Dancing Around This Mess of an Institution: Why The B-52's Deserve a Rock Hall Induction
Introduction: Arriving on Planet Claire
John Lennon had all but given up creating new music by the end of the 1970s. After the lukewarm reception to the covers album Rock ‘n’ Roll (1975), Lennon stopped playing the guitar, writing songs, and focused more on his family. While vacationing in Bermuda in 1979, Lennon stumbled into a nightclub and heard a song immediately capturing his attention: The B-52’s “Rock Lobster” (1978). In an interview with the BBC, Lennon recalls: “That’s Yoko! I thought there were two records going at once or something. Because it was so her. I mean, this person had studied her. I thought, ‘Get the ax and call the wife.’ I called her and I said, ‘You won’t believe this, but I was in a disco and there was somebody doing your voice. This time, they’re ready for us.’” In Lennon’s eyes, Yoko Ono’s avant-garde reached out to other musicians and her influence was evident in “Rock Lobster.” After a five-year musical dry spell, Lennon was ready to go back in the studio and Double Fantasy (1980) became the end result. Released in November 1980, Double Fantasy became Lennon’s comeback record and reinvigorated his popularity. A few weeks after the album’s release, Lennon was murdered by Mark David Chapman outside of Lennon’s New York City apartment on December 8, 1980. Lennon’s assassination is one of the most tragic events in recent history and took away one of rock’s most talented visionaries. Although there’s much sadness and sorrow surrounding Lennon’s death, his late career resurgence and productivity was sparked after hearing the B-52’s. If an artist inspired a Beatle to get out of a musical funk, then I would considered them among the most important and innovative artists in the history of rock and roll. The B-52’s are indeed one of those bands.
This entry explores the career and legacy of The B-52’s as one of the most important post-punk bands of the late 20th century. In terms of fashion and musical aesthetics, The B-52’s are originals in very sense of the word and helped define New Wave as a major musical movement that would dominated the 1980s in the post-punk years. In a historical context, The B-52’s broke new grounds as LGBTQ icons achieving major commercial success and paving the way for more queer musicians to be accepted by mass audiences. Although their clothes might be tacky and their lyrics are somewhat wacky, The B-52’s have made a significant contribution to the history of rock and roll and they are absolutely deserving of a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction.
Parties and Stories Out of Bounds: The B-52’s in Retrospective
The B-52’s’ origins begin in Athens, Georgia in 1976. Kate Pierson and Fred Schneider were New Jersey transplants—both from different parts of the states and did not know each other beforehand—who took different journeys that led them to the small Georgia town. After graduating from Boston University with a degree in Journalism and traveling Europe for an extended period, Pierson found herself living on a farm and working for a local newspaper company. Schneider, on the other hand, was a wannabe poet and attended the University of Georgia as a wildlife conservation student. He switched majors and eventually dropped out. He stayed in Athens because “I liked the town a lot.” The rest of the band members are born-and-raised in Athens. Ricky Wilson and Keith Strickland were friends who later became roommates and decided to form a band. Ricky’s younger sister Cindy would join them.
After having Chinese Food for dinner and having one-too-many alcoholic drinks on an October night in 1976, the five played an impromptu musical performance at a friend’s house and decided they should start a band. Sharing an interest in science-fiction, trash culture, and avant-garde music, the five became close and never looked back. They played their first show on Valentine’s Day the following year and started playing different shows through Athens. Ricky and Keith were the only members who knew how to play musical instruments when the band first formed. Schneider and Cindy Wilson served as vocalists, while Pierson provided both vocals and played the keyboards. The band got their namesake from the ‘60s high-rise hairdos and the two women in the band wore them at virtually every show.
They continued playing shows in Georgia throughout the next year, but eventually realized they needed to go to New York if they wanted to attract a wider audience. They began performing shows in two of New York City’s hottest clubs: CBGB’s and Max’s Kansas City. They were initially “terrified” to play in New York since they never played an audience “beyond their friends.” Schneider recalls playing gigs “was a hobby. We had to save up to play anywhere.” All five of the band members worked day jobs and dreamed of a better life and hoping for a record deal.
