♫ Before I talk, I should read a POLL! ♪ ILM Artist Poll #93 ♪ B-52’s ♫

these are always so fun. Thanks so much Karl & Bee, this is one of my favorite bands.
The only thing I had that didn't place was "Too Much To Think About", an attempt at having one off every album.

1 Devil In My Car
2 Dance This Mess Around
3 Hero Worship
4 Legal Tender
5 52 Girls
6 Dirty Back Road
7 Planet Claire
8 Private Idaho
9 Lava
10 Runnin' Around
11 Give Me Back My Man
12 Dry County
13 Song For A Future Generation
14 Strobe Light
15 Roam
16 Rock Lobster
17 Queen Of Las Vegas
18 Wig
19 Quiche Lorraine
20 Deadbeat Club
21 Party Out Of Bounds
22 Mesopotamia
23 Is that You Mo-Dean?
24 6060-842
25 Too Much To Think About

Final rankings by album

B-52's (#1, 4251 points)
1 52 Girls 932 32 5
2 Dance This Mess Around 892 32 3
5 Rock Lobster 790 28 5
7 Planet Claire 735 30
17 Lava 295 15
22 Hero Worship 260 13
25 6060-842 211 11
33 (tie) There’s A Moon In The Sky (Called The Moon) 108 6
52 Downtown 28 2

Wild Planet (#2, 3431 points)
3 Private Idaho 888 33 4
6 Give Me Back My Man 757 29 2
10 Party Out Of Bounds 463 19 3
12 Strobe Light 406 18 1
15 Dirty Back Road 342 16
24 Devil In My Car 220 10 1
28 (tie) 53 Miles West Of Venus 128 7
28 (tie) Quiche Lorraine 128 7
37 Runnin’ Around 99 5

Roam (#3, 2742 points)
4 Roam 796 30
9 Deadbeat Club 501 21 2
13 Topaz 400 16 2
16 Love Shack 338 16
21 Channel Z 262 12
26 Bushfire 178 9
31 Dry County 121 6
42 Cosmic Thing 75 5
50 Follow Your Bliss 39 2
51 Junebug 32 2

Bouncing Off The Satellites (#4, 1370 points)
18 Ain’t It A Shame 294 12
19 Girl From Ipanema Goes To Greenland 289 15
20 Summer Of Love 282 14
23 Wig 246 12 1
33 (tie) Theme For A Nude Beach 108 6
43 Detour Thru Your Mind 70 4
44 (tie) She Brakes For Rainbows 68 4
58 (tie) Housework 13 1

Whammy! (#5, 1296 points)
11 Legal Tender 432 18
14 Song For A Future Generation 394 17 1
35 Whammy Kiss 107 6
38 Queen Of Las Vegas 96 6
40 Butterbean 85 5
41 Trism 79 4
44 (tie) Work That Skirt 68 3
55 (tie) Moon 83 22 1
58 (tie) Big Bird 13 1

Mesopotamia EP (#6, 1165 points)
8 Mesopotamia 618 25 2
27 Cake 176 8
32 Nip It In The Bud 115 5 1
36 Deep Sleep 105 5 1
39 Throw That Beat In The Garbage Can 92 5
47 (tie) Loveland 59 3

Good Stuff (#7, 274 points)
30 Is That You Mo-Dean? 122 7
46 Revolution Earth 60 3
47 (tie) Good Stuff 59 3
57 Hot Pants Explosion 21 1
61 (tie) Dreamland 12 1

Funplex (#8, 102 points)
49 Juliet Of The Spirits 51 3
53 Funplex 26 2
58 (tie) Eyes Wide Open 13 1
61 (tie) Deviant Ingredient 12 1

Other Releases
54 Debbie 25 1
55 (tie) Meet The Flintstones 22 1

The only thing I had that didn't place was "Too Much To Think About", an attempt at having one off every album.

oh, speaking of, i meant to tell you, i didn't include your 21-25 on your ballot! i probably could have left it on but i wasn't sure what to do since everyone else submitted 20 max. similarly, alfred submitted a top 6 albums and i left his #6 off.

please do not sue me for a recount, or to prevent a recount

terrific results, terrific list of songs, and possibly the best images in any ilm poll ever? would type more but am headed out for drinks.

god "private idaho" is great, probably the song that *really* hooked me on the band. that wild riff, that super-tight playing overall, the crazy hooting, the delicious chewing into 50s b-movie stuff (which i already knew from mst3k, and in the case of radioactive swimming pools, maniac mansion). but it's also a sexy party pool "full of strangers." they're on fire on this track.

also fun to think about that pool as the live-in-the-late-70s version of what stipe is brushing up against and remembering on "nightswimming."

