Party band extraordinaire The B-52s next week will release their first-ever live album — the 18-track With the Wild Crowd! Live in Athens, Ga., recorded in the group’s hometown this past February — and the folks at Universal Music Group have provided us with three copies of the disc to award to lucky Slicing Up Eyeballs readers.
The disc — see the tracklist below — will be released Monday in Europe and Tuesday in the U.S. by Eagle Rock Entertainment, and was recorded at a show commemorating the 34th anniversary of the band’s first-ever live performance on Valentine’s Day in 1977. It also will be released on DVD and Blu-ray in 2012, according to the band.
To enter, drop a comment below naming your favorite B-52s song and explaining why you love it. We’ll accept entries, from anywhere in the world, through 12 p.m EDT Friday, Oct. 21. After that point, we’ll select three winners at random and contact them via e-mail — so please remember to use a legit e-mail address when you enter, or you can’t claim your prize. Good luck.
Tracklist: The B-52s, With the Wild Crowd! Live in Athens, Ga.
1. “Pump”
2. “Private Idaho”
3. “Mesopotamia”
4. “Ultraviolet”
5. “Give Me Back My Man”
6. “Funplex”
7. “Whammy Kiss”
8. “Roam”
9. “52 Girls”
10. “Party Out Of Bounds”
11. “Love In The Year 3000”
12. “Cosmic Thing”
13. “Hot Corner”
14. Band Intros
15. “Love Shack”
16. “Wig”
17. “Planet Claire”
18. “Rock Lobster”
My favorite B-52’s song still has to be ‘Love Shack’…it’s such a fun song and no matter when or where it comes on, you always sing to it. It’s also one of my signature karaoke songs (so much so that my nickname is now ‘LoveShack’..haha! Great fun!!
My Own Private Idaho is my fav tune. Not only is a great song, it really showcases Ricky’s signature guitar style.
“Planet Claire” will always be my favourite, it’s the first one I heard back in the very late 70’s, and it just kept getting better.
“Legal Tender” stocked it full of jelly jars, and heavy equipment!
Deadbeat Club—what a brilliant song: Upbeat and sarcastic—everything a B 52’s song needs to be :)
“Rock Lobster”, 75% for that guitar solo and the other 25% because if listened to judiciously, it can be just as fun and vibrant as when it was released. I’m going to go listen to it right now as a matter of fact.
Boys in bikinis –
girls in surfboards
“Private Idaho” for me too. For me its the track where all the elements of the B-52s’ sound really click!
“Give Me Back My Man” is my favorite B-52’s song because of Cindy’s INCREDIBLE vocal performance.
“Song for a Future Generation” Great medley and zodiac signs!
“52 Girls” is my favorite, because it was the first B-52’s song that I heard back in the mid-80’s. I was accustomed to all of the radio 80’s songs with big production, but I loved how the first B-52’s album sounded like it had been recorded in a small garage. Those songs have an amazing randomness to them, as if the band just threw anything and everything on the wall to see what stuck.
My favorite B’52 song is “Planet Claire” I love Kate’s increible singing on that track and its danceability. It would be awesome if I win this, I drove all the way to Athens from New Jersey to be at this show, it was an unforgetable night
I still have a special place in my heart for “Rock Lobster”… saw them this past summer opening up for the go-go’s and they’re still a blast…
in related news, a dvd & blu ray of the concert that’s being released on cd is coming in early 2012 (according to their web site!)
Private Idaho!
Me & my friends used to cruise the beach in the summer, top down and radio blaring! What a band, thanks for so many groovy memories!!
The 80’s is my favorite music decade, and the B-52s got me interested with songs like Rock Lobster and Private Idaho, but their EP Mesopotamia had me hooked for good. Every song was unique and awesome in its own way, from the powerful Loveland to Nip it in the Bud. If I had to pick a favorite, it would be tough, but I would have to choose Mesopotamia. 6 or 8 thousand years ago, THEY LAID DOWN THE LAW!!!
I don’t really “love” anything by the B-52’s, but I find “Rock Lobster” to be quite enjoyable from time to time. Mainly I just wanna do Kate and Cindy. Together, if at all possible.
My favorite B-52’s song… Wow, impossible question!! For now, I’ll say “52 Girls”. I never get tired of that song. Their first album is my favorite, and “52 Girls” is a very good song. It’s upbeat, fast paced, and Kate & Cindy are fantastic singers. I also love “6060842”, “There’s A Moon In The Sky (Called The Moon)”, and every other B-52’s song. Fred Schneider’s silly antics and singing style is funny. I love… Ok, i just love The B-52’s. I can also relate to their lyrics, you know. They have really good lyrics. Half of their lyrics, at least, are about science or space or stuff like that. ok, ok i’ve said too much.
