The B-52's - "Rock Lobster" / "52 Girls" - Original DB-52 Single (1978)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 ก.ย. 2024
- The group's first single, released by DB Records in Georgia in 1978. Both of these songs were re-recorded for their first album issued by Warner Bros. in 1979.
I can't believe this version never made it as a bonus track on reeditions of their debut album!
It did, originally. I believe it was a bonus limited edition 7” with early vinyl pressings- but my original cassette of this has thirty seconds of silence at the end of sides a and b- followed by these two gems. Still got it, but dare not play it as it’s almost worn out!
I'd like a personal explanation from the 17 people who disliked this.
Me too......
All I want is an apology.
@@alexanderburke2973 we want an explanation and apology!
i often dislike videos i actually like so they won't show up as suggested videos later.
Ignore them. They’re stupid.
I'd die a happy man if I gave the earth that RIFF, respect Ricky R.I.P.
Oh heck yeah... 🎸
.
When I first heard this at a party in 1978 I thought it stupid. But after I'd had a few drinks I loosened up and realized that something had shifted in my brain. This was a musical revolution coming out of left field.
Was it like a 'new wave' had swept over you perhaps?
I felt the same way. I was a freshman in high school when the single version first came out and I didn't like it at all. At first. Then the song started to grow on me. Then I discovered all the cute high school girls loved the song. So, that was it for me. If they loved it, I loved it too. When the album version came out a year later it went from an underground song to mainstream.
The beauty of the original version.
The fact that this exists make me overcome with joyous feelings.
Still after 46 years this remains red hot 👍🏻❤️🙏🏻😺 just love it. Still keeping me young
I will never forget the first time the Dj popped this on between bands. We all freaked and ran over and said who the fuck is this.....
Ricky kills the guitar 🎸 💯🤪
Love the higher key and slightly faster pace and "dry" drums, especially in 52 girls. This single version is a gem, thanks !
I had this record in 1978 before the first album came out - had never heard a more FUN song - and I wore the vinyl out!!!
...and I recall one of the instruments on Rock Lobster was a smoke alarm
My boyfriend and I drove into Cleveland to Drome Records to pick up our reserved copies the day this gem was released in 1978. Still have my copy. I want to be buried with it. :D
@@TheFuzzieWuzzie " Are you serious ? Fuzzie Wuzzie was a woman ? "
me too
still trying to wear the vinyl out today
Grew up on the west side of Atlanta. I was 11 in the summer 1978 and loved this song. Even in Atlanta in 1978 this was not mainstream. As I recall, the only place to hear this on the radio back then was 88.5 WRAS (Album 88).
YES, Album 88!!! I LOVE the Georgia music show on Sunday nights-that's where I first heard the B=52's. That brings back some memories!
The B's are my favorite band!
I first heard it played at the Great Southeast Music Hall on Lindbergh in between the acts. It blew me away! I was there for Freddie Hubbard- so different than the acts I came to hear!
This version of 52 Girls is amazing, blows the album version away.
Yes!!!
Girls' singing is sheer and absolute beauty.
Wish they’d put this version of Rock Lobster on Spotify !
I was today years old when I found out this version existed! Went down a Wikipedia wormhole. These versions are really great; I especially love 52 Girls. Ricky Wilson was a guitar genius. His tunings sound like a guitar and a bass at the same time.
Magnifique version..
FAN since 1985
Et pour toujours
Just F.A.B.!!!! Actually a bit fresher than the album versions, which I adore! Amazing how developed the songs already were, not much changed, just a bit of polish.
🎸 Nothing like the B's first time appearing into the scene. Ricky's guitar playing was there secret weapon sound. 🙋♂️ Class of '83!
OMG, I'm dying!! Never heard these!
I'm loving every second of these versions ❤️💜💙💚💛
yeah read about this single, never heard it so
thanks for the upload!
there is also a b/w video of a early concert
in a club that was I think before they did the album.
it is here on youtube as at max in KC and live in athens 1978
Yes! Both versions are amazing.
LOVE IT! I have this single too and have always liked to confound my friends by playing it at parties. Welcome alt versions to overplayed album versions. Rich, deep vinyl bass and perfectly naive. I found the it w/ dustsleeve at Salvation Army 17 years ago; I was LUCKY!
I first heard (and danced) to this at a house party in 1981 and remember asking who it was by, because I was so mesmerized by it.
The studio (album version) video is still, for me, one of the most exciting musical experiences EVER to this day, but I prefer this original audio even better, because of Ricky's brilliant twang and Fred's extra 'fish' references! Thank you very much for posting this, because I had forgotten all about this version and haven't heard it since that house party..
