The brilliant career of New Wave icons the B-52’s will be chronicled in a lavish new box set, The Warner and Reprise Years, which will bring together the nine albums they recorded for the label from 1979 to 1992. The set, which arrives on June 20 in celebration of Pride Month, collects each album in newly remastered, colored vinyl pressings: their 1979 debut The B-52’s (on yellow vinyl), 1980’s Wild Planet (red), the 1981 remix record Party Mix! (green), the 1982 EP Mesopotamia (blue), 1983’s Whammy! (smokey), 1986’s Bouncing Off the Satellites (pink), their hugely successful 1989 release Cosmic Thing (orange), and a double-LP version of 1992’s Good Stuff (purple). There is also an 8-CD version, which will be released the same day. The vinyl box is limited to a run of 2000 and can be pre-ordered at Rhino.com.
Formed in Athens, Georgia in 1977, the B-52’s came up mix a of post-punk, Southern soul, surf-rock, and bubblegum pop that was unlike nearly anything else in music at the time, as was their self-consciously kitschy thrift-store look and eye-popping stage presence — from lead singer Fred Schneider’s ironic mustache and manic dance moves to the piled-high beehive hairstyles of singers Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson. The band found unlikely success with their surprise 1978 hit “Rock Lobster,” a highlight of their landmark self-titled debut, which sits at #198 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. “When we first played Max’s,” Pierson told Rolling Stone of their first New York gig, “people thought Cindy and I were drag queens — we wore these gigantic wigs that sort of hid our faces.”
They followed their debut with 1980’s excellent Wild Planet, containing signature tunes like “Private Idaho” and “Party Out of Bounds.” After the 1981 remix LP Party Mix, the band released Mesopotamia, produced by David Byrne with an art-funk sound not unlike Byrne’s own band Talking Heads.
Editor’s picks
In 1985, as they were preparing to release their fourth album, Bouncing Off the Satellites. The band’s visionary guitarist, Ricky Wilson, died from complications related to AIDS. After a four-year hiatus, they returned with drummer Keith Strickland moving to guitar. Their fifth album, Cosmic Thing, is arguably one of the best comeback records in rock history, containing the massive hit “Love Shack,” as well as beloved songs like “Roam” and “Deadbeat Club,” the latter a fond reflection on their early days back in Athens. They followed that success with Good Stuff in 1992, their last album until they returned in 2008 with Funplex, released on the dance music label Astralwerks. They continued to tour through the decades with various lineups. When the band announced their farewell tour in 2022, Pierson noted, “Who knew what started as a way to have some fun and play music for our friends’ at house parties in Athens in 1977 would evolve into over 45 years of making music and touring the world. It’s been cosmic.” After their farewell tour ended with an Athens show in 2023, the band did a Las Vegas residency and have continued to perform, recently at SNL50: The Homecoming Concert, where they played “Love Shack.”
Tracklist for The Warner Reprise Years:
The B-52’s (1979)
Side One
- “Planet Claire”
- “52 Girls”
- “Dance This Mess Around”
- “Rock Lobster”
Side Two
- “Lava”
- “There’s A Moon In The Sky (Called The Moon)”
- “Hero Worship”
- “6060-842”
- “Downtown”
LP Two: Wild Planet (1980)
Side One
- “Party Out Of Bounds”
- “Dirty Back Road”
- “Runnin’ Around”
- “Give Me Back My Man”
- “Private Idaho”
Side Two
Related Content
- “Devil In My Car”
- “Quiche Lorraine”
- “Strobe Light”
- “53 Miles West Of Venus”
LP Three: Party Mix! (1981)
Side One
- “Party Out Of Bounds”
- “Private Idaho”
- “Give Me Back My Man”
Side Two
- “Lava”
- “Dance This Mess Around”
- “52 Girls”
LP Four: Mesopotamia (1982)
Side One
- “Loveland”
- “Deep Sleep”
- “Mesopotamia”
Side Two
- “Cake”
- “Throw That Beat In The Garbage Can”
- “Nip It In The Bud”
LP Five: Whammy! (1983)
Side One
- “Legal Tender”
- “Whammy Kiss”
- “Song For A Future Generation”
- “Butterbean”
Side Two
- “Trism”
- “Queen Of Las Vegas”
- “Moon ’83”
- “Big Bird”
- “Work That Skirt”
LP Six: Bouncing Off the Satellites (1986)
Side One
- “Summer Of Love”
- “Girl From Ipanema Goes To Greenland”
- “Housework”
- “Detour Through Your Mind”
- “Wig”
Side Two
- “Theme For A Nude Beach”
- “Ain’t It A Shame”
- “Juicy Jungle”
- “Communicate”
- “She Brakes For Rainbows”
LP Seven: Cosmic Thing (1989)
Side One
- “Cosmic Thing”
- “Dry County”
- “Deadbeat Club”
- “Love Shack”
- “Junebug”
Side Two
- “Roam”
- “Bushfire”
- “Channel Z”
- “Topaz”
- “Follow Your Bliss”
LPs Eight/Nine: Good Stuff (1992)
Side One
- “Tell It Like It T-I-IS”
- “Hot Pants Explosion”
- “Good Stuff”
- “Revolution Earth”
Side Two
- “Dreamland”
- “Is That You Mo-Dean?”
- “The World’s Green Laughter”
Side Three
Trending Stories
- “Vision Of A Kiss”
- “Breezin’”
- “Bad Influence”
Side Four
Etching: Band Logo