Surprise! POLL! Yeah, we just thought we'd drop in! - ILM Artist Poll #93 - The B-52’s (vote until November 10, 2018)

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Is this for real? The reason I ask is because I have never seen an voting artist poll with so few posts before. 20 seems like the perfect number and should be able to quickly do this one.

the future is now, Tuesday, 30 October 2018 02:55 (five years ago) link

i for one totally intend to get on a ballot, my listening/discussing energies have just been pretty well absorbed by TMBG up to today.

|Restore| |Restart| |Quit| (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, 30 October 2018 03:00 (five years ago) link

I will send a ballot !

LeRooLeRoo, Tuesday, 30 October 2018 04:22 (five years ago) link

I think I was down to 25 tracks last week. Shall certainly vote shortly.

Nag! Nag! Nag!, Tuesday, 30 October 2018 04:26 (five years ago) link

They're one of my most loved bands, but quantifying varying levels of my love in polls like this is nigh impossible for me. I intend to give it a try though.

Freddy "Boom Boom" QAnon (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 30 October 2018 14:19 (five years ago) link

this is amazing. will definitely have a ballot. just sad I'm just now seeing it.

campreverb, Tuesday, 30 October 2018 14:29 (five years ago) link

I don't know how Whammy! is going to do, but Legal Tender is a top 5 track for me.

campreverb, Tuesday, 30 October 2018 14:56 (five years ago) link

my first thought was "i'm going to have to make room for 'legal tender.'" this is gonna be hard cause i love the first two albums and cosmic thing pretty unreservedly. but i'm going ahead and digging into all their other stuff, admittedly superficially. somehow managed to never hear or pay attention to "girl from ipanema goes to greenland" before and that's pretty amazing.

|Restore| |Restart| |Quit| (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, 30 October 2018 15:48 (five years ago) link

AND HEAVY. EQUIPMENT.

KevRus, Tuesday, 30 October 2018 16:30 (five years ago) link

Any possibility of a deadline extension? The thread seems to have been out of sight for the last week.

jmm, Tuesday, 30 October 2018 16:44 (five years ago) link

bookmarked, yes extension please

sleeve, Tuesday, 30 October 2018 17:09 (five years ago) link

I've been revisiting Good Stuff for the past couple days, and I think it holds up. This is going to be a tough one for me...

bedraggled vorticist (Drugs A. Money), Tuesday, 30 October 2018 18:57 (five years ago) link

"53 Miles West of Venus" seems like one of the best tracks right now. Kind of the bookend to "Planet Claire".

jmm, Tuesday, 30 October 2018 19:08 (five years ago) link

Ah, this is brilliant news. Can't wait to put my list together.

kitchen person, Tuesday, 30 October 2018 21:21 (five years ago) link

Just did a quick draft list and it's very Cosmic Thing heavy. Topaz in particular will be placing very highly on my list. Such a gorgeous song.

kitchen person, Tuesday, 30 October 2018 21:34 (five years ago) link

can you do a top 25? it's Funplex's only chance lol.

campreverb, Wednesday, 31 October 2018 00:39 (five years ago) link

oh man this will be great.

piscesx, Wednesday, 31 October 2018 01:12 (five years ago) link

I've voted. This is where I try to ensure I'm not the only vote for silly things like "Butterbean"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5mxF-mISIU

Nag! Nag! Nag!, Wednesday, 31 October 2018 01:40 (five years ago) link

Is there a post-Cosmic Thing/late-period track which is especially popular with the hardcore?

piscesx, Wednesday, 31 October 2018 01:52 (five years ago) link

I might be the only person on earth who loves "Good Stuff" and "Dreamland."

