs. "Rock Lobster"

short and sweet vs. long and insane

― congratulations (n/a), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 16:37 (8 months ago) Permalink

52 Girls is a perfect song. Rock Lobster is damn awesome but not perfect.

― EZ Snappin, Wednesday, 17 October 2012 16:40 (8 months ago) Permalink

― nerve_pylon, Wednesday, 17 October 2012 16:40 (8 months ago) Permalink

hmmm over here i'd say "Planet Claire" was more famous than "52 Girls" but that might just be my hometown disco's fault

― a pass-agg to indier (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 16:41 (8 months ago) Permalink

anyway this is "Rock Lobster" ctfo

― a pass-agg to indier (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 16:41 (8 months ago) Permalink

"52 Girls" by a nose. Now, if it had been "52 Girls" vs. just the coda of "Rock Lobster", that might've been a different story.

― Gyrate For Physicet (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 16:45 (8 months ago) Permalink

"Rock Lobster" is instrumental in making me a B-52's fan

"52 Girls" is one of my favorite songs of all time

― The Owls of Ja Rule (DJP), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 16:47 (8 months ago) Permalink

i only picked rock lobster because it filled the dance floor at my wedding reception, people were going nuts. but 52 girls is obv great too.

― congratulations (n/a), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 16:48 (8 months ago) Permalink

ROCK LOBSTER

― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 16:48 (8 months ago) Permalink

hmmm over here i'd say "Planet Claire" was more famous than "52 Girls" but that might just be my hometown disco's fault

yeah, same here. dance this mess around too

― wk, Wednesday, 17 October 2012 16:49 (8 months ago) Permalink

Used to sing it on the bus to and from day camp when I was a kid.

― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 16:49 (8 months ago) Permalink

also no fred in 52 girls

― congratulations (n/a), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 16:50 (8 months ago) Permalink

52 Girls

DJP OTM

― carl agatha, Wednesday, 17 October 2012 16:50 (8 months ago) Permalink

THEEEEEEEESE
ARE THE GIIIIIIRLS
OF THE U! S! AAAAAAAAA!

― congratulations (n/a), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 16:51 (8 months ago) Permalink

oh god this poll

― the ones that I'm near most: fellow outcasts and ilxors (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 16:52 (8 months ago) Permalink

Rock Lobster is one of my favorite songs of all time.

That original pic sleeve is on permanent display atop one of my cd cabinets. I never tire of looking at it.

― Sex Kitten mind control slave (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 16:53 (8 months ago) Permalink

oh yeah the 12" of Rock Lobster / Dance This Mess Around / Planet Claire was a charting single.

― wk, Wednesday, 17 October 2012 16:56 (8 months ago) Permalink

But anyway, the correct answer here is "Dance This Mess Around".

― wk, Wednesday, 17 October 2012 16:59 (8 months ago) Permalink

no it isn't

― The Owls of Ja Rule (DJP), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 17:00 (8 months ago) Permalink

See them on the beach
Or in New York City

― Brad C., Wednesday, 17 October 2012 17:03 (8 months ago) Permalink

No I know, it's Rock Lobster, but "why won't you dance with me? I ain't no lindberger" is my fave b-52 moment.
xp

― wk, Wednesday, 17 October 2012 17:04 (8 months ago) Permalink

It's hard figuring out which makes me want to claw my face off less.

― Clarke B., Wednesday, 17 October 2012 17:05 (8 months ago) Permalink

Lobster.

Saw them this summer. They played both and it was awesome.

― (✿◠‿◠) (ENBB), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 17:06 (8 months ago) Permalink

As much as I think all four songs on side one of that album are equally A+ in slightly different ways, yeah, I don't find "Dance This Mess" better.

Here's a tidbit I just discovered on wiki: Henry Mancini is credited as a co-author of "Planet Claire" on reissues of the album due to the song's use of the bass line from Mancini's "Peter Gunn."

― Sex Kitten mind control slave (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 17:08 (8 months ago) Permalink

But anyway, the correct answer here is "Dance This Mess Around".

― wk, Wednesday, October 17, 2012 9:59 AM (25 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 17:26 (8 months ago) Permalink

lobster

― da croupier, Wednesday, 17 October 2012 17:29 (8 months ago) Permalink

I ain't no lindberger" is my fave b-52 moment.