Around this same time, Athens record store owner Danny Beard got them their first record deal on DB records in 1977. Their debut single “Rock Lobster/52 Girls,” released in February 1978, became an underground hit and sold over 20,000 copies. This is impressive considering they were an unknown band from a small town and not signed to a major record company. Island records producer and 2001 Rock Hall inductee Chris Blackwell signed them to a record deal after they became the talk of the town in the New York club scene. Literally, record companies were fighting with one another to sign The B-52’s to a contract to the point the band was signed to two record labels: Warner Bros. in the U.S. and Island Records in the U.K. and elsewhere.
The B-52’s released their debut album in the summer of 1979. With “Rock Lobster” exploding on radio stations throughout the country and achieving massive critical acclaim, the album went platinum and they became stars virtually overnight. They appeared as the musical guests on Saturday Night Live in January 1980 and performed their hits “Rock Lobster” and “Dance This Mess Around.” They were “scared,” “terrified” and felt the SNL gig was an “nerve-racking experience,” but the appearance solidified them as household names and brought their music to a mainstream audience.
The follow-up album Wild Planet, released in September 1980, would also become an instant classic featuring the songs “Private Idaho,” “Give Me Back My Man,” and “Party Out of Bounds.” There are great deeper cuts such as “Quiche Lorraine” and “Devil in My Car” that would become fan favorites. Sophomore albums are usually tough for most artists who started on a high note, but The B-52’s knocked it out the park. While some critics such as Robert Christgau felt Wild Planet lacked the same spark as their debut album, it’s the B-52’s at their creative peak. The band’s continued success legitimized them as one of the exemplifiers of the emerging New Wave style that would dominate the rest of the decade.
The B-52’s attracted a lot of interest amongst musicians and producers who wanted to collaborate with the New Wave pioneers. Talking Heads frontman David Byrne slated to produce the band’s third studio album Mesopotamia (1982) after Byrne befriended them and toured with them in the early 1980s. The B-52’s’ record labels wanted to change the band’s sound--never a good idea--and the band experienced an existential creative crisis. With a lack of new ideas for a new albums and taking a break from touring in 1981, Mesopotamia was doomed from its inception. Creative conflicts and budget issues from the record labels forced the sessions to end prematurely and the recordings were released as an EP in 1982. Part of the reason why Mesopotamia failed is the absence of the band’s electric live shows and quirky production work and in favor of a more polished sound. Straying so far away from their distinctive sound did not attract too much commercial success. The doomed project was a mild success, although it does not measure well against their previous albums. Forcing a band as unique as The B-52’s to change their sound and style is simply not a good idea. After the disappointing results of Mesopotamia, their third studio album Whammy! (1983) was a return to form in many ways. The album features strong cuts such as “Legal Tender” and “Song for a Future Generation.” The addition of drum machines and synthesizers polarized some critics believe the album “now sound(s) a little forced and dated,” but it’s an overall strong album with glimpses of the brilliance captured in their first two albums.
During the production of their next album Bouncing Off the Satellites (1986), guitarist Ricky Wilson was diagnosed with AIDS, a death sentence to anyone contracting the disease in its infancy. Confiding only to his close friend and band member Strickland, Wilson downplayed his illness and hid his declining health from his bandmates. Ricky Wilson’s sister and fellow bandmate Cindy recalled his brother’s death as akin to “an atom bomb going off.” Pierson recalls Wilson’s death as “devastating” to the band, especially his Cindy who did not know of her brother’s illnesses and found out his death from the Atlanta hospital he stayed. Stricken to their very core, The B-52’s released Bouncing Off the Satellites but declined promoting the album and refused to tour. The band went on hiatus and almost permanently disbanded. The parties and free love promoted in their music was put on hold while the band considered their future without Ricky.
