Rock Lobster

Last updated

"Rock Lobster"
Rock Lobster - B-52s.jpg
Warner Bros. vinyl rerelease
Single by the B-52's
from the album The B-52's
B-side
Released
  • April 1978
  • July 1979 (re-release)
RecordedFebruary 1978 [1]
Studio
  • Stone Mountain Studios, Atlanta, Georgia, US [2]
  • Compass Point, Nassau, Bahamas (re-release) [3]
Genre
Length3:57 (radio edit)
4:52 (single)
6:49 (album)
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
The B-52's singles chronology
"Rock Lobster"
(1978)		"Planet Claire"
(1979)
Music video
"Rock Lobster" on YouTube

"Rock Lobster" is a song by American band the B-52's, written by Fred Schneider and Ricky Wilson, two members of the B-52's. It was twice recorded and released as a single, first by DB Records as their debut release in April 1978, and again the following year for the band's self-titled debut album on Warner Bros. (US) and Island Records (Europe, Japan). [11] [12]

Contents

The song launched the band's career and became one of their signature tunes. [13] "Rock Lobster" was well received by critics, and went on to place at No. 147 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list in December 2004. [14] The song also inspired the name of Athens, Georgia's ice hockey team, the Rock Lobsters.

Composition and themes

The original DB Records single version has a duration of 4:37, and is faster in tempo and more "raw" than the 1979 single version, basically due to lower sound quality and the absence of a bassline. It has the same lyrics as the re-recorded version, but with more lines during the sequence that lists marine animals. The 1979 single version is edited down from the album version, which lasts about seven minutes and contains an additional verse. [2]

According to a "Behind the Vinyl" video with B-52's singer Fred Schneider for CHBM-FM, the song was mostly inspired by the 2001 Club in Atlanta, where instead of having a light show, the club projected a slide show with pictures of puppies, babies, and lobsters on a grill. [15] [16]

The song's lyrics describe a beach party while mentioning both real and imagined marine animals ("There goes a dogfish, chased by a catfish, in flew a sea robin, watch out for that piranha, there goes a narwhal, here comes a bikini whale!"), [10] with absurd noises accompanying each, provided by Kate Pierson on the higher-pitched sounds and Cindy Wilson the lower-pitched ones. The chorus features Pierson and Wilson singing a long "ahhh" at an ascending pitch, followed by Schneider exclaiming the phrase "rock lobster!".

"Rock Lobster" is written in the key of C minor (with a raised fourth in the chorus) and is in common time. [17] [18] Instruments used in the music include a baritone-tuned surf-style Mosrite electric guitar, a Farfisa combo organ, and drums. [19] Pierson played the song's bassline on a Korg SB-100 synthesizer in the 1979 version.

Critical reception

New Musical Express ranked "Rock Lobster" number 13 on their critics' list of the best tracks of 1979. [20] Robert Christgau placed it at number 8 on his "Dean's list" of the best singles of that year. [21] In 1980, Record World said that "The dance-oriented-rock band from Georgia has already charmed critics and cults. This quirky, intriguing cut from their self-titled LP should do the same for AOR-pop fans." [22] Cash Box called the song a "silly yet utterly enjoyable affair." [23]

British music writer Garry Mulholland included "Rock Lobster" in his 2002 book This is Uncool: The 500 Greatest Singles Since Punk and Disco, describing the song as "enormouslly complex in form". He highlighted its "incredible dance-rock rhythm section" and the "immediately unique and pleasurable" sound that the band had created, and concluded: "Sadly, I've only just worked out that, when Schneider hollers, 'That's satanic butter!' near the end, he's actually saying 'Pass the tanning butter.' No matter. I still believe that satanic butter exists and is the crucial ingredient in the preparation of a Rock Lobster." [24]

Rolling Stone ranked "Rock Lobster" number 147 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, published in 2004. [14] It was voted number 81 by the staff and contributors of Pitchfork on their 2016 list of the best songs of the 1970s. [9]

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic called the song "incredibly infectious" and "memorable". [13] In their book The Story of the B-52s, Scott Creney and Brigette Herron wrote:

