The B-52's (album)

{{Album ratings

| title = Original professional ratings

| rev1 = Smash Hits

| rev1Score = 5/10{{cite magazine |last=Starr |first=Red |title=Albums |magazine=Smash Hits |date=August 9–22, 1979 |page=25 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Smash-Hits/1979/Smash-Hits-1979-08-09.pdf}}

| rev2 = Christgau's Record Guide

| rev2score = A{{cite book |chapter=The B-52's: The B-52's |chapter-url=https://robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=201 |access-date=March 31, 2006 |title=Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies |title-link=Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies |last=Christgau |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Christgau |publisher=Ticknor and Fields |year=1981 |isbn=0-89919-026-X |page=46}}

}}

{{Album ratings

| title = Retrospective professional ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-b-52s-mw0000189007 |title=The B-52's – The B-52s |website=AllMusic |access-date=March 22, 2004 |last=Erlewine |first=Stephen Thomas |author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine}}

| rev3 = Pitchfork

| rev3score = 9.0/10{{cite web |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/the-b-52s-the-b-52s/ |title=The B-52's: The B-52's |website=Pitchfork |date=October 14, 2018 |access-date=October 14, 2018 |last=Shepard |first=Susan Elizabeth}}

| rev4 = PopMatters

| rev4score = 10/10{{cite web |url=https://www.popmatters.com/ranking-the-b-52s-albums |title=Ranking the B-52s Albums |website=PopMatters |date=May 3, 2022 |access-date=August 28, 2022 |last=Wilhelm |first=Rich}}

| rev5 = Rolling Stone

| rev5score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite magazine |url=http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/theb52s/albums/album/198700/review/5942002 |title=The B-52's: The B-52s |magazine=Rolling Stone |issue=933 |date=October 16, 2003 |access-date=March 22, 2004 |last=Blashill |first=Pat |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070602150125/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/theb52s/albums/album/198700/review/5942002 |archive-date=June 2, 2007 |url-status=dead}}

| rev6 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

| rev6score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}{{cite book |chapter=The B-52's |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t9eocwUfoSoC&pg=PA67 |access-date=November 2, 2011 |last=Considine |first=J. D. |author-link=J. D. Considine |title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide |title-link=The Rolling Stone Album Guide |editor1-last=Brackett |editor1-first=Nathan |editor1-link=Nathan Brackett |editor2-last=Hoard |editor2-first=Christian |editor2-link=Christian Hoard |publisher=Simon & Schuster |edition=4th |year=2004 |isbn=0-7432-0169-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/67 67–68]}}

| rev7 = Select

| rev7score = 4/5{{cite magazine |title=Flip Your Wig |magazine=Select |issue=1 |date=July 1990 |last=Cavanagh |first=David |author-link=David Cavanagh |page=121}}

| rev8 = Slant Magazine

| rev8score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite web |url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/music/the-b-52s-the-b-52s/ |title=Review: The B-52's, The B-52's |website=Slant Magazine |date=October 11, 2003 |access-date=January 13, 2012 |last=Cinquemani |first=Sal}}

| rev9 = Spin Alternative Record Guide

| rev9score = 10/10{{cite book |chapter=B-52's |last=Huston |first=Johnny |title=Spin Alternative Record Guide |title-link=Spin Alternative Record Guide |editor1-last=Weisbard |editor1-first=Eric |editor1-link=Eric Weisbard |editor2-last=Marks |editor2-first=Craig |publisher=Vintage Books |year=1995 |isbn=0-679-75574-8 |pages=38–39 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/spinalternativer0000unse/page/38/mode/1up}}

| rev10 = Stylus Magazine

| rev10score = 8.8/10{{cite web |url=http://www.stylusmagazine.com/musicreviews/the_b52s-the_b52s.html |title=The B-52's – The B-52's |website=Stylus Magazine |access-date=August 28, 2022 |last=Smith |first=Chris |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030127030708/http://www.stylusmagazine.com/musicreviews/the_b52s-the_b52s.html |archive-date=January 27, 2003 |url-status=dead}}

}}

The B-52's album has received critical acclaim, with music reviewers praising its infectious rhythms and guitar riffs, kitschy lyrics, and party atmosphere.{{cite magazine |url=http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/theb52s/albums/album/198700/review/5942002 |title=The B-52's: The B-52s |magazine=Rolling Stone |issue=300 |date=September 20, 1979 |access-date=February 21, 2009 |last=Carson |first=Tom |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080621121307/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/theb52s/albums/album/198700/review/5942002 |archive-date=June 21, 2008 |url-status=dead}} In June 1979, British rock critic Paul Rambali of the New Musical Express wrote: "This is the best debut album of the year. No conditions, no exceptions. As innovative and invigorating as New Boots and Panties or Talking Heads '77, and as wayward yet accessible. That good."{{Cite magazine |last=Rambali |first=Paul |title= The B-52s: The B-52s (Island) |magazine=New Musical Express |date=June 30, 1979 |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/the-b-52s-the-b-52s-island |via=Rock's Backpages |url-access=subscription |author-link=Paul Rambali}} Similarly, two weeks later in Record Mirror, British journalist Tim Lott wrote that The B-52's album was the best record he had heard that year.{{Cite magazine |last=Lott |first=Tim |title=The B-52s: I Belong to Dada |magazine=Record Mirror |date=July 14, 1979 |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/the-b-52s-i-belong-to-dada |via=Rock's Backpages |url-access=subscription |author-link=Tim Lott}} In his "Consumer Guide" column for The Village Voice, music critic Robert Christgau remarked on his fondness "for the pop junk they recycle—with love and panache," while also noting that he was "more delighted with their rhythms, which show off their Georgia roots by adapting the innovations of early funk (a decade late, just like the Stones and Chicago blues) to an endlessly danceable forcebeat format."{{cite news |url=https://robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv9-79.php |title=Christgau's Consumer Guide |newspaper=The Village Voice |date=September 3, 1979 |access-date=January 13, 2012 |last=Christgau |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Christgau}}

