History Music / TheB52s

* WritingAroundTrademarks : The band had a somewhat notorious issue with a former manager and label so have had to change their name on a couple of occasions. They were credited as "The BC-52's" for their recordings of "Meet The Flintstones" and "The Bedrock Twitch" that they did for The Flintstones movie soundtrack, as the band and their name were held by Warner, but the soundtrack was recorded for MCA. Years later, they removed the apostrophe from their name so that they could release "Funplex" on Astralwerks.

* ClipShow: The offical music video of "Rock Lobster" is a mishmash of many things, such as scenes from the "Song for a Future Generation", "Legal Tender", and "Girl from Ipanema Goes to Greenland" videos, stock footage from old movies, stop-motion animated clips of the band's logo, and an early live performance of the song. "Roam" features the band singing, dancing and generally goofing around superimposed over Magazine/NationalGeographic stock footage.

I got me a Chrysler, it sits about 20...''

* IntercourseWithYou: "Strobe Light", "Good Stuff", "Deviant Ingredient," "Roam," and "Love in the Year 3000."
* {{Instrumentals}}: "Work That Skirt", "Follow Your Bliss", and "The World's Green Laughter" and "Return To Dreamland".

** The band have said that "Dirty Back Road" is about doing it doggy style.

* WalkingTheEarth: "Roam" is all about this.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Who knew that B-52's had stealth capabilities? Every. Single. One. of their albums have a completely raunchy subtext somewhere, but to date ''none'' of them carry a Parental Advisory label. They are careful to never actually swear on record, though they have done so in unreleased demos (Funplex for instance, had "here's your stupid 7-UP" as "[[PrecisionFStrike here's your fucking 7-Up]]" before it was changed for the final version).

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Who knew that B-52's had stealth capabilties? Every. Single. One. of their albums have a completely raunchy subtext somewhere, but to date ''none'' of them carry a Parental Advisory label. They are careful to never actually swear on record, though they have done so in unreleased demos (Funplex for instance, had "here's your stupid 7-UP" as "[[PrecisionFStrike here's your fucking 7-Up]]" before it was changed for the final version.)

The B-52s are a [[NewWaveMusic New Wave]] Band out of Athens, Georgia, which later became the same birthplace of Music/{{REM}}. They're most well-known for their delibaretly camp, colorful image, quirky SciFi-themed songs and beehive hairdos worn by the female members (hence the name).

The B-52s are a [[NewWaveMusic New Wave]] Band out of Athens, Georgia, which later became the same birthplace of Music/{{REM}}. They're most well-known for their quirky SciFi-themed songs and beehive hairdos worn by the female members (hence the name).

* ClipShow: The offical music video of "Rock Lobster" is a mishmash of many things, such as scenes from the "Song for a Future Generation", "Legal Tender", and "Girl from Ipanema Goes to Greenland" videos, stock footage from old movies, stop-motion animated clips of the band's logo, and an early live performance of the song. "Roam" features the band singing, dancing and generally goofing around superimposed on NationalGeographic stock footage.

* ClipShow: The offical music video of "Rock Lobster" is a mishmash of many things, such as scenes from the "Song for a Future Generation", "Legal Tender", and "Girl from Ipanema Goes to Greenland" videos, stock footage from old movies, stop-motion animated clips of the band's logo, and an early live performance of the song.

The B-52s are a [[NewWaveMusic New Wave]] Band out of Athens, Georgia, the same birthplace of Music/{{REM}}. They're most well-known for their quirky SciFi-themed songs and beehive hairdos worn by the female members (hence the name).

** "Dry County", despite the title, is not about alcohol. It's actually about depression after losing Ricky, and the change in lifestyle that came from his loss. Keith in particular spent every day with him for over 15 years, well before the band formed, hence the 'nothing to do'.
** The band's first album, which is [[SelfTitledAlbum self-titled]], is often mistaken as being called ''High Fidelity'' due to this phrase appearing in the upper-lefthand corner of the cover. This was actually placed there to mimic labels on older album sleeves.

* TheSeventies: Formed in '78, released their debut album in '79.

* SixthRanger: Keith Bennett (Cindy's boyfriend and eventual husband), was also Ricky's guitar tech and toured with the group throughout their early years, as well as being their lead archivist.

* Kate Pierson performed guest vocals on three Music/{{REM}} songs, most famously "Shiny Happy People".

