The Fabulous B52s

I met them all. Very, very nice people. Except Fred.

I love "Roam." But until this year, I thought it was by the Go-Gos.

[quote]Keith Strickland was seriously cute.

yep

Love them. The songs "She Brakes For Rainbows", "Topaz " and "Follow Your Bliss" are underrated gems imo.

"The Deadbeat Club." Oh yes.

Met Kate at the front desk of a hotel.

Heard her voice and said - HEY!

She had just been on that episode of Difficult People a day or two before.

I said that I had just seen her and thought she was great - asked if she enjoyed herself and were they nice to work with.

She was super nice and said they were great and that it was fun.

More chit chat for a bit and I had to take off.

[R4] My husband and I love Topaz, it’s the only song we both had in our ipods when we met. His wedding ring has a small topaz in it for that reason.

I just went to your link and danced to it, r2!

Saw them At the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium in Queens NY with a new band that had their first big hit called Eurythmics.

Try not to move...

Kate is a cool hotelier...

Fred is supposed to be douchey

I love their older stuff

Always had a serious crush on Keith Strickland. Met him in a Key West gay bar about 10 years ago - he couldn't have been nicer. His boyfriend was annoyed, but I guess that comes with the territory. I was stumbling over my words - total mess.

He's still a very handsome guy. That's all I got. And super kind and sweet.

Keith S lives...it's Ricky Wilson who died. Ricky was also cute.

I thought Fred had died of AIDS? Isn't he the other chick's (not Kate) brother?

It's Ricky who died. He was Cindy's brother.

There’s a fan group on Facebook that is seriously batshit . They can’t get over the fact everyone else has, that Ricky Wilson died decades ago. It’s fucking weird.

Saw them perform recently. No Keith! I felt cheated.

I absolutely love this track from 'Bouncing Off The Satellites'. So wistfully, kookily melancholic.

Flying saucers could land / And it wouldn't make much difference to my man / I could walk aboad and thank the Lord /And leave this damn town in seconds flat / Check my bags and never come back

Met them as we (and they) were checking out out of the Essex House one Sunday after they'd appeared on SNL the night before. Keith was cute, but he retired in 2012.

They had a tour bus and we spoke to them - Just "Hi, enjoy the show?" shit - as it was being loaded and we waited for the valet to bring up my car.

This Halloween they played the new Encore Boston Harbor (the way they get around saying it's actually in Everett, MA) Casino in the Picasso Ballroom.

So they were all gay except one of the girls right?

^^^yes, Cindy Wilson is the only straight one. Although nowadays she probably considers herself queer or something like that.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought Keith Strickland only retired from the touring aspect of the group.

I saw them in 2018 and again last month. They are great, and I’ve now become aware of all of their older music. Great guitar work. Cool harmonies too.

- Revolution Earth - Girl from Ipanema Goes to Greenland - Hot Stuff - Topaz - Dance This Mess Around

Cindy went to our gym in London Terrace briefly. Ain't that exciting!

Cindy sings the best songs. Fred is very nice

I don’t get why they choose to never look at the camera. Anyone know why they do that?

Conversely, I’m amazed they’ve sat for so many, many photo calls. Every week of their music lives must be archived somewhere.

One of my all time favourite bands, although I only discovered them in 1983 when they appeared on a UK tv-show when I was 11. Then Rock Lobster was reissued in the UK in 1986 and was a fairly big hit so I started buying up all their albums. I was so pleased when Cosmic Thing was such a huge success for them, but I think over all musically I prefer the Ricky Wilson era, which is much more idiosyncratic. I've met all 4 living members and Cindy and Keith certainly seem the most approachable, Keith in particular is very open to talking about the history of the band and sharing his memories of Ricky. Kate and Fred are nice too but have their off days; I don't think Keith or Cindy have off days, at least when dealing with their fans.

The most disappointing thing as fan is that there is so little material, 8 albums in 40 years is not exactly prolific, even if they are all pretty great.

I saw them live in London earlier this year and they were still great on stage, especially considering their age. Cindy even used one of my photos from the gig as her Facebook profile picture for a while, which did my ego the world of good.

I was around 10 years old when “Cosmic Thing” came out and the B-52’s became mainstream/Top 40 radio darlings with “Love Shack” and “Roam”. As a young future gayling, I was instantly drawn to their irreverent style and unique sound. My aunt and uncle, who had been part of the downtown NYC music scene in the 70’s and 80’s, introduced me to their back catalogue. For a good year or two, I tortured my parents with nonstop B-52’s. In the car, in my bedroom. I wrote a letter to their fan club telling them that they should let me join the group because I was a good musician. To this day, sometime when I’m a little stoned and in a YouTube rabbit hole, I’ll watch the video to “Song For a Future Generation” or “Legal Tender”.

This is somewhat off-topic, but does anyone know the age of Kate Pierson's wife, Monica? They seem like an age-gap couple to me, and I was just wondering if my instincts are right on that. By the way, I love age-gap couples!

In the early years, they must have had a "no smiling" policy because Kate and Cindy never, ever smiled on album covers or on those concert videos. Was it a thing?

r32- From what I've read from other massive rock fans, yes, for a time- roughly in the late 70s-80s, rock bands were mostly expected to look all serious and not smile.

Don't they, or didn't they tour quite a bit? That might explain the lack of studio output. Also, didn't Cindy take a break for awhile?

Cindy took a break from recording and touring during the "Good Stuff" album. Only Keith, Kate, and Fred worked on Good Stuff. Julee Cruise (mostly known for Falling from Twin Peaks) joined the group on tour to sing Cindy's parts from older songs.

Fred once laughed at me when I fell and skinned my knee on 7th Avenue.

Both of my Friends fucked Fred - Lets just say his dirty ass was like baby food. we laugh about it to this day. They have remained friends with him, but he is a CHEAP bastard. Fucking will not even spring for a round of drinks. last time we spoke, he was opening up a coffee company.

Your friends fucked Fred, latched onto him, laugh behind his back - and natter about Fred not buying their drinks? Wow. I’m guessing Fred knows they’re not even friends, just fucking acquaintances.

Their original look was so campy that if they had smiled they would have looked demented.

R38 LATCHED on to him? More like the other way around buddy. He's just an eccentric old man who they played with one time after a concert when everyone was drunk. You are reading way to much into this. We have all kept in touch and have gone backstage at a couple of concerts, had dinner together, etc... he had a dirty ass - get over it!

IMO Kate's solo album Guitars and Microphones is an underrated gem.

Freed gave me the once over, twice.

Is it true that "Dirty Back Roads" is about anal sex?

I've had the pleasure to be around Fred numerous times. He's always at The Laurie Beechman in Hell's Kitchen watching drag queens, specifically Tammie Brown. He comes across as a quiet and sweet older man. He loves laughing at Tammie's crazy songs.

For some odd reason, I'm FB friends with Keith (don't know him) and he's very very sweet.

R43 - I'd say so!

'Foot on the pedal Feet in the air Sand in my hair...

...you ride me'

And I think we all know what a 'dirty back road' could be.

Or maybe I've just got a filthy mind.

R41 - Cindy's solo album is really good too. Avoid Fred's Just Fred album.

I thought one of the women was a desperate fucking cunt?

Interesting how Fred became the lead singer. Granted, he gives their songs a unique sound, but he doesn't really sing.

What's that on head?

My bf and I always laugh at Fred's part in "Deadbeat Club" a wonderful song where he just flatly says the title over and over while the women sing beautifully around him. It's the most obvious display of the dynamic r48 speaks of.

I saw them in Central park a couple of months ago and Fred actually disappeared for like three songs, I thought perhaps he had died. Maybe he takes a nap in the middle of the show?

