“Rock Lobster” arrived 45 years ago today on the B-52’s debut, with a zany approach that softened the defenses of even the most stubborn music snob.

The first time I heard the B-52’s, I laughed. The first time I heard the Rolling Stones’ “Emotional Rescue,” I laughed – but not for the same reasons.

Remembering those times when Steely Dan, Tommy Tutone, the B-52’s and others dialed up some phone number-focused rock songs.

When I’ve gone back to revisit Devo’s first appearance on Saturday Night Live (October 14, 1978), it still seems kind of shocking. I hadn’t yet heard them on the radio, so their bizarre cover of the Stones’ “Satisfaction” and especially the beyond-bizarre performance of “Jocko Homo” had me staring atRead More

The truth is, even if you never bought a record like “Le Freak,” Chic’s wall-to-wall late 1970s hit, Nile Rodgers was all over your radio dial anyway.

Depending on your point of view, Athens, Georgia’s B-52s are either the greatest party band of all time, or quite possibly the gayest — and I mean that in the most non-homophobic, politically correct sort of way. Either way, it’s still kind of hard to fathom that the same late-1970sRead More

by Tom Johnson Spinning up Mercurial was like jumping in a time machine set for somewhere around 60-75 years ago. The Asylum Street Spankers bravely blazed their own trail far outside of mainstream music, offering pre-Charlie Parker swing jazz and jump-blues that once kept the flappers cavorting across dancefloors allRead More