A few years later in 1988, Strickland began writing songs for a potential new B-52’s album and the rest of the band got back in the stereo. Enlisting veteran producers Nile Rodgers and Don Was, the creation of Cosmic Thing (1989) was a “wonderful, healing record,” according to Cindy Wilson. Strickland believes the group “were our own support” and the making of the album “felt like Ricky was in the room.” Cosmic Thing became a runaway success and the best-selling album ever released by the band, selling well over 4 million copies. “Roam” and “Love Shack” became radio smashes and both even cracked the top 5 on the Billboard Hot #100 (both peaking at #3), something the band had never experience before. They were at their commercial peak and they comprised one of the great comeback stories in the history of rock and roll. They, literally, almost broke up in the wake of Ricky’s death and yet persevered to come back stronger and more popular than ever.
A year after Cosmic Thing, Cindy Wilson left the band to focus on family, although she would eventually return in 1996. The title-track on the follow-up album Good Stuff (1992), which in many ways tried riding off the coattails of Cosmic Thing, became a top-40 hit. Although they did not release another album until 2008’s Funplex, they kept themselves busy working on various television and film projects. They provided an updated version of The Flintstones’ theme song “(Meet) The Flintstones” for the live-action 1994 film of the same name and they even made a cameo appearance. “(Meet) The Flintstones” also marked the last top-40 hit for The B-52’s (at least so far). Time Capsule (1998) is their first greatest hits album and included two new songs “Debbie” and “Hallucinating Potato,” the first recordings with Cindy since her return a few years earlier. Despite not creating much new music over the last three decades, The B-52’s have constantly toured and played to sold-out audiences across the globe. In 2013, Strickland retired from touring but continues to make new music. The three other members continue to tour with other New Wave bands, usually in the Summer months.
Songs for a Future Generation: Making the Case for The B-52’s’ Rock Hall Inclusion
The B-52’s are simply one of the most innovative musical adventurers of the late 20th-century. They have a unique and definitive sound, nobody sounds like them and instantly identifiable within the first few seconds of playing any of their records. Very, very artists can be recognized as easily to the casual listener than The B-52’s. Fred Schneider and Keith Strickland mention how the band “liked all music,” ranging from James Brown to The Velvet Underground to Captain Beefheart to The Beatles to Yoko Ono. Strickland emphasized the band’s mantra: “Our feeling was if it sounds good, it is good. So we put that freedom into writing. We felt like we could do anything.” The band’s sense of exploration and inspiration from all aspects of popular music is both admirable and courageous. They are like mad scientists conducting a wild experiment with so many sonic noises and productions to create uniquely original records unlike anything the world has ever heard before. In many ways, The B-52’s encapsulates the history of rock and roll music with their deep appreciation for 60s girl groups, Motown, surf rock, and a flare for the experimental and avant-garde. They are outsiders not meant to succeed, but stayed true to themselves by creating artistic expressions and statements of the world around them.
The B-52’s became an important band at the inception of New Wave in the 1970s, a movement encapsulated from post-punk, gothic, and other forms of non-mainstream and alternative music. They are also the first major New Wave band to emerge from the American South, which made them stand out since the vast majority of acts originated from the United Kingdom and the New York City area. Just like their New Wave contemporaries Talking Heads and Blondie, The B-52’s cut their teeth playing at the legendary NYC nightclubs CBGB’s and Max’s Kansas City and thrilling audiences with their energetic live sets. They found tremendous success when the cards were seemingly stacked against them. They are originals in very sense of the word.
The B-52’s are also innovators in terms of creating their brand of punk music. Their stream-of-consciousness and abstract lyrics combined with the fast-paced guitar riffs and obscure lyrics. Playing at the two previously-mentioned nightclubs helped The B-52’s gains a significant following, especially with punk fans. Those places were hotbeds for some of the biggest punk and post-punk acts of the mid-to-late 1970s (e.g., Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, Television). And let’s not forget one of Punk’s biggest identifiers: representing outsiders. Michael Stipe, frontman of R.E.M., believes “Punk rock was about taking whatever you can find around you and really creating some DIY thing out of it. It wasn’t so different in spirit than the punk stuff that was happening in New York, they just developed their own aesthetic for it…they made it OK to dance.” As The B-52’s became more mainstream, they definitely lessen their Punk sensibilities, but it was present in their first two albums. When listening to “Private Idaho,” for example, there is definitely a punk element to that song with Schneider's rapid, nonsensical vocals and Ricky Wilson’s driving guitar riffs. The song’s fast-paced, almost urgent delivery makes it a product of the punk aesthetic.
The B-52’s are also important figures in the history of American southern music and their impact is two-fold. First, they became the first important band to emerge out of Athens, Georgia in the late 1970s and would achieve substantial commercial success and critical acclaim. With the underground success of “Rock Lobster” as a single in 1978, The B-52’s helped put Athens on the musical map and laid some of the earliest foundations of the college rock radio and alternative music scene that would dominate the preceding decade. In an interview, R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe reminisces: During the early days of R.E.M. whenever we would go on tour we always began our set by announcing that we were from Athens, Georgia. The only reason that meant something to anyone was because of The B-52s. We wore that badge proudly.” Without The B-52’s, who knows if R.E.M. would’ve been as successful without The B-52’s emerging on the mainstream scene first.
Second and perhaps most importantly, The B-52’s redefined southern identity in American Southern music, especially in terms of openly celebrating queerness in that part of the country. Four of the five original members (Sans Cindy Wilson) identify as members of the LGBT community. They elevated the representation of queer individuals operating in the heteronormative landscape of rock and roll. At a time when many rockist music fans bashed Disco for its excessiveness and flamboyance (despite providing a much-needed outlet for Black, Latino and queer musicians), The B-52’s emerged as a queer band without ever explicitly mentioning their sexual orientations. They are unapologetically campy, thanks in large part to the two female singers’ beehive hairdos and Schneider often wearing bright colors onstage.
T. Cole Rachel’s wonderful article “53 Miles West of Venus” details his appreciation of The B-52’s as a young gay man growing up in the American South at around the time the records were originally released. He describes the band as “being one of the first things I ever remember seeing that made me think ‘This is gay.’” Although he did not understand queerness until later in life, he felt an immediate “kinship” with their music as their albums “were not so much records as they were designs for life.” Rachel’s autobiographical account of The B-52’s’ impact on his life represents the band’s increasing importance as LGBT individuals orbiting in a heteronormative environment and succeeding along the way.
In the case of The B-52’s, queerness does not only refer to one’s sexuality. Instead, I’d argue they would define queerness as individuals who deviate from the norm and accept their true selves. Their music celebrates difference and for everyone to dance their troubles away. It doesn’t matter if someone is black or white, gay or straight, fat or skinny, there’s room for everybody. Maybe that’s part of the reason why songs like “Love Shack” resonate so well with listeners across different generations. Take a song like “Love Shack,” which is probably their biggest hit. When that song comes on the loudspeaker at any party or event, almost everyone gets out of their seats and dance along to “Love Shack.” I’m not quite sure how and why that song resonates with so many people, but it does.
Longevity is also one of the markers of The B-52’s’ success. They crafted one of the finest debut albums in the history of rock and roll, an original in very sense of the word. They then created an equally terrific follow-up album Wild Planet, which dismissed them as one-album wonders and the infamous sophomore slump that plagued so many artists. With the death of Ricky Wilson from AIDS in 1985, the band almost broke up but eventually went back to the studio created their most commercially-successful record Cosmic Thing in 1989. A full decade into their career, The B-52’s finally achieved large-scale chart success (two top-five hits on the Billboard Hot 100) in one of the greatest comeback stories in the history of rock and roll. Although they only released two albums since Cosmic Thing, The B-52’s actively tour and electrified audiences with their mesmerizing live shows. If inducted, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame expects their new inductees to perform, especially if they are alive. The B-52’s still actively tour and it would be a great opportunity for drummer-turned-guitarist Keith Strickland to reunite with the band (he retired from touring in 2012).
The B-52’s also achieved substantial critical acclaim and commercial success. Their 1979 self-titled debut album reached Platinum status and three other albums were certified Gold. Cosmic Thing, by far their commercially successful work, sold over 4 million copies which is impressive since the album was released a decade into their career. They are also well-regarded by major rock critics such as Robert Christgau, who gave most of the band’s albums at least an “A-“ rating (Cosmic Thing got the lowest rating of a B). “Rock Lobster” was chosen by The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s staff as one of the Songs That Shaped Rock list in 1995 and ranked at #147 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list. The B-52’s, their 1979 self-titled debut album, was ranked #99 on VH1’s 2001 list of The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time and also #152 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time lists.
New Wave Weirdness: Comparing The B-52’s and Devo’s HOF Prospects
Emerging at around the same time as The B-52’s, Devo also made a huge impact on American alternative and New Wave music in the late 1970s. In many ways, The B-52’s and Devo followed similar career paths. Both bands’ origins began in a college setting where the majority of the members first met and began playing shows at small venues (mainly their friends and small crowds). As a result, both bands developed a devoted cult following that would support them thick-and-thin throughout their careers. They also attracted some famous admirers early in their careers. David Bowie, Brian Eno, Iggy Pop, and Neil Young were among Devo’s earliest proponents and the first two even produced the band’s debut 1978 album Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! Meanwhile, David Byrne, Frank Zappa, and John Lennon were huge fans of The B-52’s in their earliest years. All of these artists are heavyweights in the rock world and helped boosted both bands’ reputation dramatically.
Fashion became an important and definitive feature of both bands’ personas. Devo often wore yellow jumpsuits and donned red plastic energy domes on their heads (which I swear looks like flower pots although they are inspired by the Aztec pyramids). The red hats famously appear on the cover of Devo’s Freedom of Choice album and worn in their breakthrough music video “Whip It.” The yellow jumpsuits worn by Devo in their music video for “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” (The Rolling Stones classic) became one of their signature attires. The B-52’s, on the other hand, embraced “thrift store chic,” referring to their excursions to local thrift shops and find cheap and often retro clothes to wear. Even the band’s namesake was inspired from a southern slang for a 1960s high-rise hairdo and the two female singers often sported while performing at concerts. “Thrift store chic” is all things vintage, almost like a blast from the past for fashionably conscious people searching the racks of thrift stores in hopes of finding buried treasures. The “thrift store chic” look of The B-52’s furthermore emphasized the band’s DIY (Do-It-Yourself) aesthetic that would make them stand-out amongst their contemporaries.
And both bands used humor in their lyrics, although in different ways. Devo’s humor is more rooted in sarcasm and irony with bleak political and social commentary. Take, for example, “Freedom of Choice,” a song contradicting the freedoms we take for granted in a democratic society. Mothersbaugh sings about a poem set in ancient Rome about a dog who finds two bones to pick up one and lick the other, and drops dead. The irony here is that the dog uses his “freedom of choice” and faces the consequence of death for exercising free will. And then there’s “Mongoloid,” a song about a man with Down’s syndrome who leads a seemingly normal life. He “wears a hat” and “works a job” just like everyone else, but “nobody even cared” or “know” about his condition. And this does not even consider the song’s derogatory, highly offensive title, which refers to mentally disabled people (although the term ‘Mongoloid’ could also refer a specific subset of indigenous people in Asia). Perhaps assimilation worked well enough for the character, but he’s just a face in a crowd of millions and not all that special or unique.
The lyrics in songs by The B-52’s are often humorous but, unlike Devo, also more playful and self-reflective. In “Dance This Mess Around,” Kate Pierson wants to dance a potential lover and says she’s “not no Limburger,” comparing herself to a smelly cheese as she feels rejected on the dance floor. Even the lyrics of “Rock Lobster,” one of their most popular hits, has a stream of consciousness that references nautical sea creatures and beach parties to create a hypnotic sonic experience. Discussing how humor affected people’s perception of The B-52’s, Pierson believes “A lot of people didn’t get it. I think the major reason was because we had a sense of humor. I mean, The Ramones had a sense of humor and so did The Talking Heads, but ours was pretty overt. We were fun and danceable. Unfortunately, It’s hard for people to take something too seriously when it’s just constantly being described as "wacky"--and we were pretty wacky.” From Pierson’s perspective, The B-52’s’ credibility and reputation gets overlooked in favor of their humorous (and quite frankly bizarre) lyrics. But humor in The B-52’s’ music is used as a way for them to showcase their quirky outlooks on modern life. But the humor is never meant to make listeners laugh, but rather as a tool to understand their nervousness and self-reflexivity as individuals identifying as outsiders in our society. Sure, the lyrics are often playful and nonsensical, but there is a deeper meaning that usually refers to the politics of self-identity.
Both bands’ messages and outlooks could not be more different. Devo arose from their concept of “De-Evolution,” which is their belief society is regressing and going backwards in an evolutionary perspective. In others words, the world is becoming a more terrible place and everything goes down from there. The band got their name by shortening the term to Devo and themes of “de-evolution” appear in the vast majority of their songs. The B-52’s, on the other hand, are the polar opposite of Devo’s bleak worldview. “Jocko Homo,” in many ways, lays out Devo’s ideas and viewpoints on “de-evolution” and largely serves as their unofficial anthem. While Devo critiqued the world around them and felt everything was changing for the worst, then The B-52’s wanted listeners to stop thinking and start dancing. The B-52s’ music emphasizes having a good time and forgetting one’s troubles and worries on the dance floor. Perhaps Devo’s performance art background may them appear more pretentious than The B-52s, especially when the latter remained largely apolitical for most of their career.
And the Rock Hall has not been too kind to those who embrace synthesizers, so that is definitely a black mark on their candidacies in the eyes of closed-minded (and mostly aging Boomer) voters. That’s part of the reason why synth-based bands Kraftwerk and Depeche Mode have not been inducted yet although they each have among the strongest resumes of anyone currently not in the Hall of Fame. Both The B-52’s and Devo utilized New Wave instruments and technologies to help define their unique sounds.
Devo earned a Rock Hall nomination last October for 2019 induction. Their nomination was welcoming and surprising in a few ways. Surprising mainly because they hail from Ohio which is where the Rock Hall’s museum is located and maybe they want to induct an artist with ties (in some way) to the Buckeye state. Devo is, after all, one of the most famous bands to come out of Ohio and they would receive a hero’s welcome back if inducted at a Cleveland ceremony. And Devo did surprisingly well in last year’s Fan Vote, finishing seventh in a stronger showing than I expected. But in many hearts and minds, Devo are seen as one-hit wonders whose only “well-known” song is “Whip It.” Sure, that might be Devo’s only major commercial hit, but they have a great and highly influential body of work that rivals almost any New Wave artist of that era. Devo did not capitalize on their success as well as they should’ve and, as a result, fizzled as a novelty act in the wake of “Whip It.” The B-52’s, on the other hand, have several well-known hits in their discography including “Rock Lobster,” “Private Idaho,” “Love Shack,” and “Roam.” The success and popularity of these four songs help build a strong HOF induction case for The B-52’s without considering their brilliant originality. In terms of record sales, all but one of The B-52’s studio albums achieved Gold status by the RIAA (a few even went Platinum). Meanwhile Devo’s Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo? and Freedom of Choice were certified Gold and Platinum alike. In other words, Devo has a harder case for HOF consideration when they are primarily known for one song by the general public while The B-52’s have more hits and consistently sold more records which cements their popularity and legacy with a broader audience.
Finally, many of the artists and bands that influenced both Devo and The B-52’s are not inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The likes of Captain Beefheart, Kraftwerk, Can, Dick Dale, and Yoko Ono have inspired both bands to create original, almost timeless music that defined the New Wave era. If their heroes and influences are not already inducted, how much of a legitimate shot does either band have? Devo has been rejected once, although they did appear on what is considered the strongest ballot produced by the Nominating Committee in many years. 2014 inductee and current Nominating Committee member Dave Grohl vouched for their worthiness last Fall and helped get them on the 2019 ballot. Devo deserves another shot to see how they measure against the others and ensure they’re not a one-and-done nominee. Devo’s boom-and-gloom worldview will probably take several nominations if they ever get inducted, while I firmly believe The B-52’s will stake into the Rock Hall on their first try. The B-52’s has not been nominated (yet), so it’s impossible to gauge how they would perform with voters. But I have a feeling they would stake in on their first ballot appearance. They are too influential, well-liked, and simply fun to be denied much longer. Their biggest roadblock is not having a Nominating Committee member rally for them and get others to support The B-52’s. The Nominating Committee has to stop being Limburgers and put them on the ballot ASAP.
And a child of the 90s, I would be remiss if I did not mention the fact that members of both Devo and The B-52’s contributed to the opening themes on Nickelodeon. Mark Mothersbaugh composed the theme for the cartoon Rugrats, while Fred Schneider and Kate Pierson of The B-52’s contributed vocals to the theme of Rocko’s Modern Life from season two onward. Sorry, but this had to be added somewhere since this was one of the main similarities I found between both bands and I loved both these cartoons when I was growing up.
Conclusion: Roaming Around a Rock Hall Nomination
Liberation is one of the main tenets of Rock and Roll that is so vital to its existence. Whatever scenario one can imagine, rock and roll helps listeners find solace and conform in music. What makes The B-52’s so unique and special is they are proponents of liberating and embracing one’s true self. In a historical context, The B-52’s emerged as post-punk heroes who liberated outsiders to take center stage on the dance floor and dance all the anxieties and troubles away. Sure, the lyrics are often nonsensical and abstract, but their music represents rock music at its most experimental and fun. The B-52’s’ music spoke to the outsiders because the members themselves considered themselves outsiders. In an ever-inclusive political and social environment where people feel likes outsiders living in a mainstream world, The B-52’s’ music liberated millions of listeners to self-discovery and see the world from a totally different prospective. That’s part of the reason why their music sounds so timely and fresh after all these years. Instead of performing songs in a doom-and-gloom style, The B-52’s embraced their quirkiness and created upbeat songs with positive messages and good vibes.
In terms of a potential Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction, The B-52’s should be a no-brainer. They are one of many bands who brought New Wave music to the mainstream in the late 70s and early 80s and their roots to the American South made them stand out from their peers. They also helped gain more representation for LGBT musicians in rock music and paved the way for artists to embrace and discover their true identities (regardless of gender and sexual orientation). The fact most of the members identified as queer is almost an afterthought when considering their legacy. Sure, they are historically significant as queer music icons who challenged the heteronormative structure of rock and roll, but there is so much more to their musical legacies. In the universe of The B-52’s, it doesn’t matter if the listener is straight or gay, black or white, fat or skinny, as long as everyone is treated equally and simply having a good time. That’s all that counts in the world of The B-52’s. Their songs often spoke for individuals on the margins of society and/or those who identify as loners and outsiders.
Interviewed back in 2008, Fred Schneider discussed his band’s Rock Hall chances. Eligible since 2004, he argues The B-52’s “created our own genre” and originality and innovation should be one of the major benchmarks for induction. He mentions touring with the likes of Blondie, Talking Heads, and Pretenders--all Hall of Famers--and ponders when his band’s time will come. He concludes: “We should have been in four years ago.” There’s little to argue against Schneider’s remarks, especially considering very few bands can claim to be complete originals and fundamentally impact the history of rock and roll as The B-52’s did. Although they have never officially appeared on a HOF ballot, they have been “previously considered” by the Nominating Committee, so there is a strong possibility they appear on a ballot in any given year. With the recent inductions of alternative mainstays The Cure, Roxy Music, and Radiohead, The B-52’s and other New Wave pioneers have a legitimate shot to receive a Hall of Fame induction. But who knows with this non-transparent institution.
2019 is a significant year in the band’s history: their debut album turns 40, their comeback smash Cosmic Thing turns 30, and they will embark on a summer tour supported by O.M.D. and Berlin. At the same time, someone on the Nominating Committee (Tom Morello, Questlove, and Dave Grohl???) needs to push hard for their inclusion. Momentum appears to be on the side of The B-52’s and they are long, long overdue for an official Rock Hall nomination. One of the most subversive, unique, and exciting bands to ever come out of the U.S., they are underground legends who fundamentally and positively changed the landscape of rock music without sacrificing their artistic vision. Without The B-52’s’ enshrinement in Cleveland, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame are living in their own private Idaho.