The Rock Lobster single managed to sound original by virtue of pulling from so many disparate touch points in the history of rock music. Musically, it combines elements of surf music, girl groups, and the avant-garde, powered by a series of riffs that classic rockers like Jimmy Page might have killed for. The song is so catchy that it's easy to miss how complicated it is. After the final verse (Motion in the ocean), the song starts changing sections so quickly it's hard to keep up. The structure is closer to prog-rock, or Brian Wilson 's "pocket symphony" Good Vibrations, than anything typically found in new wave. [25]

Chart performance

The version of "Rock Lobster" released by Warner Bros. was the band's first single to appear on the Billboard Hot 100, where it reached No. 56. [26] A major hit in Canada, the single went all the way to No. 1 in the RPM national chart. "Rock Lobster" reached No. 37 on the UK Singles Chart in August 1979; when reissued as a double A-side with "Planet Claire" in 1986, it peaked at No. 12. [27] In Australia, it peaked at No. 3 in 1980. [28]

On January 26, 1980, the band appeared on Saturday Night Live , where they performed "Dance This Mess Around" and "Rock Lobster". Kurt Cobain and Dave Grohl mentioned seeing the B-52's in this TV episode as a memorable moment in their preteen lives. [40]

In the spring of 1980, John Lennon, whose post-Beatles music career had been on hiatus for nearly five years while focusing on raising his son Sean, was prompted to record again after hearing "Rock Lobster". [41] According to Lennon, "it sounds just like Ono's music, so I said to meself, 'it's time to get out the old axe and wake the wife up!'" [42] [43] His return to the studio led to the release of 1980's Double Fantasy , which would be his final album. [41] At a 2002 B-52's concert in New York, Ono joined the band on stage for the performance of this song. [44]

The song appears in the Family Guy episodes "The Cleveland–Loretta Quagmire" (in which Peter plays it on guitar), [45] and "Screams of Silence: The Story of Brenda Q" (as "Iraq Lobster"). In the 2007 movie Knocked Up , the song plays as the two main characters lead into their one-night stand. [46] It also appears in the 2008 movie The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie (as "Rock Monster"). [47] [48]

Early Commodore Amiga 500 units had "B52/ROCK LOBSTER" etched on the main circuit board. [49]

The song is playable in the video games Donkey Konga , [50] Rock Band 3 , [51] and Just Dance 4 . [52]

The song's guitar riff was sampled by Panic! at the Disco for their song "Don't Threaten Me with a Good Time" from their fifth studio album Death of a Bachelor (2016). [53]