My favorite B-52 song has to be “Rock Lobster” simply because it’s the first song I remember hearing live. I can’t even tell you how old I was but all I remember is sitting on my dad’s shoulder, watching the strut around on stage and Kate Pierson’s red hair hair glowing in the sun and that song hitting my ears.
‘Hero Worship’. Great song about obsessing over a guy. “I preserve it…and he deserves it!”
Give Me Back My Man . It was so awesome on the turntable in the ’80’s. The stereo separation on the tune was amazing.
“Dance This Mess Around” is my favorite because when it is played in the car, the whole family sings it together.
It’s a predictable answer, but ‘Rock Lobster’ still has to be my favourite: a track that really hasn’t aged, which is one of my criteria for judging a great song.
Roam, because it summed up how I felt when it came out, always loved playing it when I deejayed too
Quiche Lorraine is one of my absolute favs. I don’t have a really good reason, I just <3 it. Peace!
Rock Lobster. It was the 1st song that I ever heard by them.
Planet Claire because I too used to drive a Plymouth Satellite!
“Quiche Lorraine” because is the name of a dog!
Mesopotamia. Great groove.
Mine is ‘There’s A Moon In The Sky (Called the Moon)’ because the title makes me chuckle.
Private Idaho. Don’t even try not to sing along…impossible.
Wig! Used to play it on my college radio show all the time. :)
52 Girls…………Becuase it makes me feel like an amazing space creature from another galaxy!
I know how to spell Because…just in a hurry
Is that you MO-Dean??????? I love that song and my goodness is Kate Peirson as hot as ever!!!
“give me back my man” music + cindy’s vocals make it perfect.
a b52’s “jolene”
So many to choose from, from one of my favorite Rock N Roll bands, who in my humble opinion sum up what rock n roll is all about: Blowing the roof off the place, getting down, and just getting silly and having fun. I choose Planet Claire for this reason: It is the first song on the first album, the beginning of over two decades of feeling the Love from The B52’s, and making me dance and get crazy over and over again. Love you guys!!!
Dance This Mess Around. Reminds me of being in Athens in the mid 80’s at UGA.
Party Gone Out of Bounds….perfectly captures their sound and spirit.
Channel Z – fabulous song off the great (and very mainstream) Cosmic Thing album. Completely eclipsed by the seismic success of follow-up (?) single Love Shack…
“Dance This Mess Around”. I think it may have been the first B-52’s song I heard and I was immediately taken with how Fred could sing without really having much of a singing voice. That alone made this a great song!
Ooh…that is hard to pick just ONE favorite. But I would have to say I have a special fondness for “She Brakes For Rainbows”. The song has always touched me, and will make me tear up from time to time.)
“Private Idaho” 1980… This, among a few others, defined New Wave for me. Had a B52s button on my denim jacket.
They have never topped “Rock Lobster”. No matter where you are, no matter who is around, it makes any party better.
Whammy Kiss. Loved hearing it live a few years back.
I really love ‘Dance This Mess Around’. Really captures all those feelings of adolescent anxiety/sexual frustration for me!
“Quiche Lorraine” – WOW – what a song!!! especially the live version is excellent!!!!! kicks me back in time
There’s A Moon In The Sky (and it’s called the Moon). Heard it the first time over the P.A. before a Talking Heads show. My personal favorite off the first album.
I really like “Ain’t It a Shame”.
Love the B52’s original and Sinead O’Connor’s cover.
Planet Claire without a doubt. That song became my fave when I saw them at the Fabulous Fox theater on Halloween (in 89 or 90) Love Tractor opened – Great show!
It’s ‘Love Shack’ of course. Perfect party song.
Gotta go with Private Idaho. It’s probably the song that first got me in to the band. I’ve heard it thousands of times and I still love it. Dirty Back Road is excellent too.
Devil in my Car is my fave, because it wasn’t overplayed, plus it contains the melody, harmony, humour, contrasting vox, and twangy guitar I know and love from the band. It’s still funny, after all of these years and all the spins.
Roam… it’s become an anthem for our travels and spurs us on to want to explore the rest of the world. Hip to hip and lips to lips…
Love Shack- it was the jam of 89 !
