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

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

My ballot:

- Tracks
1. Mesopotamia
Private Idaho
Planet Claire
Strobe Light
Rock Lobster
Whammy Kiss
6060-842
Bushfire
52 Girls
Butterbean
Dirty Back Road
Quiche Lorraine
Dance This Mess Around
Wig
Hero Worship
Party Out Of Bounds
Cake
Runnin' Around
Big Bird
Give Me Back My Man

- Albums
Wild Planet
The B-52's
Whammy
Mesopotamia

This exercise made me realize I'm much fonder of the all-three-vocalist tracks with the wiggly groove-laser that is Wilson's guitar. "Hero Worship" being the biggest exception. It's impossible not to love every aspect of this band, but Ricky is my favorite child.

that's a wonderful story, Dan!

if nothing else, this poll introduced me to the Mesopotamia version of Queen of Las Vegas (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4SAclO9JAE), which is amaaaaaaaaaaazing

well I didn't think that would happen

I had so much fun listening to the band almost non-stop for the last month. Thanks so much Karl and Bee, this poll was great. Really what the B-52's deserved.

My ballot:

TRACKS

Mesopotamia
52 Girls
Rock Lobster
Channel Z
Give Me Back My Man
Wig
Song For A Future Generation
Dance This Mess Around
Girl From Ipanema Goes to Greenland
Topaz
Ain't It a Shame
Deadbeat Club
Planet Claire
Party Out Of Bounds
Dirty Back Roads
Love Shack
Legal Tender
Private Idaho
Roam
Summer Of Love

ALBUMS

The B-52's
Bouncing Off The Satellites
Cosmic Thing
Wild Planet
Mesopotamia
Whammy

The poll also has me chin-stroking over the queerness of the B-52s relative to their other circa 1980 peers. I'm not sure that within the New Wave era I read them as more queer than Talking Heads, Devo, Lena Lovich or other twitchy rock bands. But did others? As Dan describes, they felt more like something arty and urban, vaguely in contrast the suburban arena rock of the time, but also so cool they didn't seem to care about being an "alternative". Certainly by the time of Cosmic Thing, "Love Shack" had a much more obvious queer subtext. I was older and had had my semiotics classes and such, and was in an environment were people could be out, however.

The intro to the Loverboy "Lovin'" video gets at the cultural tension -

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

Trying this again:

http://i1255.photobucket.com/albums/hh633/1Handloose/B-52s_zpshaltvhv7.jpg?1542303343202&1542303343401

YAY!!!

is that a censored listing for the Suicide Commandos?

Same band, I don't know why their name is altered, maybe just shorthand. "Suicide" ran in local rags all the time.

I figured, thanks!

The poll also has me chin-stroking over the queerness of the B-52s relative to their other circa 1980 peers.
On some level, I think we may be selling the B's short. They seem as pioneering as John Waters in retrospect, IMO.

The poll also has me chin-stroking over the queerness of the B-52s relative to their other circa 1980 peers. I'm not sure that within the New Wave era I read them as more queer than Talking Heads, Devo, Lena Lovich or other twitchy rock bands. But did others?

The recent pitchfork review of the S/T album sort of addressed this idea:

Until the early 1990s, the B-52’s talked more about their vegetarianism than their sexual orientation. With four queer members out of the founding five, they chose to present themselves as if it were a foregone conclusion, so normal or obvious that it wasn’t worth mentioning.

otm on the last point, a bit like Pet Shop Boys

here is my list, i did not know Mesopotamia other songs before this poll and why it's a black hole on this list:

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

Albums:

1. The B-52’s
2. Wild Planet
3. Bouncing off the Satellites
4. Whammy!
5. Cosmic Thing

Thanks, Karl! You did an amazing job. I might take your Topaz graphic and use it for my new FB cover photo if that wd be cool...

Topaz
Dance This Mess Around
Roam
52 Girls
Ain't It a Shame
Rock Lobster
Cake
Devil in My Car
Bushfire
Wig
Dirty Back Road
Detour Thru Your Mind
Girl From Ipanema Goes to Greenland
Lava
Deadbeat Club
Revolution Earth
Song for a Future Generation
Private Idaho
Planet Claire
Party Out of Bounds

Might as well throw these up here--covers I made for a couple of bootlegs...

https://i.imgur.com/nErqwUW.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/MSCESm8.jpg

xp to drugs

of course! it's nice of you to ask, but no need, feel free! if you'd rather have a version of it without either the number or title, just let me know, it would only take a minute or so to edit and upload

B-52's with Teenage Jesus and the Jerks would be an incredible show

This was such a fun poll. Thanks so much for all the effort Karl and Bee!

My lists

1. Topaz
2. Dance This Mess Around
3. Planet Claire
4. Ain’t It A Shame
5. Deadbeat Club
6. Give Me Back My Man
7. Roam
8. Is That You Mo-Dean?
9. Mesopotamia
10. Private Idaho
11. 52 Girls
12. Follow Your Bliss
13. Rock Lobster
14. Party Out Of Bounds
15. Bushfire
16. Junebug
17. Song For A Future Generation
18. There’s A Moon In The Sky (Called The Moon)
19. She Breaks For Rainbows
20. 53 Miles West Of Venus

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