You like queer? I like queer. Still like queer. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 31 October 2018 01:53 (five years ago) link

I can't recall if it was on ILM that ths clip was shared recently but it's great anyway and the top comment brings the lols;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n_Tg8iHwZ8

While I was in Art School in Berlin, I worked at a German television station to pay bills(and experience).This performance is for the TV Spot Rock Palast Live and I, after much white powder from a co worker, put all the black electrical tape and coloured cardboard on the background, you can see it peeling off, as they show the B-52s Logo. The song is indeed a lip synch, and the studio had nothing but a pair of matching record players. The BAND provided the 7 inch record for the performance. You can hear @2:32 the RECORD SKIPS with Fred's Great professionalism, Ricky's quiet smirk and Kate's WTF reaction. HTF never thought I would see this again. Thank you for posting! xoxo

piscesx, Wednesday, 31 October 2018 01:58 (five years ago) link

Roam is the only B52s song I like and I love it

calstars, Wednesday, 31 October 2018 02:05 (five years ago) link

That video is amazing piscesx. check out 'Is That You Mo-Dean' for a glimpse of late period greatness.

campreverb, Wednesday, 31 October 2018 02:13 (five years ago) link

There's good stuff on Good Stuff, e.g. "Good Stuff," but every song on the album is a minute and a half too long.

Hideous Lump, Wednesday, 31 October 2018 02:32 (five years ago) link

Interesting that they followed up the very consistent sound ('samey' if I'm being uncharitable) of Whammy! with their most diverse album Bouncing Off the Satellites.

Hideous Lump, Wednesday, 31 October 2018 02:40 (five years ago) link

omg that video, thank you!

sleeve, Wednesday, 31 October 2018 03:06 (five years ago) link

Is there a post-Cosmic Thing/late-period track which is especially popular with the hardcore?

― piscesx

Is That You Mo-Dean? is by far favourite from the last couple of albums. That last minute or so is so euphoric.

kitchen person, Wednesday, 31 October 2018 04:19 (five years ago) link

Going to bring up “Mesopotamia” because it’s sort of shunted away in their streaming discography, but it’s a song that became deeply resonant to me during the Iraq invasion. The ironies doubled. The line “I should read a book” especially. The song somehow maintained is goofy desolate charm while becoming emblematic of American folly, like they could sense it decades out.

saddest kamancheh (bendy), Wednesday, 31 October 2018 04:44 (five years ago) link

Voted.

campreverb, Thursday, 1 November 2018 22:26 (five years ago) link

Voted!

LeRooLeRoo, Friday, 2 November 2018 14:33 (five years ago) link

Voted!

kitchen person, Friday, 2 November 2018 14:47 (five years ago) link

Voted!

Yeah the songs are longish on Good Stuff, but I also find some of them expendable. My suggestion: an LP with songs 1-3 on side A and 3-6 on side B. (And swap in the long version of the title track from the 12" while we're at it.) "Mo-Dean" would be a great album closer, but then the CD goes on for another twenty minutes, and songs 7-10 seem like filler to me.

Freddy "Boom Boom" QAnon (Dan Peterson), Friday, 2 November 2018 15:42 (five years ago) link

Will send something soon.

I like queer. You like queer, senator? (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 2 November 2018 15:45 (five years ago) link

Will send something soon. at the last minute.

sleeve, Friday, 2 November 2018 15:46 (five years ago) link

i'm still reeling at "girl from ipanema goes to greenland" - that incredible high whooshy warble vocal, it's exactly what i love abt so much of cosmic thing but with this different 80s dance quality. feels VERY 2018, i wd be shocked if this isn't already getting DJ play somewhere, and want to be at parties where this is playing all the way through and everybody is feeling good.

|Restore| |Restart| |Quit| (Doctor Casino), Friday, 2 November 2018 16:06 (five years ago) link

fearing "legal tender" may end up my only Whammy pick tho --- "butterbean" is maybe a more convincing idea of how to shift their sound without losing all the nervy new-wave energy but it's kind of inert/underwritten as a song.

|Restore| |Restart| |Quit| (Doctor Casino), Friday, 2 November 2018 16:07 (five years ago) link

feel like a real dope for sleeping on Bouncing Off The Satellites all these years --- it's good!! i think i got Whammy at some point, was disappointed by it, and was like "guess it's just a slump period til Cosmic Thing." so great to be encountering a classic ricky wilson guitar jam like "wig" for the first time.

|Restore| |Restart| |Quit| (Doctor Casino), Friday, 2 November 2018 16:15 (five years ago) link

i'm still reeling at "girl from ipanema goes to greenland" - that incredible high whooshy warble vocal, it's exactly what i love abt so much of cosmic thing but with this different 80s dance quality.