...and this version of Rock Lobster is 'tighter' and faster than the album version The B side is brilliant too.
Rock Lobster always reminds me of a B-Horror film that someone like Ed Wood would have made.
Any movie makers out there game.
Your comment reminded me of "Do the Jellyfish" from the movie "Sting of Death." I agree, it sounds like it could be in a B-Horror film.
I love this version of 52 Girls
Pure gold, this is on my 100 best songs ever!!
Ditto to R Na. I'll go out on a limb and say this is one of the greatest independent recordings ever.
I have this single too! I remember ordering it from Trouser Press through mail order because they recommended this band way back then. It one of my most treasured possessions. Always hoped it might be worth something one day!
I used to have that single but what a greatly, underrated band. You hear surf rock with spaghetti western movie guitar. Girl group vocals that metamorphize into Yoko Ono vocals. Nino Rota soundtrack music jams with Ennio Morricone. Some like to play it off as simple "dance rock orientated new wave music." But the substance here absolutely blows away all the bloated Foreigner, Boston, Styk music of the times. Some of the very best, unique music, maybe along with Pere Ubu and Devo during this time.
Well said 👍🏻
Wow! This is sooo priceless! Thanks a lot for giving us the opportunity to listen to something so rare and precious!
this shreds so fucking hard
One of the craziest, funkiest, up beat recordings of all times! It always sound fresh and new. But I find the album version of 52 girls more exciting
OMG. WOW. they clearly plugged the bass and guitars directly into the board, probably a 4 track. it sounds like the Feelies first album. RAD ! i can imagine them recording this in a dorm :D
I love the B-52s, BEST and my favorite band ever. This version is actually the one I first heard. Faster, maybe better than later versions, but hey this is the greatest dance/party band ever. A concert with 52 girls has a guy immortalised as he sings along with the band, easily overheard a little off key but great for a LIVE experience. I like their concert versions better than studio in many cases. FWIW, I'm a Classical music buff, Vivaldi, Bach, etc but I SO LOVE the B-52s.
So glad this exists here. Thanks for posting it
very cool, I danced the Lobster day by day at the age of 20 - & now (45 !) I first time listen these brilliant versions. THX !
The eternal Rock Lobster, what a piece of genius! I would shoot for Planet Claire and Lava as my next faves. Their early stuff is much more pleasing for me.
I love the extra sea critters, their sounds are the best ever!
Nothing beats the singles, ever.
A lot more sea life in this version.
I love a lot the original songs!! Thx
first time i heard rock lobster i thought it said "pa's satanic butter"
thanks so much for posting these, they still make me get up and groove
Thanks for posting this rarity!
Thanks for the upload. A friend had a copy of this back in 78 and I've been trying to find it lately. I remember that both songs were quite different then the album version.
Its on a cd called Time Life sounds of the 70s punk and New Wave
This is so good. Those versions are so much better than what ended up on the '79 album
WOW Thanks for this RARE document, and a big hi from Paris, France !
I miss that bass piece on the last part of Rock Lobster......gives it that extra oomph
i like this version better than the final cut. It's a masterpiece.
my 80s idols
@kocrock Very sad, and he was so private about it even his sister didn't know he was dying. I always dug a bunch of their songs, but one of my favorites is still "Summer of Love", and I used to think it was about him. Now I doubt it, but it's still a great song, just like these two. RIP Ricky Wilson.
Forever b-52's
this song fukn rocks, can't believe i never heard this till the last few years, amazing one of my all time faves
Thanks for posting this 🙂😉♥️♥️♥️
@kocrock ricky wilson was the freaking man! he had some of the all time best guitar riffs!
smashbeans ~ he couldn’t read music, either. It was all up in his head. He had a guitar tech (Cindy’s husband) who would tune his guitar for him, and then Ricky would tweak the tunings to a range that only he could hear. Such a shame he had to be one of the first famous people to die of AIDS. :(
I love the layered riffs that back track on each other. 👍🏾
Cindy's husband's name is Keith Bennett. Funny thing is they met at the very first B-52s show on Valentine's Day 1977, then Bennett went on to become Ricky's guitar tech with virtually no experience; maybe that helped matters a bit.
Thnx for uploading this.
4:39 "52 Girls"
Thank you sir
j'adore cette version!!!
Thanks for the upload
yeah read about this single, never heard it so thanks for the upload! there is also a b/w video of a early concert in a club that was I think before they did the album.