Karl Malone excellent job, thank you so much for taking this over for me. You did this poll and band justice. Told you that you would have fun.

More later.

lol, I'm just glad the poll got completed, and I go back and forth about whether 6060-842 is a great track or not.

I approve these poll results and commend Karl, Bee OK, and we participants on our excellent taste

Paypaled a fish to Karl.

"52 Girls" was my own number one from my very first longlist but I discuss B-52s matters too infrequently to know it was quite this popular. Not too sure I can say much about it beyond "it bangs" or similar.

My only selections to miss out were "Trism" and "Follow Your Bliss", which is not terribly surprising.

Thanks for putting it all together, Bee OK and Karl Malone!

I will never not put "Private Idaho" at number one.

Thanks Karl & Bee. I don't agree with all the placings ("Strobe Light" TOO LOW - my #1), but it's hard to argue with that top 3. Cheers!

ILM did a great job like always, hard to argue with these results. these polls are a lot of work to put together, i think Johnny Fever is the brain child behind them, but so rewarding when you are actually running the polls. like always thanks for taking the time to put together a ballot, as poll runners we appreciate the time in doing them and sending them in.

Karl Malone, much respect. no-one would have done a better job!

I go back and forth about whether 6060-842 is a great track or not.

the coda makes it

my ballot, shamefully I didn't listen to BOTS and I apologize

also, "Strobe Light" was too low here

Private Idaho
Deadbeat Club
Party Gone Out Of Bounds
Rock Lobster
Planet Claire
Lava
Give Me Back My Man
52 Girls
Roam
Dance This Mess Around
Bushfire
Quiche Lorraine
Hero Worship
Devil In My Car
53 Miles West Of Venus
Channel Z
Love Shack
Is That You Mo-Dean?
Girl From Ipanema Goes To Greenland
Strobe Light

I ranked the albums last month.

The B-52's are a funny band for me. like my story above, i heard "Rock Lobster" on the radio back in the day and it blew my kid mind. surprised i never really seek them out in the late 80's when i started to form my own tastes. they were probably too happy for me but loved all the singles that got played. i went more in the New Order, The Cure and Bauhaus direction. when i started doing the Acclaimed Music polls, i ended up doing 1979 first and to my surprise The B-52's album won. to me it was like woo, really? so then i started to seek out their albums. thou i never got around to hearing all of it, i figured i would get to know them running this poll. as you know family issues happen and i wasn't able to absorb everything by them and handed this poll off. i thought polls were in a bit of a rut and we needed a bigger band to close out the year, so i opened it up. glad i did because 34 ballots is a great turn out for today's ILM Artist Polls.

thanks ILM for exposing me to this band and thanks again to Z for running all this for us.

i will post my ballot here when i find it...

Still haven't gotten to these results, but fixing to rectify that now!

i love the whole idea behind 'Party Out of Bounds', as well as the execution. when you play it out of nowhere, it really does sound like the B-52's are crashing your party and making it a million times more fun (which makes it a great opener, too)

"ok, who ordered pizza?"

― Karl Malone, Wednesday, November 14, 2018 1:57 PM (five hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

and this is my "too low!" of the countdown, too. i expected it to be top 3 for sure

― Karl Malone, Wednesday, November 14, 2018 1:58 PM (five hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

If this isn't my favorite song by this band, it's damn close

thanks to everyone very much for voting and being here on the thread, and especially to Bee for getting it started! i haven't done a big music poll before so it was pretty fun to figure out how the spreadsheet worked and all of that. also, i had a self-inflicted bummer of a year or two, and found it hard to get much done creatively over the past few months. this poll was a great excuse to make a bunch of 5x8 postcard images for the rollout. the fact that it's the b-52's and silliness and/or horny as hell-ness is to be expected just made it all the easier to do.

also, i have to say, if i run across any of their records from mesopotamia through roam in the record store, i am definitely going to be picking them up. before this poll, i really only knew their first two albums and thought that by reputation the rest of their stuff was pretty meh except for a fluke hit with Love Shack and Roam. very wrong about that! i look forward to one day closing out a karaoke bar with an intense version of Ain't It A Shame.

Karl and Bee OK, thank you so much for this poll. I have some emotional thoughts about this band, as they were the first band that meant anything to me, but I'll get into that at another time when I'm not so exhausted. It's wonderful to know so many other people who care so much about the B-52s, full stop.