I have to go with “She Brakes For Rainbows”. The song and the album are underrated and (as evidenced by the tracklisting) completely absent from the live album, which is a tragedy. Critics and fans alike agree BOTS is their worst album… but then post-Cosmic Thing perhaps people changed their minds on that. Personally, I love almost all of BOTS. “Juicy Jungle” I could do without, and “Wig” makes me want to punch somebody in the neck, but otherwise, it’s a huge album and needs more love.
Ah, I love everything they’ve done. Funplex was a great surprise. Oddly one of my faves is Whammy!, I can’t listen to Butterbean without turning the dial to 11. Just saw them recently and they rocked the house – a fantastic live band.
I have to go listen to Butterbean now that I brought it up!
Planet Claire, reminds me of a simplier time!
Rock Lobster – when released, tempered racial divides, divergent cultural and social tastes, and on the platform of the common language of music – and previously unheard sound of Rock Lobster – brought people together to listen, dance, and sing!
This is not easy for me, I’ll have to say “Girl From Ipanema”. I was ready to say “She Brakes for Rainbows”, but Matt beat me to it! Summer of love is such a great album. Please note that I play all of them on my show! (I just play Girl from Ipanema a bit more often!)
“Private Idaho” was the first song I ever loved. Posted it on my eclectic list of favorite 80s songs at http://marc-turn-that-down.blogspot.com/
“Give Me back My Man” is my favorite right now, but I can honestly say I love them all!
this is easy….”Cake” from Mesopotamia…who DOESN’T LOVE CAKE!
Planet Claire. Just because. :)
Damn you James! “Cake” cause it cooks!!! And yes, i do have a pan the right size…
Gotta go with “Private Idaho” here. I’m a sucker for surf guitar licks, but that is just one of the cool aspects of that track. It has all of the elements of the best B-52’s songs, and everyone shines. Fred delivers a fantastic vocal, which contrasts perfectly with Kate and Cindy’s harmonies. “Rock Lobster” is an epic jam, but “Private Idaho” edges it out in my book. Perhaps because it is more concise and focused. Still sounds fresh today, and that opening guitar lick never fails to perk up the ears.
Cosmic Thing, it grooves.
It’d have to be a tossup between “Roam”, “Channel Z”, and “Song for a Future Generation”. “Roam” because I loved the video and it seems so hopeful, “Channel Z” because I loved the live version they played on SNL, and “Future Generation” because I’m Cindy, I’m a Pisces, and I like Chihuahuas and Chinese noodles.
“Cake”, because of the hilarious spoken interlude in the middle between Kate & Cindy.
“I’ve read that.”
I also have to go with ‘Private Idaho’
Favorite song eh? I’m gonna have to go with Song For a Future Generation. Just so damn funny.
Strobe Light! ‘Cause I get to hear Fred threaten to kiss my Pineapple. Shocking!
I grew up with Time Capsule for Another Generation and The Deadbeat Club has always always always been my favorite. The second thing my mother ever recorded on our first home video camera was me dancing in the living room at four years old wearing a tutu… spinning around in circles to the B-52’s.
I agree with Craig, that hands down, it’s Song For a Future Generation. The song always puts me in a good mood, I love that all five of them are on it, each getting their own part, and I love the video as well.
Oh, and Deadbeat Club rocks my world too. :-)
I agree with Craig that Song for a Future Generation is probably my favorite song. I love that all five of them are on it, that they each have singing parts, and I love the video as well.
A dear friend of mine was probably the biggest B-52’s fan. He passed away a few years ago do to Aids. He introduced me to them back in 1983 and would insist on them being played on any and all road trips. I think of him when I hear any of their songs. But “Summer of Love” has got to be the one that gives me the fondest memories. LONG LIVE THE “B’s”!!!!!
I love the Wilsons, so it is with mixed emotions that I name Good Stuff as my favorite song.
Song for a Future Generation, besides the fact that it’s a great song; but because it’s the only song that RICKY WILSON’s voice is heard when he speaks his part :)
The favorite song, Roam, speaks miles of anthems and outrageous courage. Covering the unmistakable curiosity of wanderlust fueled by adventurous levels of exploration with uprooted potential. The uncontrollable attraction of traveling out of the comfort zone to be placed in the arms of change.
I’m gonna have to go with “Devil In My Car” from Wild Planet. That song kicks major ass and it is one of the underrated jams from their back catalogue. Such a good chorus!
“Legal Tender” — I LOVE that song!!!
10…20…30 million dollars…ready to be spent!