* ArtShift: Due to ''Bouncing Off The Satellites''' TroubledProduction, the parts of songs that Ricky Wilson was unable to play on were filled out by Keith Strickland, who uses more guitar effects and is less rhythmic. To make matters more confusing a guitarist named Tom Beckerman plays on some tracks but it's not mentioned which ones. Also the album was filled out with two solo songs, on which neither of them play. "Juicy Jungle" was a Fred Schneider solo song and features John Cote and Mark Mazur on guitar. "Housework" was a Kate Pierson solo song and features Tim Rollins and Adey Wilson on guitar. The Fairlight CMI heavy production masks the considerably different production in songs, but it is jarring to know that the album has 7 different guitarists on it.

* CoolCar: Fred describes one in "Love Shack": "I got me a car, it's as big as a whale..."/"I got me a Chrysler, it sits about 20..."
** Also in "Planet Claire": "She drove a Plymouth Satellite/faster than the speed of light!"

* DuctTapeForEverything: Ricky Wilson was known for his duct tape guitar strap.
* EarlyBirdCameo: Keith Strickland plays some of the guitar on ''Bouncing Off The Satellites'' in order to finish the songs that the late Ricky Wilson was unable to play on. Keith later became their full guitarist from ''Cosmic Thing'' onwards. This fact is barely mentioned due to the fact that the band have not said much about ''Satellites''. Much earlier, he played guitar on the band's first (unrecorded) jam session, "Killer Bees", whilst Ricky played bongos. Keith asked Ricky to play lead guitar for the band because he felt he was more innovative, and Keith also had learned drums. Keith also played some guitar parts on ''Whammy!'', notably the slide parts on "Work That Skirt". His presence on that album was not as big due to the band using drum machines on the tracks.

* OlderThanTheyLook: All the current members are over sixty years old, but none of them look it. Special mention going to Kate who's 70 but looks like she's in her mid-forties.

* RefrainFromAssuming: "Dry County", despite the title, is not about alcohol. It's actually about depression after losing Ricky, and the change in lifestyle that came from his loss. Keith in particular spent every day with him for over 15 years, well before the band formed, hence the 'nothing to do'.
* RepurposedPopSong: "Junebug" was used in a Target commercial. They also used the intro to "52 Girls".

* UnusualEuphemism: "Strobe Light" has one: "Then I'm gonna kiss your tummy/Then I'm gonna kiss your pineapple!"

* VocalTagTeam: Fred Schneider, Kate Pierson, and Cindy Wilson.

* WastedSong: "Ain't It A Shame" is routinely cited as the great hit single that never was, and might have been had it not been for the lack of promotion behind "Bouncing Off The Satellites". The song has somewhat been VindicatedByHistory as Music/SineadOConnor covered it, it appeared on "Nude On The Moon" and Cindy has performed it live on solo tours.

Hello, I'm Cindy, I'm a Pieces\\

Hi, my name is Ricky and I'm a Pieces\\

Hey, I'm Kate and I'm a Tarus\\

* LongRunnerLineUp: Type 5; the current lineup of Strickland, Schneider, Pierson and Wilson has lasted since 1996, after Cindy Wilson rejoined the band (see TheBusCameBack above). The classic lineup of Strickland, Schneider, Pierson and the ''two'' Wilsons missed being a type 1 by 4 years (1979-1985).

* BasedOnADream: The group used this on a number of occasions:
** The group's name and image was taken from a dream Keith had, in which he witnessed a group called The B-52's fronted by two singers with beehive hair.
** After Ricky's death, multiple members of the group had eeriely similar dreams about him talking to them in a city by the sea. They felt that these were visions and wrote the song "Topaz".
** A few years later, Keith wrote "Dreamland" about dreaming about Ricky and others who had died, and felt that this tied into the Aborigine concept more commonly known as "Dreamtime", where loved ones who have died move to live forever. Keith felt some closure in the idea that his own dreams were a window into this place.
** Cindy dreamt about Ricky again in the early 2000s, although he did not speak to her in the dream. Her experiences led her to write the unreleased solo song "Ricky".

** WordOfGod is that the weird ululating noises the girls make towards the end of "Rock Lobster" are an homage to Music/YokoOno. Music/JohnLennon [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome recognized this when he heard the song]], felt the world was "ready" for him and Yoko's music, and it helped inspire them to return to recording together by 1980.

* TheBandMinusTheFace: Two examples: