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I'm leaving for Vegas tonight to see the final performance of their latest residency, so I spent all week re-listening to all of their albums on vinyl. Apparently when you crack open my crusty shell, the 13-year old version is still intact within, gobsmacked by how seriously a bunch of adults can pursue their silliness.
I spent about five minutes worrying that I'd be disappointed seeing them again now that they (and I) are so old, but then I told myself to shut up. “They’re so over the hill” is the least B-52s sentiment imaginable. Their edginess was never dependent upon youth. They weren't exactly rebels, but they gloried in pillaging what’s old and awkward for the creation of something new and cool that embraces squareness rather than mocking it. What they want - what they’ve always wanted - is for people to have FUN, and they’re entirely non-judgmental about how you want to do it (unless it involves putting anyone down, in which case, no thanks). It’s a spirit that makes just as much sense old as it does young. As a blueprint for a culture, you could hardly do better. And I guess that’s why they’ve always been my favorites - because I still wistfully believe that if everyone shared their courage, spirit, and humor, this would be a better world.
Anyway, "Song for a Future Generation" is one of the greatest things ever committed to video.
Apr 19, 2024
Related Recs
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especially early period, the later stuff frankly is fun but I don’t care for, but the early few albums are genuinely innovative
Jan 31, 2024
‘Gish,’ the 1991 debut, remains an underrated psychedelic classic.
Billy Corgan was less Darth Vader here (these days he wears a cape onstage and is giving serious Empire vibes) and more pretentious, insecure suburban Chicago asshole who could nevertheless play the holy Jesus out of his Strat. 🎸 (There's a great video on the YouTubes about a three decade quest Billy undertook to get this yellow "Gish guitar" back after it was stolen from him backstage at a gig in Detroit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyjBDmEcKAE).
There's not a bad song on this album and the original quartet were an absolutely 🔥 live band. I remembering seeing them play at a 1000 person club in this era and they totally slayed.
Feb 9, 2024
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I’ve seen a lot of shows. That one is still wildly important to me. Blur and America never truly fell in love like they should’ve. But they meant business and were doin classics like Girls and Boys, Bad Head, and End of a Century. And then they also did a new song that was catching on called Song 2…
Nov 5, 2024
Top Recs from @jeffisawesome
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Film Forum is the OG but Metrograph is younger and hungrier, with a more diverse slate of films and an emphasis on rediscovered or neglected classics. Great atmosphere too, with a restaurant and bookstore. you can’t go wrong!
Apr 22, 2024
Bugs is the great American hero, but Daffy has the most range. From his psychopathic hoo-hoo-hoo-HOO origins to his mature later incarnation as a petty, grasping striver with delusions of grandeur, he covers a broad gamut of the human experience. His desperate ambition slots so wonderfully into an array of genre roles that elevate him just to take him down: Robin Hood, Duck Dodgers, the Scarlet Pumpernickel… Bugs is who we wish we could be, but Daffy is who we are.
Apr 21, 2024
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New circumstances trick our minds into revealing vivid insights about ourselves. Last night in the hotel, I acted with impeccable moral integrity in an absurd situation (Pauly Shore and Magnum PI disassembling an elevator without permission outside my apartment window), and I woke up radiating with pride. I barely minded that it took me an hour to get back to sleep.
Apr 21, 2024