Private Idaho… so much energy that just can’t be contained. A completely infectious song. :)
Planet Claire, because it reminds me of The Munsters and 70’s cop shows
Roam. It has a great guitar riff.
Roam, because Kate’s voice on that one is awesome!
Has to be “Dirty Back Road” for me. Used to love playing that song while cruising around rural West Virginia. What a perfect song.
I’d have to go with “Legal Tender”…it never fails to bring a smile to my face.
Somany to choose from, but I’ll choose “Strobe Light”. There isn’t a better dance song around!!!
Song For a Future Generation – I had fun learning their signs and likes, what else can I say??? Oh – and I could sing along to it.
I was a sophomore in high school when “Cosmic Thing” was released. My favorite B-52s’ song is “Deadbeat Club” as it brings me back to my high school years, with all the ackward moments, the searching on who I am, and all the other typical things during a high school experience. Talking a mile-a-minute on a caffeine buzz (caused by chocolate covered coffee beans), dancing outdoors to music that was not mainstream but found only on MTV’s Post Modern MTV and 120 Minutes (or on cassette copies of HFS from DC–I lived in Maine), and spending time with friends: “wild girls and boys going out for a big time” to Zootz in Portland or just a bonfire in Gorham. Yes, we were the Deadbeat Club and this song to this day makes me smile.
Topaz….. a perfect start and end, and wonderfulness inbetween. A close second is Whammy Kiss….. musical rocket fuel!
“Ain’t It a Shame”—gotta give some love to a rare downbeat moment in the catalog.
Rock Lobster is my favorite! It fast forwarded the sound of rock music ahead by decades. It is timeless. The Rock and Roll hall of fame named it one of the top 500 songs to change the face of rock and roll. Rock Lobster is the first song that I learned to play on the keyboard and I have been playing it in my head everyday for 25 years!
“She Brakes for Rainbows” … I’ve always had a soft spot for shy Cindy Wilson, and she sings this one with such charm. That it was written by her brother Ricky on the eve of his passing, on the last track of the last album that he appeared on, makes the wistful tone of the lyrics all the more poignant. It’s a beautiful song that is at once sad and optimistic.
Strobe Light – I loved listening this on the bus on the way to school when I was 13…made me giggle because I thought it was dirty!
My first instinct was to choose “Summer of Love” from BOTS, mainly because it was such a brave song to do right out of the gate after Ricky’s death, and it sounds great to this day. But after thinking of all the rockin’, raucous music The B-52s have put out I have to go with “Follow Your Bliss”, the closer on Cosmic Thing. A great melody, and something of a breather from the bounce-your-butt-off B-52s we know and love. The track placement on the album was a bit weird to me, but it was brilliantly played as the house music during intermission on the Cosmic Thing tour, letting you catch your breath while knowing they were going to rock your socks off again when they came back on!
Never easy to choose just one, lets go with “Party Out of Bounds” from Wild Planet. I think that album is underrated and it is the first track on that album.
I’ve always liked 52 Girls…although just about any B-52s song makes me happy.
Song For A Future Generation – I love everything about this song. The great lyrics, the backing vocals, and especially the line about liking chihuahuas and “Chinese noooooodles”.
“Planet Claire” because when Fred screams, “…but she isn’t!!!”, it gets me everytime!!! :)
Hands down (or up) it’s “Love Shack.” No matter where I am at, everytime I hear this song it reminds me of college at UGA. Athens never leaves you and everyone of us has our own “Love Shack” story.
Love Shack. Its a great dance song and its a tune that everybody can move to the groove !
Rock Lobster!!!
Been a fan since ’83. Rock Lobster is my choice. It changed my world. I love all of these subtler choices by fans. But I’ll never forget the first time I heard it, in a record store…like nothing I’d ever ever heard before. 2 years later I would be dancing to it at a dance club, with the security allowing me to dance on top of the speakers because they knew I was the “B-52 guy”. Unforgettable!
“Channel Z”. The ultimate song of the high school years…
MUH FAVORITE SONG………… AND I KNOW I NEED THAT “WHAMMY KISS”, WHATEVER YOU DO, I’M JUST PASSIN THE TIIME, TO GET, TO YOU, TO PASS, THE TIME, WITH YOUU<3 No, my fave is PRIVATE IDAHO, "ooooooooh underground like a wild potatooooo"♪♫ that's my favorite line in the song. No.. my REAL favorite is DANCE THIS MESS AROUND! It features all three singers, fantastic instrument playing and lyrics, and it's classic, wacky, zany B-52's. It's a perfect example of a B-52's song. Surprise...PAAAAAAARty, yeah we just thought we'd drop in! where's the ice box? hey where's the punch? Eww house a tosis! ..at first i thought she said "Where's the tofu" lol
Planet Claire. The opening guitar riff has a Peter Gunn vibe to it. Dangerous.