In the 1979 Pazz & Jop year-end critics poll, The B-52's album was ranked number 7.{{cite magazine |url=https://robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pjres79.php |title=The 1979 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll |first=Robert |last=Christgau |author-link=Robert Christgau |magazine=The Village Voice |date=January 28, 1980}} New Musical Express ranked it number 12 on their critics' list of the best albums of 1979.{{Cite web |date=December 1979 |title=NME's best albums and tracks of 1979 |url=https://www.nme.com/features/1979-2-1045405 |website=New Musical Express}}

In a retrospective review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote: "Unabashed kitsch mavens at a time when their peers were either vulgar or stylish, the Athens quintet celebrated all the silliest aspects of pre-Beatles pop culture – bad hairdos, sci-fi nightmares, dance crazes, pastels, and anything else that sprung into their minds – to a skewed fusion of pop, surf, avant-garde, amateurish punk, and white funk." Rolling Stone writer Pat Blashill concluded: "On The B-52's, the best little dance band from Athens proved that rock & roll still matters if it's about sex and hair and moving your body. Even if you have to shake-bake shake-bake it like a Shy Tuna." Slant Magazine{{'}}s Sal Cinquemani stated that "like any over-the-top act, the B-52's wears thin, but the band successfully positioned themselves as pop-culture icons—not unlike the musical antiquities they emulated."

In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked The B-52's number 152 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time,{{cite magazine |url=http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-19691231/the-b-52s-the-b-52s-19691231 |title=500 Greatest Albums of All Time: The B-52's – The B-52's |magazine=Rolling Stone |issue=937 |date=December 11, 2003 |access-date=August 28, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101220143902/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-19691231/the-b-52s-the-b-52s-19691231 |archive-date=December 20, 2010 |url-status=dead}} maintaining the ranking in a 2012 update of the list{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-156826/the-b-52s-the-b-52s-161560/ |title=500 Greatest Albums of All Time |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=May 31, 2012 |access-date=August 28, 2022}} and dropping it to number 198 in a 2020 update.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-all-time-1062063/the-b-52s-the-b-52s-2-1063035/ |title=The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=September 22, 2020 |access-date=January 3, 2022}} In 2003, VH1 named it the 99th greatest album of all time.{{Cite book |url=https://www.google.es/books/edition/100_Greatest_Albums/pRi-4Vmh_9QC?hl=en&gbpv=1 |title=VH1: 100 greatest albums |date=2003 |publisher=Pocket Books |isbn=978-0-7434-4876-5 |editor-last=Hoye |editor-first=Jacob |location=New York |page=x}} The B-52's was included in the 2005 book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.{{cite book |chapter=The B-52's: The B-52's |last=Nichols |first=David |title=1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die |title-link=1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die |editor-last=Dimery |editor-first=Robert |publisher=Universe Publishing |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-7893-1371-3 |page=427}} In 2013, it was ranked number 452 on the New Musical Express critics' list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.{{Cite web |last=Barker |first=Emily |date=October 21, 2013 |title=The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time: 500-401 |url=https://www.nme.com/photos/the-500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-500-401-1426363 |access-date=September 24, 2024 |website=NME}}

In 1995, The B-52's was named number 42 on the top 100 alternative albums list of all time by the Spin Alternative Record Guide.{{cite book |editor1-last=Weisbard |editor1-first=Eric |editor1-link=Eric Weisbard |editor2-last=Marks |editor2-first=Craig |title=Spin Alternative Record Guide |date=1995 |pages=453–454 |publisher=Vintage Books |location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/spinalternativer0000unse/page/454/mode/1up?view=theater |isbn=0-679-75574-8}} Rolling Stone ranked the album number 28 on its 2013 list of 100 best debut albums of all time, dropping it to number 43 in a 2022 update.{{Cite magazine |date= March 22, 2013 |title=The 100 Best Debut Albums of All Time |magazine=Rolling Stone |url=https://archive.org/details/pleaseallowmetoi0000unse/page/223/mode/1up?view=theater}}{{Cite web |date=July 1, 2022 |title=100 Best Debut Albums of All Time |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/100-best-debut-albums-of-all-time-143608/b-52s-227916/ |access-date=September 24, 2024 |website=Rolling Stone}} In 2023, Paste magazine's staff placed The B-52's at number 86 on their list of the 100 greatest debut albums of all time.{{Cite web |date=November 6, 2023 |title=The 100 Greatest Debut Albums of All Time |url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/debut-albums/100-greatest-debut-albums-of-all-time-2 |website=Paste}} PopMatters magazine named it number 40 on its 2024 list of the 50 best post-punk albums ever.{{Cite web |last=Fitzgerald |first=Colin |date=2 February 2024 |title=The 50 Best Post-Punk Albums Ever |url=https://www.popmatters.com/best-post-punk-albums-ever/2 |website=PopMatters}}