I say all of this with affection -- Fred seems like the type who can appreciate DL at its cuntiest

I saw them years ago, before the internet in Boston. Once Fred started dancing around the state, I looked at my friend and said "oh".

It’s called “Call and Response”

There was some kids show I was watching; WonderPets? YoGabbaGabba? I can’t remember. But they made a reference to black-capped chickadees and Chinese noodles and I was like “Hey! I know that one!” Must’ve been a fellow fan.

I love their music. I don't think they get enough credit for how game changing some of their earlier stuff was.

I respectfully say that Cosmic Thing should have been their final album. Not that anything they've done since was truly shiteous, but they've run out of ideas for the most part and are in the Time To Pay The Mortgage era of touring and recording.

Oh I don't know, there's some great stuff on Good Stuff and Funplex; Dreamland, Revolution Earth, Juliet Of The Spirits, Eyes Wide Open, Vision Of A Kiss. I think the two new tracks they did for the Time Capsule compilation, Debbie and Hallucinating Pluto were quite poor (especially the latter). I'd love them to open their archive and see what unreleased stuff is in the vaults. As I said upthread they're not exactly prolific but there's some good never properly released songs around on bootlegs. I'd also like to hear outtakes, the Mesopotamia version of Queen Of Las Vegas was almost a completely different song compared to the one on Whammy!.

They're also one of the few successful bands that hasn't had a CD remaster series (Cosmic Thing aside, which didn't really need it) .

I'm waiting for their new release with Grace Slick called "We Built This City On Lobster Roll".

I wonder if the guys ever had a threesome together?

Every once and a while I'll pull out Wild Planet and listen to it start to finish and it never fails to impress me. Amazing, simple, (hilarious) songs that have a deep groove and bold punch. Each and every one. Amazing production on that record.

Earth Day. 1991 Central Park. Almost front row.

People left a shitload of trash everywhere.

R57 - I think Keith and Ricky may have been partners at some point but I don't have any actual evidence. At the very least they had a gay bromance.

I'll meet you by the third pyramid.

Looks like Cindy is losing some of that weight and Keith is picking it up.

"Girl From Ipanema..." has always been my favorite B-52s song.

Mrs. Miller did it better, r63.

Met them at a Meet and Greet after a show in Cincy in 99. They headlined with the Pretenders as the 2nd act - which I thought should have been the other way around. Cindy refused to come out for the M&G and the others were bitching about her. They only perked up when I recalled their appearance on Guiding Light in the early 80's. Keith was so beautiful and Fred very quiet. Kate was the best, animated and clearly the heart of the group at that time. She and Chrissy Hynde appeared at Procter and Gamble during that week to protest animal testing.

R60, yeah I don’t know either. In past interviews, it was disclosed that Ricky only told Keith about his illness in the band. Whether that was due to a past bond, or group dynamics of personalities, who knows.

Well, B-52s pop up fairly regular on DL.

I adore the B-52s, so why not just admit you're a B-52, and give us some niblets and tea about touring please. Or a book. A nice juicy book. Like I said, you are adored and always welcome here.

I loved their campy version of the Flintstone's theme from the movie.

I’m on a road trip and listed to this excellent slate podcast about the B52s, there was a lot to their story I didn't know. They could have been much bigger but for some mismanagement/bad luck. The episode is called Deadbeat club.

R59 I was also at the central park earthday show! What a shitshow that turned out to be, it was a crush of aholes. Ended up with the Worst Sunburn of my life, edie brickell and the bohemians played too and another band I can’t recall...

"Pump" is one of my favorites.

Ricky was the true musician in that band; that boy could play! When he died they just became a camp tribute act in their 1990s revival. Now they just look grizzled and phoning it in.

They were certainly a more interesting band when Ricky was still alive. I just wish they were more prolific or they'd open up their vault.

They have a slot machine now, so there bringing in some cash from that, I guess.

Played it last week in Atlantic City...not a big payer, but the music makes it fun.

Sorry...put the link in the wrong place

(not me in the video, PS)