Arts The Underture
posted by on June 7 at 11:47 AM
Since you all loved my Tommy coverage so much (btw dunderheads: In the 7th grade, after I bought the Who album, I drove my mom, dad, and big brother completely crazy because I would not. stop. singing. “I’m a gypsy/the acid queen” over and over for about a month), I wanted to alert you to my coverage in this week’s Stranger of the greatest punk new wave band ever.
Here’ the anti-Ramones thesis statement :
It’s the Kmart barre-chord electric-guitar riffs and spat-out lyrics—”Hero Worship” and “52 Girls” are the standouts—that give the album a “we are fucking serious” octane that the “we are goofing” Ramones never matched. And it is that realization, that the B-52s were fucking serious about their monster-movie shtick, that they meant it when they sang—no, pleaded—”Don’t go on the patio, beware of the pool,” that makes their histrionic pose legitimate and beautiful.
Cat power is the greatest. She's furry and soft and pricks up her ears when we turn on the stereo.
I know what you are...but what am I?
I like the Ramones a lot, but my big problem with their progeny, particularly some of the 70s British punk bands like the Sex Pistols (another band I like) is that playing more than two or three chords per song was somehow "selling out." To them, bands like Television, the Patti Smith Group, the B-52s, or even the Cramps were not true punk because they could actually play and write music, some of it quite complex.
Ha, you think you drove your parents nuts with Acid Queen? Maybe it's entirely TMI to admit this, but I went about for YEARS singing Fiddle About more or less continually.
Awesome album - 52 Girls, Planet Claire. I loved that the record said "Play Loud" right on it. If you can somehow put the video for "Love Shack" out of your mind, it still sounds great.
I loved the Tommy review.
I thought the lyrics were:
I'm a gypsum acid-wash jeans.
Great, another childhood memory blown all to heck!
The B-52's are tragically underrated for their many achievements, from music to fashion to AIDS awareness to the environment. Just because they're The World's Greatest Party Band, nobody takes them seriously.
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