In January 1980, the B-52's appeared on the TV show Saturday Night Live, where they performed "Rock Lobster" and "Dance This Mess Around", two songs from this album. Kurt Cobain and Dave Grohl mentioned seeing the B-52's in this TV episode as a memorable moment in their preteen lives.{{Cite book |last1=Creney |first1=Scott |last2=Herron |first2=Brigette A. |title=The Story of the B-52s: Neon Side of Town |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |date=2023 |isbn=978-3031225697 |pages=95–96}}

Stephen Malkmus, frontman of the American band Pavement, said in 2018: "There's a time in your life, when you're 13/14, when you buy records just 'cos you're supposed to buy them. I had Get Happy!! by Elvis Costello & the Attractions, Give 'Em Enough Rope by The Clash and this one from the B-52's. Well. I listened to the B-52's a thousand times, Elvis Costello like 20 times, and Give 'Em Enough Rope maybe five times."{{Cite magazine |title=Stephen Malkmus: Gold Soundz |first=Jamie |last=Atkins |magazine=Record Collector |date=May 2018 |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/stephen-malkmus-gold-soundz |via=Rock's Backpages |url-access=subscription}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Side one

| title1 = Planet Claire

| writer1 = {{hlist|Fred Schneider|Keith Strickland|Henry ManciniMancini is credited as a co-author of "Planet Claire" on reissues of the album due to the song's use of the bass line from Mancini's "Peter Gunn Theme."}}

| length1 = 4:35

| title2 = 52 Girls

| writer2 = {{hlist|Ricky Wilson|Jeremy Ayers}}

| length2 = 3:34

| title3 = Dance This Mess Around

| writer3 = {{hlist|R. Wilson|Schneider|Strickland|Kate Pierson|Cindy Wilson}}

| length3 = 4:36

| title4 = Rock Lobster

| writer4 = {{hlist|R. Wilson|Schneider}}

| length4 = 6:49

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Side two

| total_length = 39:14

| title5 = Lava

| writer5 = {{hlist|R. Wilson|Schneider|Strickland|Pierson|C. Wilson}}

| length5 = 4:54

| title6 = There's a Moon in the Sky (Called the Moon)

| writer6 = {{hlist|R. Wilson|Schneider|Strickland|Pierson|C. Wilson}}

| length6 = 4:54

| title7 = Hero Worship

| writer7 = {{hlist|R. Wilson|Robert Waldrop}}

| length7 = 4:07

| title8 = 6060-842

| writer8 = {{hlist|R. Wilson|Schneider|Strickland|Pierson}}

| length8 = 2:48

| title9 = Downtown

| writer9 = Tony Hatch

| length9 = 2:57

}}

The B-52's

• Kate Pierson – vocals, organ, keyboard bass, additional guitar (tracks 2, 7)
• Fred Schneider – vocals, cowbell, walkie-talkie, toy piano (track 3), keyboard bass (track 7)
• Keith Strickland – drums, percussion, Claire sounds
• Cindy Wilson – vocals, bongos, tambourine, additional guitar (track 6)
• Ricky Wilson – guitars, smoke alarm

Additional personnel

• Chris Blackwell – producer
• Robert Ash – associate producer, engineering
• George DuBose – photography
• Cass Rigby – assistant engineering
• Sue Ab Surd – art direction
• La Verne – hairdos

{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Australia|type=album|artist=The B-52's|title=The B-52_s|award=Platinum|number=2|certyear=1996|access-date=July 21, 2021}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=New Zealand|type=album|artist=The B-52's|title=The B-52_s|award=Platinum|id=1980-09-26|source=newchart|access-date=2024-11-20|relyear=1980}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|type=album|artist=The B-52's|title=The B-52_s|award=Platinum}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=yes}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/07/15/arts/music/b52s-influences-playlist.html Track-by-track analysis] by The New York Times
• {{discogs master|master=53856|name=The B-52's}}

• [https://www.myspace.com/theb52s/music/albums/the-b-52-s-10246334 The B-52's] at Myspace (streamed copy where licensed)
• [https://archive.today/20130416110626/http://www.radio3net.ro/dbartists/supersearch/VGhlIEItNTIncyA=/The%20B-52's The B-52's] (Adobe Flash) at Radio3Net (streamed copy where licensed)

{{The B-52's}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:B-52's, The}}

Category:1979 debut albums

Category:Albums produced by Chris Blackwell

Category:Albums recorded at Compass Point Studios

Category:The B-52's albums

Category:Island Records albums

Category:Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time

Category:Warner Records albums