The B-52's
The B-52's

In the comments on the review of the excellent "Surfer Rosa" by the Pixies, I saw the B 52's being treated poorly and disdainfully, so just like Johnny took up his rifle in Dalton Trumbo's magnificent film, I take up my pen and rush to defend them.

Well, dive into the bizarre cauldron of the post-punk-new wave period at the end of the seventies and try to stand out in that feverish, evolving Dantean crowd, mmm... difficult, right?

Yet, these three guys and two girls from Athens, GA, with no musical pedigree, invented a wacky look that revels in the colorful kitsch of '60s pop: monstrous and improbable hairstyles (the name B 52's is indeed named after one of these) from a John Waters film, pastel-colored outfits, and every other quirky idea their minds could conceive.

And the music? It's just as wacky: a potpourri of pop, funk, garage, surf, punk remnants, avant-garde, TV show themes to be played at a retro party with the explicit intent of making noise. A spiky, danceable blend woven by the rhythm (without bass!) of guitar and drums and elevated by the contrast of the shrill and squeaky harmonies of the two girls' voices and Fred Schneider's nasal voice nervously fooling around in between singing and speaking.

In 1979 the result is a killer sequence of tracks that begins with the ticking of space transmissions from "Planet Claire" on which the Farfisa organ's Eastern-sounding melody entwines, continues with the highly rhythmic "52 girls" carried by the paired voices of Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson, flows into the underwater nightmare of "Rock Lobster" entirely played out on the duet between the voices and the organ that winds its way through the track, and explodes into the powerful "Lava" this time led by the guitar with the three voices chasing each other.

By the end of the record, you ask yourself what kind of stuff is this? Where did they come from? It's not my genre, and I don't like dancing, but this material is highly infectious.

I'm almost thinking of canceling the gig with the Fleshtones I contacted to play at my third wedding party on the beach at Capo Miseno (if they clear it from the trash) and instead call the B 52's.

You are invited, but remember the hairstyle and pastel-colored outfits.