Listening to the B-52s in high school wasn’t cool, yet we did it anyway. I’m guilty of jamming to the bouncy guitar and the frenzied keyboards as well as the nonsensical lyrics. Twenty-five years later, I still get the same vibe from listening to them.

After the moderate success of their debut record (with “Rock Lobster”), the quintet from Athens, Georgia followed up with Wild Planet, featuring the crossover hit, “Private Idaho”.

First of all, it’s a great record. Unlike some of the other corporate and contrived progressive punk of the time, this album was playful and fun. It kicks off with “Party Out Of Bounds,” a track about party crashers with the great twangy guitar of Ricky Wilson, and then into “Dirty Back Road” with the sweet harmonies of Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson. It makes you want to drive out to the country and have a few beers on the hood of your car.

Fred Schneider has the vocals on most of the other tracks, including “Runnin’ Around” and “Strobe Light,” while the ladies do a great job with “Give Me Back My Man” and great backing on “Devil In My Car.”

The track “Quiche Lorraine” is a brooding song about a boy, his poodle, and the great Dane his dog leaves him for. It’s the B-52s; it’s not supposed to make sense. But it will make you smile and want to bop around. The album ends with the ladies singing “53 Miles West Of Venus” to a nice guitar riff and great keyboards and synth.

The B-52s released several other albums in the 80s and early 90s, but, sadly, co-founder Wilson passed away in 1985. Fred, Kate and Cindy hit it big with “Love Shack” in 1989, and every once in a while they tour, or host a huge party in Georgia.

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