Put Some Respect On… The B-52’s 

I am not entirely sure why I gravitated toward this particular video. Maybe it was the glittery suits and beaded miniskirts, the commanding fits and spurts of happiness from the singer, or that boat of a Chrysler on that Atlanta highway, but I was hooked. My 10-year-old self had no idea what “Tin Roof Rustin” meant, and was a few years removed from my first Love Shack, but fuckin’ hell I wanted to dance. That kind of pop music that knew it was pop but spit muddy water on clean shirts. A cross between Studio 54, angular punk, and the Monster Mash and I really just wanted to tell them how gleefully happy I was every time the song came on. Maintained beehive hairdos long before Amy Winehouse and long after Ronnie Spector, the band was timeless then, and they are timeless now. 

Fucking “Rock Lobster”…. Fucking “My Own Private Idaho”, Fucking “Debbie”…. Just what I needed in between the Milli Vanilli’s, Paula Abdul’s, and Vanilla Ice’s. The B’52s knew exactly what they were doing just being The B’52s. To understand success and trajectory of their career meant you needed a sense of humor and a flair for camp…. It felt like the weirdest and most authentic club you could be a part of, perfect for an unbalanced kid who was trying to find the right budding balance between music, sports, and girls. The floor was cold, the basement damp, but Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson brought enough heat that I didn’t need my sleeping bag. 

Fucking “Roam”… Fucking “Wig”… Fucking “The Flintstones”… 

I watched Janet Jackson don that iconic metal hat and danced the Rhythm Nation, I watched Depeche Mode enjoy some silence in some far-off mountainous land. But at that moment I wanted to do the whole shack shimmy…. I brought my jukebox money…. the glitter was definitely on the highway…. And I wanted to ride in that car with The B52’s all the way to the Love Shack, however many innuendos you can pull from those lines. At 11, I just thought with all the bright pinks and leopard prints that the Love Shack was a cool place to get some donuts… At 45 singing with the B52s and eating donuts still sounds really good to me.