Exactly! It was a club hit in early '87.

I like queer. You like queer, senator? (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 2 November 2018 16:18 (five years ago) link

You know what's a good jam? "Cake," treated as a palimpsest by DFA acts in the mid '00s, I suspect.

I like queer. You like queer, senator? (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 2 November 2018 16:19 (five years ago) link

I could easily fill a ballot from the first two albums, Mesopotamia, and Cosmic Thing, but due poll diligence requires hearing the studio albums I don't know.

Funplex is better and freakier than I expected, though I don't love the thick guitar sound. The title track, "Hot Corner" (for Athens local color), and "Deviant Ingredient" are all good.

Nothing on Good Stuff really grabs me. The length of the tracks and the absence of Cindy Wilson make this feel expendable.

on to Bouncing Off the Satellites ...

Brad C., Friday, 2 November 2018 16:45 (five years ago) link

"Deviant Ingredient" is wonderful. NO MORE NEU-RO-SES!

I like queer. You like queer, senator? (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 2 November 2018 16:57 (five years ago) link

I swear, if you pull up the floor tile in the Electronics Departments of older Walmarts, you'll probably find multiple copies imbedded in the foundation of Good Stuff and the first Fred solo album that fell off the cut-out racks during a remodel. They were perennials in $2 bins for much of my youth.

The Greta Van Gerwig (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 2 November 2018 17:08 (five years ago) link

"you'll probably find imbedded in the foundation..." even.

The Greta Van Gerwig (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 2 November 2018 17:14 (five years ago) link

it is a kind of remarkable flop for coming after a triumphant comeback and commercial career-high album. i'm listening now and it's just very lifeless compared to "cosmic thing," maybe leaning too much into the dreamy wistful "topaz" zone which on the previous album is an accent or texture rubbing up against much bigger, bolder, and catchier songs. and yeah the songs are way too long.

|Restore| |Restart| |Quit| (Doctor Casino), Friday, 2 November 2018 17:22 (five years ago) link

fearing "legal tender" may end up my only Whammy pick tho

I like Chihuahuas and Chinese noodles!
I ended up with 3.

campreverb, Friday, 2 November 2018 17:54 (five years ago) link

The keeper from Whammy for me is Song for a Future Generation, which I at first assumed would be some sort of utopian anthem but hilariously is about video dating

bedraggled vorticist (Drugs A. Money), Friday, 2 November 2018 18:05 (five years ago) link

Since I own all their albums I've never picked up the "Nude on the Moon" comp. Didn't realize until today that it contains a much different, Mesopotamia outtake version of "Queen of Las Vegas."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07TjYCnvZn0

Freddy "Boom Boom" QAnon (Dan Peterson), Friday, 2 November 2018 18:06 (five years ago) link

i'm still reeling at "girl from ipanema goes to greenland" - that incredible high whooshy warble vocal, it's exactly what i love abt so much of cosmic thing but with this different 80s dance quality.

Exactly! It was a club hit in early '87.

― I like queer. You like queer, senator? (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, November 2, 2018 12:18 PM (two hours ago)

It totally sounds like one; so euphoric!

I'm really blown away by the jump between Whammy & Satellites. Whammy is monolithic and weirdly alien, whereas Satellites is filled to the brim with all these fully-formed pop ideas. It's hard to believe there's only two years' gap between releases

bedraggled vorticist (Drugs A. Money), Friday, 2 November 2018 18:32 (five years ago) link

I was raving about this on some other thread, it seems to be Shep Pettibone's mix, edited by The Latin Rascals

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

piscesx, Friday, 2 November 2018 18:32 (five years ago) link

Summer Of Love; also killer.

piscesx, Friday, 2 November 2018 18:33 (five years ago) link

https://i.imgur.com/ZI3qSM6.jpg

Karl Malone, Thursday, 8 November 2018 19:05 (five years ago) link

coming soon!

