Forty years ago, Rock Lobster launched the career of the B-52s and revived John Lennons

[jpak]

https://www.pressherald.com/2018/04/06/forty-years-ago-rock-lobster-launched-the-career-of-the-b-52s-and-revived-john-lennons/

By 1978, with the Beatles eight years in his rearview mirror, John Lennon had stopped making music –1 and found himself vacationing apart from his wife and muse, Yoko Ono. That same year, a group of eclectic misfits from Athens, Georgia, who called themselves the B-52’s released their first single, “Rock Lobster.”

The song was released 40 years ago this week on a small, now defunct label called DB Records. It was later rerecorded and rereleased as part of the band’s 1979 eponymous debut album on Warner Bros.

It’s a bizarre tune containing nonsensical lyrics and circuslike surf music, but it would prove deeply important to the B-52’s (it launched them into stardom) and Lennon (it inspired him to team up with Ono and record the last songs of his life).

The B-52’s were a new wave band before new wave was an official genre, and “Rock Lobster” hit the masses like a ton of psychedelic bricks. Delirious sounds pumping out of a Farfisa organ flutter and spin around a droning backbeat. Vocalists Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson sing “ohh” and “ahh” in their best imitation of fish during the song’s nearly seven-minute run. At the end, Wilson shrieks like a dolphin. There’s more than a little cowbell.

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[FM123]

1. I saw them in concert 1982 at the Sunrise Music Theater, they were amazing!

I can still hear them singing Dance This Mess Around ...
"why don't you dance with me, I'm not no limburger"

[jpak]

2. I saw them in Athens in '78 and '79

[unblock]

3. Interesting, I had heard McCartney's "coming up" prompted Lennon to get back in the game

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coming_Up_(song)

[ms liberty]

4. Love this story. And the B52's. n/t

[chuckstevens]

5. When Lennon first heard the B52's he said, They're doing Mother! (Yoko)

[Ferrets are Cool]

6. You really should go watch the Official Video. It's hilarious and so much fun. nt

[Upthevibe]

7. Love them.......

I didn't know much about the B52's until I moved to California in the late 80's and friends out here were listening to them. I listened to Cosmic Thing almost non-stop for awhile....