good morning! —-
Summer’s here and the heat is stayin. The beach is callin’ and the sun cream needs applyin’.
Rock Lobster by The B-52s has got to be one of the most fun songs ever. A surf-rock-pop-nonsensical bop. But you just can’t stop listening to it. It’s got some of the most insane lyrics ever and one of the the catchiest guitar riffs.
Speaking to the AV Club, vocalist Kate Pierson recalled a moment where guitarist Ricky Wilson told them one day that “I’ve just written the stupidest guitar line you’ve ever heard”.
When you watch this video, you’ll notice there’s a gap between two strings on Wilson’s Mosrite guitar. That’s the G String!
Because the guitar was missing the string, it sort of made Wilson create this unique sound that eventually became the main riff to Rock Lobster.
It’s a ridiculous song, really. But oh so fun. And it famously shook John Lennon out of a five-year writing hiatus.
He sat down with Rolling Stone in 1980, three days before his death:
“I was at a dance club one night in Bermuda. Upstairs, they were playing disco, and downstairs I suddenly heard ‘Rock Lobster’ by the B-52’s for the first time. Do you know it? It sounds just like Yoko’s music, so I said to meself, ‘It’s time to get out the old ax and wake the wife up!”
Rock Lobster was released in 1978. After John Lennon had heard it, he and Yoko began working on Double Fantasy, released in 1980.
Fitzie’s track of the day: Rock Lobster, by The B-52s
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