B-52s: Classic or Dud.

Holy cow, that show is AMAZING. If anything, watch "Strobe Light"

This is SO FUCKING GOOD.

WoW i watched those music vault video's this morning and now someones posted them here.. strange anyways lately i've been listening to the Party Mix/Mesopotamia pack alot

Thanks, campreverb, this is indeed amazing! I saw this tour back then, but I don't remember the synth freakout in "Strobe Light."

Sick stuff.

Ricky Wilson was such a great guitarist.

y'all our own Tyler Wilcox has posted an amazing B-52's bootleg, with near soundboard quality, and a much tighter performance than recently released iTunes show.
Get caught up-http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/118118850842/b-52s-edenhall-amsterdam-the

Nice! I'm usually not a big fan of live boots, but I'll make an exception for early B's.

This is super hot! Cindy seems ready to levitate on "Give Me Back My Man."

Been listening to Mesopotamia/Party Mix a whole lot lately

holy shit i just noticed i posted that last year lol

Lyrically this is one of the most subversive bands out there... hope any "duds" are from people who consider their lyrics plain silly. Wave that esoteric flag.

http://georgiamusic.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/B52s_Athens_04.78_kb.jpg

(at their first gig, Valentine's Day 1977)

I'm actually really impressed they got such a good shot for their first gig. I'd have a big ol goofy John Prine smile.

But come on my straight brothers and sisters, you realize even their most straight-ahead novelty song is an ode to bathhouses, right? Approach the B-52s from that direction and you'll latch onto the substance behind the tinsel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SOryJvTAGs

Glitter on the mattress
Glitter on the highway
Glitter on the front porch
Glitter on the hallway

etc etc etc

I hear a wind
Whistling air
Whispering in my ear

Boy mercury shooting through every degree
Oh girl dancing down those dirty and dusty trails
Take it hip to hip rocking through the wilderness
Around the world the trip begins with a kiss

(sorry to those that knew first time around, but believe me it ain't obvious to all)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNwC0sp-uA4

im missing the subtext in Roam

Although they split credit equally, Roam is mostly written by Cindy, the only heterosexual in the band.

their most straight-ahead novelty song is an ode to

lol. Pineapples also come into play. And limburger.

That first gig photo is so sweet.

What can you do to save a party?
Parcheesi, charades?
A spur-of-the-moment scavenger hunt
Or Queen of the Nile?

from Party Out of Bounds. What is Queen of the Nile?

Good question!

Cleopatra?

Is that a party game?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjyJ7pSUnYU

Planets pulsating, constellations creating
Voices are guiding me to the cities by the sea
Yes, I see cities by the sea

Amazing song. This and Deadbeat Club and Dry County forever.

When I finally ventured into Cosmic Thing when I was around 25, I was absolutely floored by 'Topaz.' How did such an incredible song not get released as a single?

sometimes my favorite b52's song! did they do anything else quite like it?
New cities by the sea
Skyscrapers are winking

'Roam' is fucking all-time.

Topaz is one of my top 20 songs of all time. One of the prettiest melodies ever recorded.

It's a truly beautiful song. I hadn't heard it until the other day.

have i ever weighed in on this thread that Dirty Back Road is the best B-52s song? if not, here i am, and it is

I think there could be compelling arguments for so many B-52s songs to be the best B-52s song.

Did you hear the Veruca Salt song from two years ago that references Dirty Back Road in the chorus though?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMeYDS9kZcE

ha no! unsurprisingly the best part of the song by about a million miles!

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.

Glove slap, baby, glove slap.

Fripp played in the B-52s once!

http://www.elephant-talk.com/wiki/Interview_with_Robert_Fripp_in_Best

whoa and The Screamers?!?!?

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

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!

Cool. Was Tracy W on bass?

yep! that band was super tight.

"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.

I only just noticed this morning that for their formative (pre-mainstream) days, the B-52s didn't have a bassist!

There's a Bass in the Band (And It's Called the Bass)

the gypsies had no home and the b-52s had no bass

https://www.vintagesynth.com/sites/default/files/2017-05/sb100.jpg

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.

A number of songs are CFxxFF, where x is missing string.