Athens Rock Lobsters

On May 15, 2024, it was announced that the city of Athens, Georgia - where the B-52's were formed - would name their Federal Prospects Hockey League team the Rock Lobsters, honoring the song and the band. [54] The decision came after an online poll that began in April 2024 closed with two options for a team name: The Rock Lobsters or the Classic City Panic. The former was the winner of a runoff poll, where it won over the latter by 565 votes. A large internet following also helped promote voting for the Rock Lobster option. [55] A design contest was also held for the team's mascot.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Brown, Rodger L. (1991). Party Out of Bounds. University of Georgia Press. p. 57. ISBN   978-0-8203-5040-0.
  2. 1 2 Creney, Scott; Herron, Brigette A. (2023). The Story of the B-52s: Neon Side of Town. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 54. ISBN   978-3031225697.
  3. ↑ Pinnock, Tom (May 2015). "The making of Rock Lobster by The B-52s". Uncut . pp. 41–44. Archived from the original on January 9, 2017.
  4. ↑ Echols, Alice (2010). Hot Stuff: Disco and the Remaking of American Culture. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 218. ISBN   978-0-3930-7701-8. The B-52s' "Rock Lobster," another of the first new wave tracks to be played on disco dance floors, did not quite mock disco.
  5. ↑ Breithaupt, Don; Breithaupt, Jeff (July 17, 2000). "A Flock of Haircuts: New Wave". Night Moves - Pop Music in the Late 70s. St. Martin's Griffin. p. 152. ISBN   978-0-312-19821-3.
  6. ↑ Talevski, Nick (2006). Rock Obituaries – Knocking on Heaven's Door. Omnibus Press. p. 725. ISBN   978-1-8460-9091-2. Featuring the quirky lead vocals of Fred Schneider, the group's début album, The B-52's (1979), became an instant classic with upbeat, lyrically amusing dance rock numbers such as 'Rock Lobster',...
  7. ↑ Echols, Alice (March 29, 2010). "One Nation under a Thump?: Disco and Its Discontents". Hot Stuff: Disco and the Remaking of American Culture. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 218. ISBN   978-0-393-06675-3 . Retrieved December 10, 2024.
  8. ↑ Jackson, Josh (September 8, 2016). "The 50 Best New Wave Albums". Paste . Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  9. 1 2 Pitchfork Staff (August 22, 2016). "The 200 Best Songs of the 1970s". Pitchfork . Retrieved October 13, 2022. Amazingly, the song reaches a type of punk intensity, and Schneider yelling "Let's rock!" as the band clicks into a reckless frug-groove is one of the most thrilling moments of the '70s.
  10. 1 2 Rolling Stone Staff (June 25, 2022). "The Best Summer Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone . Retrieved September 10, 2023. Fred Schneider's brilliant Jacques Cousteau-gone-bonkers lyrics...made it a psychedelic beach rocker for the ages.
  11. ↑ Clark, Jeff (August 2003). "Making It Up as You Go: How DB Recs Chronicled the South in the '80s". Stomp and Stammer. Vol. 8, no. 10. p. 30.
  12. ↑ Creney and Herron (2023), p. 73
  13. 1 2 Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "The B-52s – The B-52's". AllMusic . Retrieved July 29, 2013.
  14. 1 2 "500 Greatest Songs of All Time: 147 – The B-52's, 'Rock Lobster'". Rolling Stone . December 11, 2003. Retrieved July 16, 2014.
  15. ↑ "Behind The Vinyl: "Rock Lobster" with Fred Schneider from The B-52's" on YouTube
  16. ↑ Runtagh, Jordan (May 29, 2018). "The B-52s at 40: An Oral History of Their Awesomely Bizarre Beach Party Breakthrough 'Rock Lobster'". People . Retrieved September 23, 2024.
  17. ↑ Cateforis, Theo (2011). Are We Not New Wave? Modern Pop at the Turn of the 1980s. University of Michigan Press. pp. 109–110. ISBN   9780472034703.
  18. ↑ Johnson, Chad (2018). Hal Leonard Baritone Guitar Method. Hal Leonard. p. 43. ISBN   9781540042972.
  19. ↑ Weingarten, Christopher R. (July 15, 2019). "Before & After 'The B-52's'". The New York Times . Archived from the original on August 27, 2021. Retrieved September 23, 2024.
  20. ↑ "NME's best albums and tracks of 1979". New Musical Express. December 1979.
  21. ↑ Christgau, Robert (January 28, 1980). "Pazz & Jop 1979: Dean's List". The Village Voice .
  22. ↑ "Hits of the Week" (PDF). Record World. February 2, 1980. p. 1. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
  23. ↑ "Singles Reviews > Singles to Watch" (PDF). Cash Box. Vol. XLI, no. 38. February 2, 1980. p. 17. Retrieved January 1, 2022.
  24. ↑ Mulholland, Garry (2002). This Is Uncool: The 500 Greatest Singles Since Punk and Disco . Cassell Illustrated. p. 96. ISBN   0-304-36186-0.
