from the LP The B-52’s, Island Records, 1979Anyone who has lived in the South for any period of time knows that it is a generally quirky place, keen on ceremony & pageantry, traditional and yet celebratory of the eccentric & unconventional; thus, it is no surprise that the B-52’s assembled their kitschy-camp agenda in the humid woods of Athens, Georgia. The legacy of this “Liverpool of the South” has now been well-established (re: R.E.M., Pylon, Widespread Panic), but back in the ‘70s it seemed a strange ordeal to hear this surf-ready new wave mania belting out from such a locale. This track was the B-side to ‘Rock Lobster” and it steals the show for me, oddly-tuned minor chords & militaristic drumming backing the girls as they belt out the names of “…the principal girls of the USA…”
