Monday, February 25, 2008

The B-52's - Rock Lobster (Rare Live Vid)

I was excited to read that the B-52s have a new single out (you can hear it on their myspace page), with a new album forthcoming, their first record of the 21st century! The lyrics and sound of the new track seem like a throwback to their early records, which sound as timelessly out of time now as they did almost 30 years ago.

I remembering discovering the B-52s when I went to RISD from my hometown in Vermont in 1979. Art school couldn't have been more different from my public high school, and "Rock Lobster" was an integral part of that awakening. At Christmastime, I came home with my new discovery (with its classic yellow cover), and all my high school friends thought I had become weird, possibly a drug addict (the latter untrue, but I didn't let on). It was a proud moment. And I like "Rock Lobster" as much today as I did then, even if more effort is required to go down down down. (For the B-52s, too, I imagine.) The early live video, when Ricky was still alive, and Cindy and Kate make their unearthly extraordinary noises, and chicken-necked Fred dances with abandon and an appropriately cheesy mustache, captures them at their zany, unique best.

1 comment:

kladinvt said...

There new album is excellent! I can't decide which tune is my favorite! All of them at this point.