.
it is here on youtube as at max's in KC and live in athens 1978
Whoa it went yoko for a second! This is awesome!
unicorns and rainbows and chicken and stars you mean the opposite. Lennon was a huge fan of the B52s, as was Yoko obviously, and this is where she picked up that style
No, Lennon was impressed that the B52s sounded like Yoko. This song (Rock Lobster) prompted him to go back into the studio to record "Double Fantasy"!
Rauce Powers Yoko was making these types of sounds years before the B52s ever made their first recordings. When John heard Rock Lobster he called Yoko and said “Yoko! They’ve finally caught up with us!” Or something to that effect. Lol
Rauce Powers this is from a Mike Douglas show in February 1972. Just listen.
th-cam.com/video/ZbGuxGGOIV0/w-d-xo.html
What a vision they had. 45 years later it still sounds odd
I heard the A-side once on the Dr. Demento show. I put these and the remakes in my B-52's playlist. Thanks for the upload!
awesome single. Still rules
masterful!!!!
Great!!!!!!!! long life to Rock!!
So cool, thanks for sharing it.❤❤❤
SHAMELESS THRIFT STORE ROCK!!!!
I don't know what this means but I like the sound of the words.
this is the jam
I like these versions better tbh!
On my top 10 songs
These are the versions I know best, because I grew up with my dad's single. These are better IMO, but I do love that first album. Playing along with the album is how I learned music (on bass).
Bleeding magnifique
Many thanks. The original version (studio one) of one of the best songs of all the times. I think it was Rolling Stone /(magazine) who says the same. Of course, the album/cd version is better.
I
#52 Girls# !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!These are the girls of the U.S.A.!!
Wow, this is so frickiń great!!!
In my opinion both these versions are better than the ones they went with.
I had this record and played it 24/7- my older sister came home from NYU for summer vaction and couldn't stand it and one day tossed it against my bedroom wall and it shattered into a 100 pieces - summer of 79'
Typical. Mothers, sisters, wives, and girlfriends are all the same. If you have something that they don’t like, they feel it’s perfectly all right to break it or throw it away when you’re not home. Imagine what would happen if you did that to them.
Voices of the future past.
Love it
Woooo!
ROCK LOBSTER!
The feel and groove of the faster Rock Lobster here is fantastic, more unified than in the famous version, but the dry, in-your-face lead vocal lacks a bit of character to my ears and the mix is a bit off. The drums are really to the forefront and Cindy and Kate's backing vocals are buried (until the "Yoko Ono" section, where it's actually better than the later recording). I ultimately love the epic nature of the latter version. I've often called it the new wave Bohemian Rhapsody.
52 Girls, on the other hand -- I've got to agree with most of the comments below -- it's superior to the album version. Absolutely spectacular!
Hadn't heard either of these versions before. They sound great. Might try and pick up the 7".
Trivia for this early single: this earlier version makes it a bit more obvious about Ricky's string gauges for Rock Lobster - the later half of the riff is louder because he had uneven string tension.
He used .058, .056, empty, empty, .018p, and .018p strings. Tune to CFxxFF. That's a very weird string gauge setup and tuning, but it works. Normally, if you had a string set of thick strings, the bottom two would be .056 and .044 or similar gauges. The top two would be .017 and .013.
The later album version is in 445 hz.
As for 52 Girls, this one differs from the later album version. This early version (and also an early live version that I'll link at the bottom here) has Ricky's parts starting on a C#5 power chord, and the album version starts on an A5 power chord. They lowered Ricky's guitar parts by 4 notes for the later versions.
However, Kate's guitar doesn't seem to sound much different in the same song? I'd have to examine this more closely to figure that out, I haven't written out every note of this to see how much they differ.
And here's the early live version that I mentioned earlier:
th-cam.com/video/1EcRzUSlpz8/w-d-xo.html
Cool !!
Prety " original" really good sound, and good vocals.
very nice
I remember Dr. Demento playing this version.
This version is a little faster than the re-recorded version for the bands first album. I have a single of that version.
lets dance this mess around hell yeah
@juwbone I heartily agree with you! I love disorienting my friends by spinning this version for them while djing. They dance that much harder!
Very good song from the address of P O Box 1906 Athens Georgia 2001
Write them! They'll love to hear from you...
I wonder if this original version was the one that John Lennon heard and liked or if it was the re-recorded version
oh this is the hardest song so heavy
Kicky.
I happier today..
The organ is a bit more nicely abrasive on this original version than the album track - tight
I think Rock Lobster was improved by slowing it down a little on the second recording, but this 52 Girls is definitive.
Let's roooock!
Motion in the Ocean :)