The B-52's

Spin - "They've got repurposed surf guitar licks, cheesy organ vamps, [and] Pop-Tart girl-group harmonies..." Spin - "At new wave's crest, nothing sounded as fresh and liberating as the B's." Rolling Stone - Ranked #152 in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums Of All Time" - "They played toy instruments, and their thrift-store image was as inventive and colorful as their music..." Rolling Stone (12/11/03, p.131) - Ranked #152 in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums Of All Time" - "They played toy instruments, and their thrift-store image was as inventive and colorful as their music..." Spin (p.104) - "At new wave's crest, nothing sounded as fresh and liberating as the B-52's" Spin (p.140) - "They've got repurposed surf guitar licks, cheesy organ vamps, [and] Pop-Tart girl-group harmonies..." Paste - "The B-52's remains a lost classic of post-punk/New-Wave, delivering more fun-per-minute than almost any other LP of the past four decades."

Formed in Athens, Georgia, the B-52's emerged from this nominal outback with 'Rock Lobster', a quirky pop song that drew critical praise and engendered a major recording contract. The B-52's maintained the originality of that debut single, with staccato voices, vox guitar and surreal lyrics. Drawing on 60s kitsch ephemera, both aurally and visually, the quintet created a unified image, but one reflecting post-modernism rather than nostalgia. A cracked sense of humour lay at the core of this album, but the group's infectious joy and sense of purpose blend with danceable rhythms to ensure a quality more enduring than mere wackiness.|

Even in the weird, quirky world of new wave and post-punk in the late '70s, the B-52's' eponymous debut stood out as an original. Unabashed kitsch mavens at a time when their peers were either vulgar or stylish, the Athens quintet celebrated all the silliest aspects of pre-Beatles pop culture -- bad hairdos, sci-fi nightmares, dance crazes, pastels, and anything else that sprung into their minds -- to a skewed fusion of pop, surf, avant-garde, amateurish punk, and white funk. On paper, it sounds like a cerebral exercise, but it played like a party. The jerky, angular funk was irresistibly danceable, winning over listeners dubious of Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson's high-pitched, shrill close harmonies and Fred Schneider's campy, flamboyant vocalizing, pitched halfway between singing and speaking. It's all great fun, but it wouldn't have resonated throughout the years if the group hadn't written such incredibly infectious, memorable tunes as "Planet Claire," "Dance This Mess Around," and, of course, their signature tune, "Rock Lobster." These songs illustrated that the B-52's' adoration of camp culture wasn't simply affectation -- it was a world view capable of turning out brilliant pop singles and, in turn, influencing mainstream pop culture. It's difficult to imagine the endless kitschy retro fads of the '80s and '90s without the B-52's pointing the way, but The B-52's isn't simply an historic artifact -- it's a hell of a good time. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine