“Rock Lobster,” the first single ever released by the self-described “tacky little dance band” from Athens, Ga., quickly launched the B-52s into music stardom.
That was 40 years ago.
“It was a cool song but nobody had any idea that it would last that long or be part of American culture.”
– Cindy Wilson
The B-52s to me always seemed like the rock band version of a John Water’s movie. Pop culture, 1950s sci-fi, beehive hairdos, big old American cars with fins.
Rock Lobster inspired John Lennon to record again
Lennon told the story in his last-ever interview with Rolling Stone magazine:
“I was at a dance club one night in Bermuda. Upstairs, they were playing disco, and downstairs I suddenly heard ‘Rock Lobster’ by the B-52s for the first time. Do you know it? It sounds just like Yoko’s music, so I said to meself, ‘It’s time to get out the old ax and wake the wife up!'”
After taking a five-year hiatus from music, John and Yoko get back into the recording studio and the result was their collaborative album, Double Fantasy.
I remember “Private Idaho” being one of the funnest dance songs at the time. And of course a few albums later “Love Shack” become a monster hit.