by SP

The B-52’s made a guest appearance and performed a new song called “Pump” in the third season of The L Word.

It was said several times that this band is “quintessentially American as the Beach Boys”and, as mentioned in their Biography on the Official Website, “… twenty-five years and over twenty million albums into a career that began as a low-rent lark in Athens, Georgia, the B-52’s remain the most unlikely rock stars ever.”

A lot has been written about the band’s early years. It was formed in Athens, Georgia and, as we can read in Media Information for the Cosmic Thing article, “That distinctive sound was created in Athens, GA., back in early 1977, when the B-52’s played their first gig at a Valentine’s Party in the sleepy Southern college town where they had discovered each other. Sporting a highly visual stage show and some of the most enthusiastic dance music to come out of the vaunted New Wave movement, the group quickly became favorites on the Manhattan music scene, releasing an independent single, “Rock Lobster” … in the summer of 1978, and just as quickly attracted major label attention. Their eponymous debut album was released the following year and, suddenly, a whole new standard of sly cultural reference, adventurous arrangements and provocative, entertaining performances was set.”

In their Official Website Biography we can also learn that “Formed on an October night in 1976 following drinks at an Athens, GA, Chinese restaurant, the band played their first gig at a friend’s house on Valentine’s Day 1977. Naming themselves after Southern slang for exaggerated “bouffant” hairdos, the newly-christened B-52’s (Fred Schneider, Kate Pierson, Keith Strickland, Cindy Wilson and Ricky Wilson) began weekend road trips to New York City for pick-up gigs at CBGB’s and a handful of other venues.”

This little tidbit of information points out where the name of the band came from. It’s interesting to note, though, that not only “A B-52 is a Southern slang for a smooth, large, high bouffant hairdo … It’s also a letter and a number and a famous mega-vitamin,” according to www.theb52s.de website that incidentally keeps a complete ultimate B-52’s discography.

Wikipedia.com also pointed out in the article about the band that “The band’s name is a pun; Boeing B-52s are eight-engine strategic bombers in use by the United States Air Force, and the beehive hairdo (bouffant wigs) is nicknamed the B-52. During the band’s first years beehive wigs were often worn by the band’s female singers Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson.”

B-52’s left Athens for New York soon after the release of their first album in 1979. As the band began its performances, it became popular because of the unusual monotone or spoken-word vocals of Fred Schneider, the combination of dance and surf music and their costume thrift-store chic.

Kate Pierson talked about the dynamics between the members of the band and especially about singing together with Cindy Wilson in Biographical Notes (May 2004). “I think we just naturally blend together. Our voices just have an incredible quality that when we sing together it’s this new thing…The Sound. It’s the sound of the B-52’s, that harmony is part of our sound. And any different combination wouldn’t be the same. There’s a way our harmonies are, there’s a certain quirkiness and definite unpredictability to the harmonies. The harmonies are always going to be an essential element.”

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