The B-52's: their legacy/influence today

La Lupita do a song called "Ja Ja Ja" which is a wonderfully shameless B-52s rip, only imagine if the B-52s singing in Spanish.

And I love the line in rock Lobster that goes 'everybody had matching towels!'

AND, i think the hypnotic throb of "Dirty Back Road" is almost Köln-style minimal techno. just imagine a 10 minute instrumental version!

http://mobile.theonion.com/articles/honey-im-not-going-to-stand-here-and-debate-the-me,18952/

I love The Onion...

Ricky Wilson's guitar playing is really unique and has a very minimalist perfection on those first two B-52s albums. The arrangements on the tunes are really clever, mostly just using a simple organ, key bass, the 3 vocals and maybe a guitar over dub. The songs are sparse as there isn't a whole lot of sustained chords, it's all these spikey simple melodies bouncing off each other. Listening to The B-52s now and hearing all of the octave chords playing simple melodies brings out a textural similarity to Sonic Youth and Fugazi, as they use that same type of chording and phrasing all over their tunes.

Ricky Wilson's one of my favorite guitarists, period.

Not just some vague "favorite," I'm talking like top 5.

don't know if it is considered a part of their legacy, but to me they are without a shadow of a doubt the funniest band.

this is the thread where i learned about ILM's obsession with the B-52's debut album (the very first Acclaimed Music poll that i ran): ttp://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=41&threadid=92483

try that again: Acclaimed Music Top 25 from 1979 poll

Imperial Teen - "Ivanka," "Baby," "Teacher's Pet" from the album On, but every album has a few.

Check out B-52's contemporaries The Cosmopolitans:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skNId-8g17A

Did the B-52s do any gigs with The Cramps? They would have had to, right?

The Cosmopolitans sound quite a bit like the B-52s, but there is something oddly about the dual female vocals that reminds me of Stereolab. Groovy.

Whenever I play early B-52s these days, I'm surprised how much they engender the same response for me as The Fall - jagged twang, bemused alienation, the perfect non sequitur. One spits where the other squeals with delight, but still. I imagine a face swap of "Mesopotamia" and "Bingo Master's Break Out".

Rank if you want to! Rank around the world!

Solid list; I disagree with none of it.

Too harsh on Whammy! More that half of it is excellent, fun jams.

Where would you place Mesopotamia & Party Mix if they were separated? To me Mesopotamia is one of their best, Party Mix a bit of a drag.

SUR-PRIIIIIIIZE

^that's one of my all-time favorite album openings.

slide ct down to 4, move whammy up to 5 and i'm good, but i just can't accept cosmic thing at 1 or 2 or 3. i do like the props to strickland and that's persuasive enough to get me to listen and think again to ct.

^everything OTM

Cosmic Thing is a great, great record, but the debut was a defining moment in my life. And I love Whammy, drum machines and all. I'd probably go debut, Wild Planet, Cosmic Thing, Whammy, and then the rest jockeying around.

realized I no longer own a copy of Cosmic Thing (I had it on cassette and never re-bought it cuz it was everywhere for awhile) and yet grabbed all the pre-CT stuff on vinyl for a couple bucks apiece way back when. such a great discography.

To be clear, I dislike the dull manner in which Wilson and Strickland program the drum machines, not the use of drum machines.

No I get that. They *are* kind of brittle and chirpy and Casio-like, but I dig 'em. I'm listening to the album today for the first time in a long while.

whammy rules

Wow, I was about to link Shakey to this, but screw that. What the actual fuck, though? I bought that thing brand new at Barnes + Noble like two or three years ago for $7.99. No idea why it's gotten so expensive in the interim.

Often when things become unavailable, scarcity drives up price.

That's the line I use on OKCupid.

Is it really that scarce, though? I mean, it's less than ten years old!

Things can be scarce the second they’re released, if there are few of them and any demand exists. That release is out of print, and one single customer decided $46 was a price he was willing to pay one single seller that was asking it. These are the facts we have, do with them what you will!

PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAART-Y!

SUR-PRIIIIIIIZE

― The Silky Veils of Alfred (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, September 26, 2018 11:37 AM (ten hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^that's one of my all-time favorite album openings.

― how's life, Wednesday, September 26, 2018 11:44 AM (ten hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I used to date a big B-52's fan who had a bunch of their albums running in her CD changer, and this intro had a knack for popping up awkwardly during intimate moments.

Nothing against the B-52’s, but I can’t imagine “getting intimate” to any part of any their songs!

Re: The David Byrne mix of "Mesopotamia" discussion from 12 years back, the UK vinyl Byrne mix has longer versions of 3 tracks:

8:33 vs. 5:00 - Loveland
7:45 vs. 5:48 - Cake
5:46 vs. 4:30 - Throw That Beat In The Garbage Can

I used to date a big B-52's fan who had a bunch of their albums running in her CD changer, and this intro had a knack for popping up awkwardly during intimate moments.

― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles),

I imagine Schneider breaking through the door like the Kool-Aid guy, holding a dead cat.

thread delivers

I don't know about 'getting intimate', but come on, 'WHERE'S MY TELEPHONE?!'

so since we were talking about doing the sex to B52s - there is a sex scene in the 1990 volleyball movie Sideout scored to this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmQYJRNG5bM

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/the-b-52s-the-b-52s/