I like queer. You like queer, senator? (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 8 November 2018 19:18 (five years ago) link

Worth listening to for their comments from 1:59 for about eight minutes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaTy3kSxyoo&t=4956s

I like queer. You like queer, senator? (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 9 November 2018 01:59 (five years ago) link

hmm, broken link?

Karl Malone, Friday, 9 November 2018 02:57 (five years ago) link

oh, cool! i knew that lennon liked the b-52s from the rolling stone interview (Lennon remembered, “I was at a dance club one night in Bermuda” in June 1980. “Upstairs, they were playing disco, and downstairs, I suddenly heard ‘Rock Lobster’ by the B-52’s for the first time. Do you know it? It sounds just like Yoko’s music, so I said to meself, ‘It’s time to get out the old axe and wake the wife up!’ We wrote about twenty-five songs during those three weeks, and we’ve recorded enough for another album.”), but i hadn't heard his comments in the bbc interview.

it's funny, in the midst of that, for lennon to refer to the years when he and ono were separated as "not really separate for any real reason, just on a holiday"

Karl Malone, Friday, 9 November 2018 03:10 (five years ago) link

Her uncomfortable giggle after that statement

I like queer. You like queer, senator? (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 9 November 2018 03:14 (five years ago) link

getting my order together now, this is hard...

Bee OK, Friday, 9 November 2018 19:34 (five years ago) link

hey, i'm adding up the ballots and everything's good, except for one important issue:

on the albums side, there are several votes for Mesopotamia, and several votes for Party Mix/Mesopotamia. There are zero votes for Party Mix as a standalone EP. Should I combine all the votes for Mesopotamia and Party Mix/Mesopotamia, or leave them separate?

Karl Malone, Saturday, 10 November 2018 00:03 (five years ago) link

I didn't vote for that because I view it as a compilation and not an album, but if I can vote for it please put it at my #2 spot.

sleeve, Saturday, 10 November 2018 00:25 (five years ago) link

(I am really voting for Party Mix, maybe we should just count them both as separate albums?)

sleeve, Saturday, 10 November 2018 00:25 (five years ago) link

that sounds good, leaving them all as separate albums. when i do the rollout i'll include anything that got a vote. (and yep, i'll adjust your albums ballot so that Party Mix is #2)

ROLLOUT ON MONDAY, GET YR VOTE IN by the end of Saturday, whenever that might be for you

this is going to be so much fun. :D

Karl Malone, Saturday, 10 November 2018 00:57 (five years ago) link

i'm also going to send a quick email to everyone who voted for either mesopotamia, party mix, or mesopotamia/party mix and let them know that the votes will be split, in case that affects their decision.

this poll is totally valid and will stand up to legal scrutiny

Karl Malone, Saturday, 10 November 2018 01:05 (five years ago) link

*signs executive order*

sleeve, Saturday, 10 November 2018 01:06 (five years ago) link

good mourning!

I like queer. You like queer, senator? (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 10 November 2018 01:18 (five years ago) link

where's the remix of Byrne's?

Sing The Mighty Beat (sic), Saturday, 10 November 2018 01:42 (five years ago) link

sic, you post in this thread, you have to send a ballot. those are david byrne's rules, i just follow them

Karl Malone, Saturday, 10 November 2018 01:43 (five years ago) link

and alfred, you've got t minus 26 hours to get your ballot in, or you're not a lord any more. or, you're not the president. whichever one of those punishments stings the most

Karl Malone, Saturday, 10 November 2018 01:50 (five years ago) link

just responded via email. I'm voting for the band mix of mesopotamia; the Party Mix/Mesopotamia release.
Not the Byrne mix.

campreverb, Saturday, 10 November 2018 02:02 (five years ago) link

I never knew the standalone CD of Mesopotamia was different from the versions on Party Mix! I knew about the longer demo versions of some songs making it onto the vinyl, but this is something else?

the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Saturday, 10 November 2018 02:14 (five years ago) link

sic, you post in this thread, you have to send a ballot. those are david byrne's rules, i just follow them

tbh not being familiar with the differences between the Mesopotamia material is the main reason I feel unqualified to vote! but I'll try and give all those middle records a listen and send a bad ballot

Sing The Mighty Beat (sic), Saturday, 10 November 2018 03:34 (five years ago) link

hell yeah, thanks! your vote would put us at 25 ballots.

Karl Malone, Saturday, 10 November 2018 04:09 (five years ago) link

I'm 100% voting in this, and will be finalizing my ballot in the next couple hours

bedraggled vorticist (Drugs A. Money), Saturday, 10 November 2018 09:43 (five years ago) link

apologizing to the poll gods for re-ordering my ballot but jfc this has to be top 5:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo7vXBeTlJM

campreverb, Saturday, 10 November 2018 15:36 (five years ago) link

^ Very true.

Imagine being at that gig and hearing "Rock Lobster" for the first time.

jmm, Saturday, 10 November 2018 15:41 (five years ago) link

wow, i just spent waaaaaaay too long illustrating the events of a certain song in a way that's faithful to the album art. no big deal, i'm just unemployed and running out of money!

friendly reminder: last day to vote! i'm expecting a couple more today, and if a couple more surprise ballots come in we can make up to 30. pretty good!

incentive to vote: the top 3 are very, very close, and there's another handful in the top ten that are also very close. so your vote will really make a difference. you can be like that tipping point guy in state where no one lives that decides an election

Karl Malone, Saturday, 10 November 2018 19:44 (five years ago) link

about to send

I like queer. You like queer, senator? (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 10 November 2018 19:51 (five years ago) link

Voted!

Gavin, Leeds, Saturday, 10 November 2018 20:38 (five years ago) link

i finally voted too.

Bee OK, Saturday, 10 November 2018 23:06 (five years ago) link

i'm glad this was able to stay open for another week as this poll has a very nice turnout.

Bee OK, Saturday, 10 November 2018 23:09 (five years ago) link

definitely! we're up to 31 now

Karl Malone, Saturday, 10 November 2018 23:15 (five years ago) link

and where the hell is BradNelson? a ballot from him should be one of the first but not yet?

Bee OK, Saturday, 10 November 2018 23:20 (five years ago) link

Has he even posted?

slack thompson (Drugs A. Money), Saturday, 10 November 2018 23:25 (five years ago) link

He hasn't and I don't like calling people out. It just seems to be in his wheelhouse?

Bee OK, Sunday, 11 November 2018 01:16 (five years ago) link

...

Bee OK, Sunday, 11 November 2018 05:00 (five years ago) link

the b-52s are a very horny band

Karl Malone, Sunday, 11 November 2018 05:12 (five years ago) link

one final time: there's still time, if get yr vote in sometime tonight! tomorrow morning (t - 8 hours or so) i'm going to do the final tally and count the number of points, votes, #1s, etc. so if you get yr vote in before then, I'll be able to include it.

Rollout starts Monday. I'm thinking Albums + 40-31 on Monday, 30-16 on Tuesday, 15-1 on Wednesday.

Karl Malone, Sunday, 11 November 2018 05:57 (five years ago) link

don't let the chlorine in your eyes
blind you to the awful surprise
that's waitin' for you at
the bottom of the bottomless blue blue blue POLL

the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Sunday, 11 November 2018 06:14 (five years ago) link

Whoops, only just saw yesterday's Mesopotamia email. That seems a wise decision. (I guess I've mostly heard Mesopotamia via that twofer, but all mixes are decent, and I rarely listen to Party Mix.)

Nag! Nag! Nag!, Sunday, 11 November 2018 10:30 (five years ago) link

it is happening!

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

Karl Malone, Monday, 12 November 2018 17:55 (five years ago) link


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