Anyway, my ballot:

BALLOT ONE

1. Party Gone Out of Bounds
2. Roam
3. 52 Girls
4. Mesopotamia
5. Bushfire
6. Topaz
7. Cake
8. Summer of Love
9. Good Stuff
10. Deadbeat Club
11. Private Idaho
12. Lava
13. Dance This Mess Around
14. Rock Lobster
15. Song for a Future Generation

BALLOT TWO

1. Party Mix!/Mesopotamia (1991)
2. Cosmic Thing
3. The B-52s
4. Whammy!
5. Good Stuff

Was always so jealous of "Deadbeat Club" - and longed for the oddball friendship group that song seemed to celebrate.

the doogie howser with Channel Z is in the first season, episode 8, 9:35 in, here

vinnie, why i oughtta

now if you'll excuse me, i have to go watch the entirety of guiding light 1982

Spotify: ILM The B-52's Top 40

thanks Karl and Bee OK for a fantastic poll!

My ballot:

1 52 Girls
2 Ain't It A Shame
3 Private Idaho
4 Dance This Mess Around
5 Girl From Ipanema Goes to Greenland
6 Deadbeat Club
7 Mesopotamia
8 Roam
9 Legal Tender
10 Cake
11 Wig
12 Dry County
13 Give Me Back My Man
14 Summer of Love
15 Strobe Light
16 Theme for a Nude Beach
17 Planet Claire
18 Queen of Las Vegas
19 Housework
20 Topaz

1 Bouncing Off the Satellites
2 Cosmic Thing
3 The B-52's
4 Wild Planet
5 Mesopotamia

This was a blast. Thank you poll-runners!

52 Girls
Rock Lobster
Dirty Back Road
Hero Worship
Planet Claire
53 Miles West of Venus
Dance This Mess Around
Roam
6060-842
Love Shack
Give Me Back My Man
Mesopotamia
Party Out of Bounds
She Brakes For Rainbows
Detour Thru Your Mind

Thank you Bee OK and Karl Malone, this poll was so much fun. It brought me back to the old days of ILM.

1. Party Out of Bounds
2. Planet Claire
3. Legal Tender
4. Roam
5. Dance This Mess Around
6. Give Me Back My Man
7. Song for a Future Generation
8. Rock Lobster
9. Strobe Light
10. Love Shack
11. Private Idaho
12. Summer of Love
13. Whammy Kiss
14. Channel Z
15. 52 Girls
16. Girl from Ipanema Goes to Greenland
17. 6060-542
18. Wig
19. Lava
20. Deadbeat Club

These images were some of the best I have seen for one of these polls, great job by Karl.

1 - Rock Lobster
2 - 52 Girls
3 - Roam
4 - Private Idaho
5 - Channel Z
6 - Planet Claire
7 - Summer of Love
8 - Wig
9 - Dance This Mess Around
10 - Dirty Back Road
11 - Strobe Light
12 - Topaz
13 - Love Land
14 - Is That You Mo-Dean?
15 - The Girl from Ipanema Goes to Greenland
16 - Dry County
17 - Legal Tender
18 - Devil in My Car
19 - Funplex
20 - Theme for a Nude Beach

I'm still perplexed how Rock Lobster with 5 #1 votes could get beaten by Roam with no #1s.

Here's my own variation on the picture at the top of this thread:

https://i.imgur.com/2m2uRkN.jpg

ooh, very nice on the fluffy blouse

so here were the rock lobster votes (rank in ballot, points)

1 40
1 40
1 40
1 40
1 40
2 36
2 36
2 36
2 36
2 36
3 33
4 30
4 30
5 28
6 26
7 25
7 25
8 24
10 22
11 21
11 21
11 21
12 20
13 19
13 19
14 18
16 16
20 12
----------
790 points
28 votes, average of 28.14 points per vote

here's Roam:

2 36
2 36
2 36
2 36
2 36
3 33
3 33
3 33
3 33
3 33
4 30
5 28
5 28
6 26
6 26
7 25
7 25
8 24
8 24
9 23
9 23
9 23
9 23
10 22
12 20
12 20
13 19
15 17
19 13
20 12
--------
796 points
30 votes, average of 26.53 points each

Damn you, math!

i don't believe it in myself, i just do what it says

here's my lame ballot btw (only 15 tracks!)

