In 1979, the B-52s released their eponymous debut album, The B-52s, paving the way for New Wave music into American pop culture. Sounding like a keg party in outer space, the album blends elements of dance, surf, and punk rock into a wildly eccentric masterpiece that apparently DOESN’T HAVE FUCKING “LOVE SHACK” ON IT? Well shit, I wouldn’t have spent $40 on this first pressing if I had known that.
Wait, “Love Shack” is on their FIFTH album from 1989, Cosmic Thing? What the fuck is Cosmic Thing? You’re telling me, “The whole shack shimmied” the same year the Berlin Wall fell? No fucking way. Okay let’s play this thing. If this is their classic album, there has to be a few tracks better than “Love Shack,” right?
“Planet Claire” is cool, kind of a spooky, B-movie anthem, but I’m still yearning for that little odd place where we can get together. And while I admire the vocal harmonies between Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson on “52 Girls” and “Dance This Mess Around,” I can’t say it even comes close to the feeling of dancing to “Love Shack” with my dad at his second wedding. The closest my dad and I have ever been is on that dance floor, arm in arm, singing “Bang bang, on the door baby!” I think about that moment everyday.
Okay I know this one, “Rock Lobster.” John Lennon famously told Rolling Stone in 1980 that “Rock Lobster” inspired his return to music. Just a few months later, Lennon was shot dead. I like to think if that song had been “Love Shack”, he’d still be with us today.
Fred Schneider’s ferocious talk-singing vocals really shine on side B with tracks like “Lava” and “6060-842.” However, he doesn’t deliver any of the lyrics with the vivacity of, “I got me a Chrysler, it seats about twenty.” I got my first handjob in a Chrysler. Every time I hear that line I cum my pants.
Front to back, “The B-52s” is shamelessly unique and creates its own universe for weirdos, freaks, and art school dropouts. Artists like Nirvana, Bikini Kill, and apparently John Lennon have all cited the album as a major influence. Every track is adorably kitchy, infectious, and if I’m being honest, greatly inferior to “Love Shack.” Tin roof, rusted.