THE B - 52S’N EW SHOWS ARE APPARENT LY PART OF THEIR “EUROPEAN FAREWEL L TOUR”. COUL D THI S B E THE LAST WE’L L SEE OF THE SUBVERSIVE GANG BEHIND ROCK LOBSTER, LOVE SHACK, ROAM AND SO MANY OTHER EXTRAVAGANT PART Y STARTERS? HOW WER E THEY ABL E TO SUBVERT MAINSTREAM AMERICA SO SUCCESSFUL LY? AND HAVE THEY FORGIVEN GERMAN AUD I ENCES FOR THEI R FIRST EXPERI ENCE THERE? CLASSI C POP GOES ROAMING WI T H THE BAND ONE LAST T IME.

MAYBE… JOHN EARLS

Long before The B-52s formed, they were already staples of the alternative scene in Athens, Georgia. The city would later be a home for fellow outsiders like R.E.M. and, in 1971, teenagers Keith Strickland and Ricky Wilson attended a party thrown by Jeremy Ayers. A part of Andy Warhol’s scene where he was known as Sylva Thinn, Jeremy provided support for generations of fellow local artists until his death three years ago. He also knew how to throw a great party.

“Jeremy covered the walls of one room with black plastic and filled the floors with popcorn,”recalls guitarist Keith. “Captain Beefheart’s Trout Mask Replica was on the stereo. Several people took off their clothes, covered their bodies with Wesson oil and rolled around in the popcorn.”Another artist, James Herbert, filmed the whole evening.

“I’m not sure if any footage of the party exists,”admits Keith, adding, “Years later, Jeremy wrote the lyrics to our song 52 Girls.”

It’s that kind of abandoned spirit that’s been writ large in The B-52s for over 40 years. As much as Love Shack is now a wedding party staple, when they first emerged The B-52s were like nothing else around. Poppier than anyone except Blondie from the New Wave scene, their ethos was infused with the surrealism of experimental art-rock.

Fred Schneider was equal parts beat poet and ringmaster, with Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson even more anarchic. Sporting wigs of the beehive hairdo the band were named after, Kate and Cindy’s raucous harmonies distilled their punk spirit into perfect dayglo pop songs. Debut singles don’t get much better than Rock Lobster, especially when paired with the Ayers co-write 52 Girls on the B-side. “We were Motown all the way,”enthuses Cindy. She and her older brother Ricky, the original B-52s guitarist, had been childhood Beatle nuts – Ricky so much so that “everyone called him George. Ricky became George for a whole year, while I was pretending I was singing along to Dusty Springfield.”

When The B-52s formed in 1976, famously during a jam session after sharing cocktails at a local Chinese restaurant, they were inspired by “the bands who were originally from the hippy era”like Beefheart and Zappa. New Wave peers such as Talking Heads, Patti Smith and Elvis Costello were also a great forum to swap ideas. “Our own sense of the absurd got in there, too,”laughs Cindy.