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Charted: August 11, 1979

Rating: 4.513 (average of 7 ratings)

Genre: rock > new wave

Quotable: “‘70s new wave…melded to ‘50s trash-rock” – Blender Magazine

Album Tracks:

  1. Planet Claire
  2. 52 Girls
  3. Dance This Mess Around
  4. Rock Lobster
  5. Lava
  6. There’s a Moon in the Sky Called the Moon
  7. Hero Worship
  8. 6060-842
  9. Downtown

Sales:

sales in U.S. only 1 million
sales in U.K. only - estimated --
sales in all of Europe as determined by IFPI – click here to go to their site. --
sales worldwide - estimated 1 million

Peak:

peak on U.S. Billboard album chart 59
peak on U.K. album chart 22

Singles/Hit Songs:

  • Rock Lobster (8/11/79) #56 US, #12 UK

Awards:

Rated one of the top 1000 albums of all time by Dave’s Music Database. Click to learn more. One of Blender’s 100 Greatest American Albums One of VH1’s 100 Greatest Rock & Roll Albums of All Time.

The B-52’s
The B-52’s
Review:
“To call the B-52’s…sound” (Blender) of “‘70s new wave…melded to ‘50s trash-rock” (Blender) “unique…would be a considerable understatement” (Blender). “Even in the weird, quirky world of new wave and post-punk in the late ‘70s, the B-52’s’ eponymous debut stood out as an original. Unabashed kitsch mavens at a time when their peers were either vulgar or stylish, the Athens quintet celebrated all the silliest aspects of pre-Beatles pop culture – bad hairdos, sci-fi nightmares, dance crazes, pastels, and anything else that sprung into their minds – to a skewed fusion of pop, surf, avant-garde, amateurish punk, and white funk” (Erlewine). “They were campy, amateurish and outrageously good” (Blender).

“On paper, it sounds like a cerebral exercise, but it played like a party. The jerky, angular funk was irresistibly danceable, winning over listeners dubious of Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson’s high-pitched, shrill close harmonies and Fred Schneider’s campy, flamboyant vocalizing, pitched halfway between singing and speaking. It’s all great fun, but it wouldn’t have resonated throughout the years if the group hadn’t written such incredibly infectious, memorable tunes as Planet Claire, Dance This Mess Around, and, of course, their signature tune, Rock Lobster. These songs illustrated that the B-52’s’ adoration of camp culture wasn’t simply affectation – it was a world view capable of turning out brilliant pop singles and, in turn, influencing mainstream pop culture. It’s difficult to imagine the endless kitschy retro fads of the ‘80s and ‘90s without the B-52’s pointing the way, but The B-52’s isn’t simply an historic artifact – it’s a hell of a good time” (Erlewine).

Review Source(s):

Last updated October 25, 2008.