by SP

In the same article Fred Schneider also explained, “We’re a group first and foremost … and on this album we wanted to emphasize that. We got away from some of the more technological aspects of music in favor of the basics, a feel closer to what we sound like in performance … When we started writing material for a new album, we realized that a lot of the songs seemed to harken back to our roots, the good time we’d spent in Athens and the whole feeling of that time and place. It was a way for us to reassert who we are and why we’d gotten together in the first place.”

Keith Strickland added, “There’s definitely a lot of our original intent brought back on this album. Athens in the ‘70s was a great place to be. It wasn’t the musical mecca it is today and you had to find your own fun. Which is exactly what we did. We wanted to capture the original enthusiasm and energy.”

The band members were asked once about anything unusual that happened to them during their performances and Kate Pierson mentioned in the Biographical Notes (September, 2003) that some of the things she remembered happened during their Cosmic Thing tour. She said, “We were in Australia during the Cosmic tour. I can't recall which city. But during one song some guy ran onstage, grabbed me and kissed me. In the middle of a song! And then the next night we were in a totally different city and the same thing happened … Early on when we were just getting started, I was playing guitar during a show and got shocked. I mean shocked. And it hurt so I was screaming into the mic. The other just looked at me like I was singing/improvising and didn't realize what was going on.”

More albums came after that, including Good Stuff, Time Capsule and Nude on the Moon, emphasizing the band’s involvement in various environmental and political issues.

We read in the Media Information For Good Stuff, part 1 article where Kate Pierson explained, “We focus on AIDS organizations, environmental concerns and animal rights … Music changes people and people can change the world. We want to show it can be fun to try to change the world … With the help of our managers, our road crew and with everyone donating their time and expertise for free, we managed to make sure every penny went to direct action groups.”

Fred Schneider also said in the same article, “We’re out there to entertain people … but it’s great to get people thinking and dancing at the same time.”

The album Time Capsule was # 3 on the Billboard album chart and sold four million copies. It includes hit “Love Shack,” probably the band’s most popular and well-known song. Wikipedia.com says, “With its party vibe and colorful music video (featuring a cameo by a then-unknown RuPaul) ‘Love Shack’ not only became their first song to hit the US Top 40, but it went on to peak at #3.”

As we read in the article Media Information for Time Capsule (June 1992), “Thought to have gone the way of their late, great, New Wave contemporaries, the B-52’s would, ironically, chart their greatest pop smashes in the ‘90s - and advance their reputations as the greatest party band on the planet to a whole new generation. The band played to sold out audiences worldwide as part of a tour that would last more than eighteen months.”

In 2006 the B-52’s continue to perform and entertain the audience with their “quirky, innovative style and lush vocals”, as Wikipedia.com put it. On the FAQs page from the Official Website (February 2006) the band announced that “they are working on a new album, to be released in 2006 but the release date has not yet been set … As for why it’s taking so long, the B-52’s are writing their first new album in over 10 years. It’s not as if they’re releasing material that’s already been worked on.”

Fred Schneider also commented on their Official Website “that the band is ‘working away’ and looking forward to ‘another productive session... there is still plenty of work to do’.”

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