  25. ↑ Creney and Herron (2023), p. 59
  26. 1 2 "Billboard Hot 100 – Week of May 24, 1980". Billboard .
  27. ↑ David Roberts, ed. (2005). British Hit Singles & Albums (18 ed.). Guinness World Records Limited. p. 41. ISBN   1-904994-00-8.
  28. 1 2 "Forum – ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts – CHART POSITIONS PRE 1989". Australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved July 29, 2013.
  29. ↑ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 0169a." RPM . Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved June 13, 2013.
  30. ↑ "The B-52's – Rock Lobster". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved July 29, 2013.
  31. ↑ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved July 29, 2013.
  32. ↑ "Dance Club Songs – Week of February 23, 1980". Billboard.
  33. ↑ "CASH BOX Top 100 Singles – Week ending MAY 17, 1980". Cash Box . Archived from the original on September 13, 2012.
  34. ↑ "Record World Singles Chart: May 17, 1980" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on March 5, 2021. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
  35. ↑ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Rock Lobster". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved July 29, 2013.
  36. ↑ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved July 29, 2013.
  37. ↑ "National Top 100 Singles for 1980". Kent Music Report. January 5, 1981. Retrieved January 17, 2022– via Imgur.
  38. ↑ "Forum – ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts – Top 100 End of Year AMR Charts – 1980s". Australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved July 16, 2014.
  39. ↑ "Top 100 Singles". RPM . Vol. 34, no. 6. Library and Archives Canada. December 20, 1980. Archived from the original on February 18, 2015. Retrieved July 16, 2014.
  40. ↑ Creney and Herron (2023), pp. 95–96.
  41. 1 2 Pemberton, Pat (March 5, 2010). "B-52s Honored to Have Inspired John Lennon's Return to Recording". Spinner . Archived from the original on August 6, 2012.
  42. ↑ "John Lennon – Double Fantasy". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on December 3, 2010.
  43. ↑ "The Beatles: A 'where have you been for the past 40 years?' guide to who's who in the fab four..." Top of the Pops 2 . BBC Online. April 2002. Retrieved November 23, 2010.
  44. ↑ Alex, Michael (February 5, 2002). "B-52's Show They're Still from Planet Claire at NY Date". MTV News. Archived from the original on October 20, 2013. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
  45. ↑ Voynar, Kim (June 13, 2005). "Family Guy: The Cleveland-Loretta Quagmire". The Huffington Post . Retrieved November 13, 2009– via AOL TV.
  46. ↑ ""Rock Lobster," and other unexpected movie songs". June 18, 2009.
  47. ↑ Breimeier, Russ (December 1, 2007). "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything soundtrack". Christianity Today International . Crosswalk.com . Retrieved July 29, 2013.
  48. ↑ Sims, Robert (January 13, 2008). "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A Veggietales Movie Review". Hollywood.com . Retrieved July 29, 2013.
  49. ↑ "Mystery Motherboards". Amiga History Guide. Archived from the original on February 8, 2011. Retrieved June 12, 2012.
  50. ↑ Zapdos560 (October 3, 2004). "Donkey Konga – Track List". GameFAQs . Retrieved August 5, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  51. ↑ Good, Owen (August 20, 2010). "Harmonix Confirms Entire Rock Band 3 Setlist". Kotaku . Retrieved September 21, 2016.
  52. ↑ Onyett, Charles (June 4, 2012). "E3 2012: Ubisoft Announces Just Dance 4". IGN . Retrieved July 13, 2015.
  53. ↑ Rutherford, Kevin (January 13, 2016). "Panic! at the Disco Gets 'Good Time' Rolling in Hot Rock Songs Top 10". Billboard. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  54. ↑ Mathis, Andy. "Athens Pro Hockey unveils new team name – the Rock Lobsters – honoring hometown B-52s". The Red & Black. Posted May 15, 2024. Accessed May 15, 2024. https://www.redandblack.com/sports/athens-pro-hockey-unveils-new-team-name-the-rock-lobsters-honoring-hometown-b-52s/article_8fc648e6-12f4-11ef-bbb6-171ba150bdfa.html
  55. ↑ Dennis, Ryne. "Athens pro hockey team name to be tribute to city's music scene. Here's what you chose". Athens Banner-Herald. Posted May 15, 2024. Accessed May 15, 2024. https://www.onlineathens.com/story/sports/pro/2024/05/15/athens-pro-hockey-team-picks-new-name-heres-what-voters-selected-b-52s-rock-lobsters/73669547007/
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