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Sunday, May 13, 2012

Mark’s Pick of the Week: Cosmic Thing by The B52’s


           
           Can you remember the songs the top 30 stations were playing on this day last year?  Are any of them still on the radio today?  To be honest I’m really not taking a stab at anyone.  I don’t listen to the radio, and I wouldn’t know.  I could take an educated guess, and say they are not, but that’s the thing with pop music: it moves fast, and forgets.  If there’s a band that you still remember even after the radio has forgotten, then you know it’s something special. 
For those of you who don’t know the B52’s (or the B52s since they dropped the ‘ from their name?  I’ll ask Fred Schneider next time I see him.) let me assure you: YOU DO.  The band saw their “Top 30” minutes of fame when this album dropped.  It contained their two most popular songs “Love Shack” and “Roam” (See I told you that you know them.)  These guys, however, had been making fantastic music for 10 years.  Alas, popularity is a fleeting thing, and other then a couple of little leaps, the band didn’t stay on the charts, and kind of feel through the cracks.  But you can't keep a good band down.
I started listening to these guys shortly after I got ears.  They’re probably my favorite new-wave band (and I grew up listening to every new-wave band my Dad could find.) These guy really do what new-wave up right.  They mix a bunch of great genres like surf-rock, dance, pop, post-punk and probably a bunch of other stuff I can’t think of at the moment.
            The song I got posted down here is not only my favorite from this album, but one of my favorite pop ballads of all time.  It tells the true story of when these guys were unemployed kid loitering around Athens, Georgia.  It’s a fantastic ode to lazy, good for nothing kids trying to havefun and not care.  Depending on your age I think it’s something everyone either has is or will experience in their live, and these guys manage to capture it so well.  Even after 30 years these guys still put on a hell of a show.


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