Quiche Lorriane is my all time favorite. reason is it was the first song i remember my son, as a toddler, actually laughing and singing along with, especially the part when Fred sings “sweet, sweet puppy”. Great memory!
“My Own Private Idaho” because of the soaring background harmony and Fred’s driving “Get out of that state!” singing.
“Private Idaho” is my favorite, especially the remixed version on the “Party Mix” LP. I think it’s the guitar that first made me pay attention to the tune, and as I listened to it more it grew on me. I’ve been a fan since 1980, and luckily I’ve been able to see the B’s twice. Keep on dancin’ this mess around!
HEROES FAAAAAALLLL INTOOOOOOOOO THE GROUNDDDDD, LIKE HELL’S MANGET PUULLSS MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE DOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWNNNNNNN OHH ON MY KNEES, I TRY TO PLEA-EASE♪♫♪♫ guess which song i’m thinking of? YEP, Hero Worship. She came frum Planet CLAIRE, i knew she came from there. Ook my favorite song is ..GiVe Me BACK my MAN! Featuring CINDY WILSON on VOCALS! I really love her singing, and i added her on facebook once and she was real nice.
‘Butterbean’ from the “Whammy” album has always been my favorite. they name check their hometown of Athens (which is also my hometown) and it always made me swell with pride to know that people the world over would hear this and know that we had the greatest town ever!
Give me back my man! Cindy’s soulful voice is amazing on this track! They have been my favorite band since their first appearance on SNL!
My favorite song from the B-52s is “Roam” because it makes me want to drop everything I’m doing and just drive till I find paradise.
Strobe Light. It is impossible not to dance to it. It remains exciting every time I listen to it.
“Lava” – best lyrics ever!
Easy. Dance this Mess Around. First heard it on a boombox at Sun Lakes WA while camping in the summer of 1985. I was there with my fam-fam moping around until I was saved by this gorgeous mopey young lady who just came into camp right up to me and said, “let’s go.” We buggered off for the rest of the week together with her big grey boombox with dual tapes decks and detachable speakers. She introduced me to the Femmes and Bauhaus and other great bands covered here on eyeballs, but it was the B’s that mowed me over and Dance was the one song that stood out. Even today I get a little tingly every time I hear that first breathy “Remember…” The B-52’s have been an integral part of my musical obsessions. Seeing them in Dec here in Denver. Love!Love!Love!
All right, contest is now closed. Thank you all so much for entering. Winners will be notified via e-mail.
“Love shack” was the first song I heard from them. They were totally unknown til that time here In Chile, so it was love at first sight. From now to then every people I know recognize me from being one of the most devoted fan of B.52’s.
I love Rock Lobster b/c it was the first track by the B-52’s I ever heard… and dancing while laying on the floor was a scream.
Having heard the locally released 45 of “Rock Lobster” on WBRU (Brown University radio) all the way up in Providence about a year before the LP came out, I felt like I was on the ground floor of something. While it seemed most of my fellow 16-year-olds were armpit-deep on their way to being inundated by discomania, a few of us felt we had discovered something fresh and new. Eventually, the world caught up with us.
Rock Lobster, played to me by a Canadian cousin visiting the uk who was a big fan, one of the records that opened my mind to the alternative music world.
“roam”…because it reminds me of the time when it was released and driving in the car, windows down and the tune pumping out of the stereo, and feeling free!
Love Shack! It hits and bounces while you’re on holiday, at home, walking, talking, drinking, partying,… It’s always there where you need it! ¡¡Let’s get together!!
I first heard Rock Lobster at a dance at summer camp in the mid-80s. I have such happy memories attached to it. Plus, it–like most of the B-52s songbook–makes it impossible to be in a bad move (or still!) when it’s playing.
Its hard to choose one favorite, but forced to, I pick Planet Claire because I love the slow steady build, so hypnotic, with the bongos. I remember seeing the B’s back when and how they brought such concentration to building the groove, the mood up to such a pitch of intensity, the slashing guitar with the tape on it. Just the best.
‘Quiche Lorraine”, because it’s so odd, who writes a song about a spiteful dog?