― Sex Kitten mind control slave (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 17:35 (8 months ago) Permalink

yeah alright, I don't know how to spell the name of the cheese. I am properly shamed.

― wk, Wednesday, 17 October 2012 17:38 (8 months ago) Permalink

Aw man, could never shame the poster who hipped me to The Exotica Project! Just funnin'...

― Sex Kitten mind control slave (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 17:43 (8 months ago) Permalink

the dumb thing is that I typed lindburger and then actually looked it up and still got it wrong!

― wk, Wednesday, 17 October 2012 17:45 (8 months ago) Permalink

hmmm over here i'd say "Planet Claire" was more famous than "52 Girls"

Definitely in my part of the world too. Maybe more famous than "Rock Lobster".

But "Rock Lobster" and "52 Girls" are better imo. And I don't know which one I like most of the two.

― LeRooLeRoo, Wednesday, 17 October 2012 18:36 (8 months ago) Permalink

But anyway, the correct answer here is "Dance This Mess Around".

― wk

Totally agree with this, however I'll go for Rock Lobster. I've been thinking recently how the first album is a real contender for the best album ever released, it's just so perfect.

― Kitchen Person, Wednesday, 17 October 2012 23:42 (8 months ago) Permalink

vs

not sure what's going on in the beginning of that clip

― wk, Thursday, 18 October 2012 00:16 (8 months ago) Permalink

vs

&

― wk, Thursday, 18 October 2012 00:17 (8 months ago) Permalink

Perhaps an unpopular opinion but RL would be perfect if it was 2 minutes shorter.

― Master of Treacle, Thursday, 18 October 2012 00:22 (8 months ago) Permalink

they should have cut out two minutes, but then repeated the whole thing twice.

― wk, Thursday, 18 October 2012 00:26 (8 months ago) Permalink

Well, the single version is more than two minutes shorter than the album version and only has one "down, down" bit. Is that what you want?

― everything, Thursday, 18 October 2012 01:11 (8 months ago) Permalink

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

― System, Tuesday, 23 October 2012 00:01 (7 months ago) Permalink

Rock Lobster is the greater stand alone song. But I never tire of 52 Girls.

― azaera, Tuesday, 23 October 2012 05:32 (7 months ago) Permalink

might have to vote RL on account of the fact that:
...."there goes a bikini whale!!"....

but "Biddy" in 52 Girls has always slayed me

― making plans for nyquil (outdoor_miner), Tuesday, 23 October 2012 12:59 (7 months ago) Permalink

haha, I just read the lyrics for the first time. I never had any idea what she was singing, except maybe "today" and "usa".

― wk, Tuesday, 23 October 2012 16:09 (7 months ago) Permalink

theeeeeese are the giiiiiiiirls of the U! S-Aaa!

― The Owls of Ja Rule (DJP), Tuesday, 23 October 2012 16:10 (7 months ago) Permalink

You know, watching those videos the other day I was thinking about this connection between the b52s and stereolab that I somehow never noticed before. And something about those lyrics seems very 'labby to me as well. They're kind of mundane and and use formal sounding phrases like "the principle girls of the usa" but then are sung in such an unnatural way in terms of the rhythm and emphasis that they are almost entirely unintelligible which gives the vocals a really abstract feeling similar to what Laetitia Sadier does.

― wk, Tuesday, 23 October 2012 16:15 (7 months ago) Permalink

Rock Lobster edges it thanks to the joy it has provided me and my friends over the years - it's one of my favourite songs to dance to. You can twist and boogaloo, switch up your moves as the tempo and dynamics change. We even devised some silly moves to mimic the manta ray, piranha etc. For the 'Here comes a narwhale' bit I'll hold my forearm aloft from my forehead... Sounds stupid written down. Well, it's stupid in real life too, but stoopid fun. I love how the intensity builds too, so you can really hoof it up as the really driving riffs come in at the end before it all breaks down into the submarine bit "down down' - at which point you hold your nose and do the aqua swirl...

52 Girls is amazing though - one of those songs that is utterly perfect, so catchy yet so unusual, with those weird, slightly eerie harmonies.

Another track I'm loving from this album at the moment is Lava - such a bad ass riff. Ricky Wilson is so underrated as a guitarist, but he's one of the most stylish players I can think of, filtering trashy 60s surf, garage and rock 'n roll through funk, disco and punk into something lean, danceable and rockin'.

― Poor.Old.Tired.Horse. (Stew), Tuesday, 23 October 2012 16:27 (7 months ago) Permalink

(xpost) that's uncanny, I was thinking about a B's/'lab similarity too, in terms of both bands providing a pretty good game of spot-the-influences while creating something very fresh and original with them.

― Sex Kitten mind control slave (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 23 October 2012 16:32 (7 months ago) Permalink

yeah, definitely spot-the-influences too, I didn't think about that. Peter Gunn, Stop in the Name of Love, etc vs. Neu, Gansbourg, etc. What's the Dance This Mess around music lifted from? It's a Motown song but I can't put my finger on it at the moment.

What made me think of the stereolab thing was just watching that snl clip and thinking about the farfisa organs, twangy surf/spy guitar, female vocals, and bright red and yellow colors.

― wk, Tuesday, 23 October 2012 16:37 (7 months ago) Permalink

The opening "Remember.... when you held my hand" always seemed to me like a nod to The Shangri-Las "Remember (Walking In The Sand)."

― Sex Kitten mind control slave (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 23 October 2012 16:49 (7 months ago) Permalink

Maybe it's nothing specific but just that the bass/organ quarter note pulse sounds sort of like 1000 different '60s songs.

― wk, Tuesday, 23 October 2012 17:05 (7 months ago) Permalink

"Rock Lobster", because it's awesome and because "52 Girls" didn't actually name ALL 52 girls. (Just like "Dance This Mess Around" only mentioned 8 dances instead of all 16.)

― Faster than food (Myonga Vön Bontee), Tuesday, 23 October 2012 18:32 (7 months ago) Permalink

And a pox upon the SNL cameraperson who studiously avoids almost every one of those 8 dances, focusing on Kate while Fred and Cindy do the shoogaloo and the shy tuna.

― Sex Kitten mind control slave (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 23 October 2012 18:43 (7 months ago) Permalink

I think it's understood that we all know what the other 8 dances are but those other girls names are definitely a mystery.

― wk, Tuesday, 23 October 2012 19:00 (7 months ago) Permalink

If it was written in 1990, 30 of the girls would have been called Jen or Jennifer.

― EZ Snappin, Tuesday, 23 October 2012 19:59 (7 months ago) Permalink

uh this video fucking rules

this was an all-around good-looking band back then

― congratulations (n/a), Tuesday, 23 October 2012 20:09 (7 months ago) Permalink

Yep. This one rules too.

― Sex Kitten mind control slave (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 23 October 2012 20:20 (7 months ago) Permalink

I love the moustache in that one clip.

― wk, Tuesday, 23 October 2012 20:37 (7 months ago) Permalink

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

― System, Wednesday, 24 October 2012 00:01 (7 months ago) Permalink

robbed.

― carl agatha, Wednesday, 24 October 2012 00:05 (7 months ago) Permalink

I know I linked this on some other thread, but if y'all haven't heard this, you need to. Blazing hot.

― Sex Kitten mind control slave (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 24 October 2012 20:08 (7 months ago) Permalink

was one of the 27 votes for "Rock Lobster" just because it blew my mind first.

― go San Francisco Giants! (Bee OK), Thursday, 25 October 2012 04:55 (7 months ago) Permalink

Suzie and Anita

― bell biv devo (Stevie D(eux)), Thursday, 25 October 2012 14:07 (7 months ago) Permalink

"Rock Lobster" is great but I've heard it way too many times and I feel like its one of those tracks that contributes to ppl's idiotic idea that B-52's were a novelty act, which is no fault of its own really but is still a thing.

― bell biv devo (Stevie D(eux)), Thursday, 25 October 2012 14:09 (7 months ago) Permalink

Is this the only band in history where the drummer replaced the guitarist?

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 25 October 2012 14:17 (7 months ago) Permalink

Oh, wait, forgot that Weezer drummer has been mostly playing guitar the last few years!

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 25 October 2012 14:17 (7 months ago) Permalink

Well, Razorlight almost had a "drummer replaced guitarist" as far as writing hit songs was concerned

― Mark G, Thursday, 25 October 2012 14:18 (7 months ago) Permalink

Writing is different. I mean, Topper Headon wrote "Rock the Casbah," but he hardly replaced the guitarists.

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 25 October 2012 14:19 (7 months ago) Permalink