The B-52's

B-52's

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Original Release Date: July 1979
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Reprise / Wea
• ASIN: B000002KKD
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,861 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #20 in	Music > Alternative Rock > New Wave & Post-Punk > Post-Punk
  #39 in	Music > Pop > New Wave
  #99 in	Music > Alternative Rock > Hardcore & Punk

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This record shook up the snoozing world of rock in 1979, becoming a truly classic disc, one full of landmark moments and heavy with possibilities. Most "real" rockers in the late '70s tried hard to ignore the Sex Pistols and the Clash, claiming the punk tumult was a merely a fad; but fun-loving types couldn't resist the magnificent hooks and grooves of the B-52's debut. They fell into the "new wave" while dancing their tushes off. The magnificent "Rock Lobster" remains unmatched in terms of its relentless, spastic power to move one's feet; ditto "52 Girls," with its nod to '60s trash rock. A Cramps-ish guitar grinds through "Lava," which features his-and-hers innuendo-laden lyrics. "I'm not no limburger!" goes one line from "Dance This Mess Around," but you just never question why. Brilliant. --Lorry Fleming

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Best B-52 album, September 18, 2004

By	balefireelegy (Binghamton, NY) - See all my reviews

Many of my friends hate the B-52's.. frankly at times I don't blame them... their music circa cosmic thing was so overplayed when I was growing up. Yes Cosmic thing is a fun album and every party I attended in MIddleschool usually ended up playing Love shack before the night ended... but it lacks something compared to their first album.. or could be thought of as over burdened.

Secondly I admitt to loving Pop music.. But the First B-52 album sounded so fresh and unique.. the band members weren't great musicians technically... but so much more energy radiates through when the band itself plays and writes their music as opposed to having other musicians and tons of production.

This is just a fun album and one of the most interesting sonic experiences out there. The first four songs are what makes this album classic.. Planet claire is the perfect way to immerse the listner into the B-52's sound. Starting with the soft menacing guitar at the begining then breaking out the organ... enter fred...

Lava and Hero Worship are good songs, they aren't the same quality as the first four and by this point in the album feel alot less fresh and creative.. the songs at the end tend to run a bit together.. while there's a moon in the sky and 6060-842 get a bit annoying an repetitive..

The cover of Downtown feels appropriate as a closer..

Overall this album is a good time and probably the most interesting and invigorating B-52 album...

Even some people who hate the bands later material will concede that the music on this album is something worth hearing.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The debut album from the manic mavens of kitsch, July 22, 2003

By	Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

R.E.M. might be the most famous musical act to come out of the supposedly sleepy college town of Athens, Georgia, with the Indigo Girls being a close second, but the B-52's were the first group to come out of that now infamous hotbed of alternative music. Next month I get to see the B-52's in concert, so I am trotting out their albums and getting ready. If you do not know that the group took their name from the Southern slag for the big buouffant wigs sported by signers Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson, then you probably have not checked out the Broadway cast album for "Hairspray" (but you should). I remember once hearing the group's look described as "campy, thrift-store aesthetic" and I certainly could not improve on that appellation. This 1979 self-titled debut album remains their best, harkening back to the day when the group was a quintet: add to the mix Fred Schneider, guitarist Ricky Wilson, and drummer Keith Strickland. Using their first single "Rock Lobster" as the springboard to success, this album offers up songs that are first and foremost quite danceable. Of course, if you listen to the lyrics you will find the songs somewhat bizarre, but that is half the fun. Nobody is more manic than the B-52's, and this album proves the truth of that statement from day one.

Do not try to put the B-52's into the categories of either post-punk of new wave, because they were over in the category of silly fun all by them selves. Who else could match Schneider's flamboyantly campy vocals or the quirky harmonies of Pierson and Wilson? But this album works because the songs are pretty good, especially the first four tracks: "Planet Claire," "52 Girls," "Dance This Mess Around," and, of course, "Rock Lobster." Every student of American Popular Culture has to fall in love with "Planet Claire" with its bizarre blend of the themes from "Star Trek" and "Peter Gunn," while Schneider sings about a planet where no one ever dies and no one has a head (makes you wonder if there is a link between the two). "52 Girls" has Pierson and Wilson chanting the names of 24 girls in what it probably the catchiest dance tune on the album. "Dance This Mess Around" is another Pop Culture tour, with its references to various dances nobody remembers the names for, let alone the moves. Then there is "Rock Lobster," the glorious ode of communal towel coordination. This remains the best B-52's album simply because most fun things are most fun the first time around.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I say, dont that make you feel a whole lot better?, December 30, 2003

By	Stanley Beaker (Beachy Head, England) - See all my reviews

What's that you say? You want party music. You wanna dance like a monk-funk mowgli, but you don't want to be seen to be a trend-hound, you don't want to leap aboard this funk-punk-disco wagon that doin' the rounds. Hmm... let me see now... Well there's always this, you can't go wrong with this. It's a joyous meisterwork from Athens' finest, the B-52s. This could whip up a mother thumpin' rumpus in a mausoleum. It's new wave gospel music. And these Georgians preach a fearsome hip shaking truth... Yeah, this is the one. Hearing this again... It's making my ears all prickly. Wow I mean look at these songs. Planet Claire, that's a kind of spooky b-movie sci-fi, exotica, hypno-rhythmic monster, if you follow me. 52 Girls, that might be my favourite. It hits this, this incredible surf guitar groove that sends shivers up and down my spine. And Dance This Mess Around, there's your perfect party song right there. You could goad your friends into doing the Hip-o-crit, or the Aqua-velva, or or the Escalator! Oh yeah, and then of course you've got the demented Rock Lobster. You must know that one. It'll have you beating the dance floor like a loved-up baboon. Side two doesn't really live up to that sublime flip but, you know, it's still good stuff. I mean that 6060-842, yeah that's a cracking little song. So, anyway, has that helped? Come on, be honest. I don't mind. You were lookin' a bit down in the mouth. This will give you that sparkle, I promise. Look at my eye. See that sparkle? And I'm just sitting here talking about it...