B-52's: Time Capsule

     I'm not Mr. Fun Time Party Guy. If, for some unimaginable reason, I were to throw a party I would play B-52's Time Capsule on a loop. As Fred Schneider explains in the song "Quiche Lorraine", having a good time on a crummy day is our game. My wife finds it funny ( funny strange and funny ha-ha) that I like the B-52's, because it's so out of character. Back when At War With The Mystics came out, I talked her into going to see The Flaming Lips with me. I told her about the animal costumes and confetti guns and Wayne's giant, crowd surfing hamster ball. Sadly, he didn't use the hamster ball in Detroit. Anyhow, she said it sounded fun, but couldn't understand why I loved them so much... because they sounded fun. Apparently, something in my brain draws me to bands like Sparklehorse, Neutral Milk Hotel and Grandaddy, but I also love The B-52's.

     Obviously, the B-52's campy look was a major aspect of their early appeal. People were drawn in by the bee hive hairdo's and retro clothes, but it was the music that hooked them in. I was in high school when the first two albums came out and I loved their sense of humor on songs like "Rock Lobster " and "Private Idaho". Their sound was like nothing I'd heard before. Kate and Cindy's off-kilter, space age harmonies were a revelation. Fred's exuberant, spastic shout-singing was fun on a stick. The thing that made their first few albums stand out, for me, was Ricky Wilson. His angular (damn, I used that word) surf rock guitar style gave their songs the power that balanced out the wackiness. When he died in 1985, the B-52's never quite sounded the same. That's not to say they were horrible after 1985. I love Cosmic Thing as much as the next guy, but it was a more commercial sound. Not only was Ricky's guitar style gone, but the harmonies were much more conventional. Not that that's bad, I just prefer how they sounded on their first two albums. I'll gladly give it up to "Roam", "Deadbeat Club" and the greatest party song of all-time "Love Shack". There's nothing like 50 people all yelling "tin roof...rusted" for a good time. 

     I highly recommend my kids listen to my B-52's collection. I have Time Capsule and the first album on CD and I have a 2 in 1 cassette of the first album and Wild Planet. Wild Planet has my favorite B-52's song, "Strobe Light". I feel everything great about the B-52's is encapsulated in that one song. The guitar is outstanding and Fred is completely over the top. The beginning is fantastic when Fred asks, "Where's my telephone?", then he and Kate (I think) start having a phone conversation.

"Is that you baby?"

"Yeah."

"Got something to tell you."

"Oh, what?"

     Her disinterested, deadpan delivery of "Yeah" and "Oh, what" is great. And I always smile when Fred sings "Un- der- neath the strooooobe light". Maybe I should throw a party. Pass the tanning butter! Peace.