THE B-52’s
The B-52’s are an American new wave band, formed in Athens, Georgia in 1976. Rooted in new wave and 1960s rock and roll, the group later covered many genres ranging from post-punk to pop rock. The “guy vs. gals” vocals of Fred Schneider, Kate Pierson, and Cindy Wilson, sometimes used in call and response style (“Strobe Light”, “Private Idaho”, and “Good Stuff”), are a trademark. (More from Wikipedia)
Many other artists in the 1960’s also took a whack at psychedelia. Kenny Rogers’ first band the First Edition had an early hit song with “Just Dropped in (to See What Condition My Condition was In)”; though the lyrics kind of miss the boat, they are still charmingly corny. “Hurdy Gurdy Man” is one of many great psychedelic songs Donovan came up with. The Beatles had Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and the Rolling Stones had Their Satanic Majesties’ Request. Even Motown got into the act: The Supremes hit with “Reflections”, while the Temptations had several psychedelic songs – “Psychedelic Shack”, “Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World is Today)”, “Runaway Child, Runnin’ Wild”, and others. Many were on their 1970 album Psychedelic Shack; one of the biggest hits by the B-52’s, “Love Shack” was in part an homage to this record.
(March 2011)
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I have never seen any of these local CD’s anywhere except at the place where I bought them. But lesser known and unknown albums accumulate with the hit albums, and record stores offering both new and used albums try to sell them also.
I guess I first learned of this when I would go into a record store and start flipping through the stacks. Many stores have separate sections set up for major artists like the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Pat Benatar, the Band, Black Sabbath, David Bowie, the B-52’s, etc. Then at the end would be a section simply marked “B”; here would be found albums by other artists whose names start with B. Some would be well known – a stray Boston or Blind Faith or Jack Bruce album might be found there, say – but most were utterly unknown to me. I would kind of flip through them, but I rarely bought anything.
Now when I go into a record store that has major artists in their own marked sections, I usually pass those by and go straight to the plain “B”!
(December 2015)
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Iggy Pop’s solo career is uneven by all accounts (even his own). I remember the Village Voice review of my personal favorite among his solo albums, Brick by Brick (1990) stating that this was “Iggy Pop’s best album since . . . well, since the last time you cared”. The album features a stellar duet with Kate Pierson of the B-52’s, “Candy” – as Iggy Pop’s only song to hit the Top 40, “Candy” remained on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks charts for 17 weeks, reaching the Top 5. Both singers have spoken parts during the song, and Pierson’s Georgia twang is a true delight.
The B-52’s hail from the fertile music center of Athens, Georgia whence came R.E.M., Pylon, and other fine bands. Wikipedia notes that “Athens was home to the first and most famous college music scene in the country, beginning in the 1970’s”. I had an appraisal job there in the early 1980’s and remember well the wealth of record stores and the local radio station that had a “psychedelic lunch” program around the noon hour.
Writing for Allmusic, Mark Deming notes: “Brick by Brick refined Iggy [Pop]’s gifts without watering them down, adding a polish that focused his talents rather than blurring them. Working with a mixture of L.A. session heavyweights (Waddy Wachtel, David Lindley) and rock stars paying their respects (Slash and Duff McKagan from Guns N’ Roses, Kate Pierson from the B-52’s), Brick by Brick leans to tough, guitar-based hard rock, leavened with a few more pop-oriented tunes that still speak of a hard-nosed lyrical approach. But the triumph here is Iggy’s; he’s rarely sung better on record, finding a middle ground between precision and abandon that honors both and surrenders to neither, and as a lyricist he reached a new level of maturity that proved he could expand his boundaries without losing touch with his roots. . . . Smart, tough, and impressive on all counts, Brick by Brick was Iggy Pop’s strongest work since Lust for Life, and marked a new high point in his career as a songwriter.”
(March 2017)
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Since I am down to a quarterly schedule rather than a monthly schedule, my annual list is a lot shorter, so I will try listing all of the people that I have discussed in some depth rather than just the Under Appreciated Rock Band and the Story of the Month. They are all punk rock bands of one kind or another this year (2015-2016), and the most recent post includes my overview of the early rap/hip hop scene that an old friend, George Konstantinow challenged me to write – probably so long ago that he might have forgotten.
March 2016 – 1980’s-2000’s punk/funk band THE LOVEMASTERS; Story of the Month on Pat Boone; also, Twisted Sister, the B-52’s, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, ZZ Top, Deee-Lite, Katrina and the Waves, Arlo Guthrie, Woody Guthrie, the Ramrods, Robert Mulrooney, Bootsey X, Bobby Beyond, One String Sam, the Credibility Gap, Dark Carnival, Nathaniel Mayer.
(Year 7 Review)