Party Out Of Bounds
Rock Lobster
Dance This Mess Around
Legal Tender
52 Girls
Mesopotamia
Private Idaho
Planet Claire
Roam
Give Me Back My Man
There’s A Moon In The Sky (Called The Moon)
Love Shack
Lava
Cake
53 Miles West Of Venus

if i could do it again, just literally typing all this out as it comes to mind, after listening to all these tracks a million times the last few days, starting NOW:

tier 1( no order for any of the tiers)
party out of bounds
ain't it a shame
dance this mess around
give me back my man
throw that beat in the garbage can (honestly the guiding light performance slays me)

2:
private idaho
52 girls
roam
planet claire
topaz

3:
dirty back road
mesopotamia
cake
legal tender
nip it in the bud

4:
butterbean
legal tender
theme for a nude beach
trism
queen of las vegas

throw that beat in the garbage can RULES

the part 1:25 in where fred's like 'STOP STOP STOP STOP! it's driving me craaaaaaazy - hahahahahahaha' is one of the best moments of their entire catalog

i think you should have updated your ballot, i have always believed you can redo any ballot up until the deadline.

are you saying "Rock Lobster" went from number 2 to not even making your Top 20?

oh shit, no, no saying that! rock lobster is a tier 1 for me, all time! drinking the lagunitas over here, mistakes were made.

i honestly struggled a bit with whether or not to update my ballot. i thought about at least adding 5 more songs at the bottom, 16-20. but then while i was thinking about that, i couldn't help but notice that Trism was right on the edge, and i thought i thought it deserved to make it. but adding it on there might bump something off, and i knew what that was something was (and liked that something!) and just felt weird about the whole thing. so in the spirit of free and fair elections, i decided to just let my first ballot stand, even though it no longer represented what i really thought.

dang, deep sleep should go on there as well.

several takeaways from this poll, but one important one is that mesopamia, whammy!, and bouncing all have really worthwhile tracks. not everyone would agree on what those tracks are, maybe, but they each have at least a few songs that are excellent.

My list!

nice
roam would have been my #1 had i got a vote in

thanks for this poll guys, only really familiar with the first two records + cosmic thing tbh - lots to explore :)

Yep, I'm gonna have to dive into some listening too. Never listened to anything past the greatest hits, which has a lot of great tracks. "52 Girls" is probably my favorite track, had no idea it was that well-liked by y'all!

when i started doing the Acclaimed Music polls, i ended up doing 1979 first and to my surprise The B-52's album won. to me it was like woo, really? so then i started to seek out their albums.

This is eerie, because I got into them in this same way from that exact thread as well. Here is the precise minute I discovered how much I liked the B-52's:

Wow, "52 Girls"... I guess I need this record.

― jim, Wednesday, June 6, 2012 2:38 PM (six years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Thank you Karl and Bee OK! I’m not much of a polls guy, but this was great fun.

My story: in 1976 I was 18 and playing in my first band. We hated all the hard rock hits of the day. My cousin played keyboards and wrote all the songs, derivative of Elton John, but we also loved Sparks. We weren’t very good, but we *did* record a poorly produced 45 and sent it to radio stations and record labels hoping for stardom. Nothing happened, and we disbanded.

1976-78 I worked at several small town radio stations. I was starting to hear some of the new punk music like Sex Pistols and Ramones, but was more enamored of quirky, arty stuff like Jonathan Richman, Talking Heads, and Devo. By late 1978 I had been fired for deviating from the playlist too often, airing Blondie and The Cars when it should have been Bee Gees.

I returned to Minneapolis, where I heard the DB Records “Rock Lobster” single in a record store. I was floored! Here was what I had been trying to do back in 1976, but now there was a scene for bands to tour clubs across the country. I eagerly bought a ticket at the store for their upcoming performance.

I wish I could recall it more clearly. I remember Fred announcing every song as “this is a dance song,” and I’ve been told they played their same short set twice, but memories are a blur. What I do remember is that being in a “new wave” club for the first time, I felt surrounded by like-minded, creative individuals looking for something outside the mainstream. I resolved not to move to any more small towns, to remain in the city. I began to disassociate myself from some of the metalheads and meatheads of my teen years, began to attend more clubs, more art shows, more dance and repertory film. I began to scour thrift stores for vintage clothing and records, and mainly kept playing music, kept writing, kept creating. The more I read of The B-52s and their history, the more inspired I am by them, and I’m happy they inspire others!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1203143963040174&set=gm.10154386723414651&type=3&eid=ARCRabnESaMd1VFz24PghxpVwCFttUS4Li06ojY3VtiQeAFn9VI2s0uyNmUDZaMPlyu6KY5CYwqyDXbu&ifg=1

<3

[Removed Illegal Image]

Stupid Photobucket.

Wonderful story. Is your first band's 45 available to hear somewhere?

^^^ Discogs link plz

lol my record actually did show up in cyberspace recently. Please be gentle. Piano is way out of tune on the A side, it's "Genius" I'm more proud of. I did the sax.

http://citizenfreak.com/titles/318745-yukon-nova-scotia-b-w-genius