Behind The Vinyl: "Rock Lobster" with Fred Schneider from The B-52's
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- Опубликовано: 29 авг 2016
- Lead Singer and Songwriter of The B-52's, Fred Schneider came back to the boom 97.3 studios to play "Rock Lobster" on vinyl! Fred talks about writing the song, how he came up with the name of the song, the connection Yoko Ono and John Lennon has to the song and more! Watch as Fred goes Behind The Vinyl!
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This band is a testament to the power of creativity - no bass player, a singer who can't really sing, and a guitarist with only 4 strings - yet they wrote some of the most kick ass pop music of the 20th century: sometimes the whole is not just greater than the sum of the parts - but it actually becomes a monster onto itself.
CusterFlux I didn't realize they no bass player for 20 years
@@williamgolden839 They had bass - Kate played it on the keyboard, at the same time as lead keyboard and vocals. The live versions of Planet Claire good examples.
@@mikewillis1592 kind of like " the Door's ".
However Cindy and Kate could sing.
Fred can sing too, of course. It's called Sprechgesang.
Fred stated, "If something goes wrong, we just laugh". I love that. He seems like such a great guy with a wonderful sense of humor.
You're right ... he is.. I met him and his mom at a Thrift Store in Red Bank NJ... (he grew up a few miles away)What a nice guy...and his mom... proud as can be actually said to me.. "That's my boy!"
I'll never forget. And yes... he did sign a business card I was carrying for me. And still have it.
That's not what James Brown did. He fined his band members for every mistake!
It seems so true! I was lucky enough to see them in Chicago last weekend and when they played Planet Claire his little walkie-talkie wasn't working. Cindy looked over at him with a little smirk, he just shrugged and laughed while he fiddled with it for a bit. Fantastic humans :D
Our daughter was working for Old Navy and was asked if she wanted to volunteer for an evening event to celebrate something-or-other-milestone. Basically doing "valet" type stuff. She said 'sure, why not'. Turned out it was a themed celebration at the SF airport with the B52s playing. Fred was sick as a dog that night, but refused to cancel the gig. Our daughter quickly figured out that "helping the B52s backstage" was her calling for that evening. Between sets Fred would be knocking back hot cups of tea, inhaling steam, anything to keep going. She remembers he was the nicest guy and such a trooper. She has nothing but fond memories for the whole band.
The last 2 minutes of the song are 2 of the most exciting minutes ever recorded.👏🏼👍🏾
Totally 🤘🏼
Although at the time we were into Zeppelin and Sabbath etc, we rocked to and respected the 52,s because they Rocked!
Great taste in music. It's like food. You gotta just try the different types.
They sure did. I was in 9th grade in '79 and listened to mostly rock. Then I started opening up to other music like new wave and found The B-52s and Missing Persons badass. I still remained a rock hound, but got into punk, new wave, prog-rock and some pop like Madonna, but not much. Rock was the rhythm I craved and have for many decades now.
Still, Rock Lobster gets my blood going and my goose bumps pumping.
Because the band is original they don't copy other people they sound unique when you hear the b-52s it is the b-52's
My mind was so blown after seeing The B-52`s play Rock Lobster on SNL; I went to the record store and bought their album the following day; still rocking to The B-52`s; good times!
Richard Cardone My ex-wife was into the B-52’s,that’s how I became familiar with their music. I have them on my iPhone music collection.👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
This man and the group came to my High School in 1989 just before the summer of 1990... Got to be in the same room with the group as my school won for donating most canned goods for a food drive.... Talk about star struck.... TO THE MOON and BACK...
I love Fred, his vocals and lyrics are essential to the band
As an adolescent who felt out of place in the world (as so many do), I remember seeing them on Saturday Night Live (in '78, I believe). Somehow, seeing this crazy band singing a crazy song and having a great time doing it made the world a much more livable place. I will always be grateful to The B-52s for that, and for all the other great songs through the years... :)
@Texas Chainsaw Jesus Music is powerful, no doubt. I wonder if the ease of access we enjoy today diminishes that power to some extent though...
@Texas Chainsaw Jesus The nature of the industry itself has changed. Bands used to struggle for years, killing themselves to get a record deal. Now, you can upload a crappy home video and potentially go viral. The old way stifled a lot of deserving artists, where the new one promotes a lot of 'flash-in-the-pan' careers.
While modern accessibility is nice, it doesn't seem to promote the same quality of songwriting and musicianship that was present in the past...
@Texas Chainsaw Jesus Every time I throw on some James Brown, 'I feel good'... :)
Madness by Design
I was right there watching with you in 78!
@@jehugo66 I hope it had the same positive influence for you that it did for me! :)
I've said before if aliens ever came, "Rock Lobster" would be one of the songs I would give them to represent all of humanity.
And... that's why you're called Dobbie, not Smartie.
I would ask if they came from Planet Claire
that's why if there are aliens they never contact humans - a planet full of stupid-asses ~
Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" was included in a golden disc sent to space with the Voyager mission just in case intellligent extraterrestrials ever stumble upon it, is currently the farthest human made object from Earth reached interstellar space, the region between stars where the galactic plasma is present.
Lol that is so weird ahahaha because I think Rock Lobster sounds like it's made by aliens.
Fun new wave music. It was a good time. Talking Heads. Oingo Boingo. B52s. Every week a new unique sound.
Bill L never saw oingo boingo in concert or most of the bands you mentioned cause I was a teen In 87? I was in 9th grade so didn’t have enough $ ..but I saw the police reunion twice in 2007 and 2008..took my now 19 year old and had a blast with one of my fav bands of the 80s
Joe Kinchicken your funny mon ! It ended towards 89...
Joe Kinchicken May I ask how you got facts? Pet shop boys released some music in 87. When I was a freshman in high school...and than there was the cure ? Depeche Mode ? Morrisey?
Joe Kinchicken 🤔🤔🤔the thing is this music was in the category of “ new wave “ either way synth bands are still around specially those that are from Europe
......oh boy......another mr. know it all who keeps on saying crap, probably smells like crap....... xD
The very first time I heard Rock 🎸Lobster, I was at a dance 💃at my Junior High School (Judkin's Junior High, Pismo Beach , CA) and I was 11 years old . . . we were dancing 💃💃💃to ROCK LOBSTA😆💗🎶🎶🎶🎶💗💗💗💗I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!! LOVE YOU FRED!!!!💗XO
One of my favourite albums, always feels like the B-52's don't get the respect they deserve. They were fucking marvellous.
Why don't you think they get the respect they deserve? Just curious😀
@@phillynott2459 It might just be in the country I'm from (U.K) but the overwhelming majority of people I've met only know them for the song 'Loveshack' and occasionally 'Rock Lobster'. Because of that it seems a lot of people see them as a slightly twee, campy novelty band or even worse, throw away one hit wonders. Just my opinion though, I could be way off on that.
I want to hear the whole band hanging out, chatting, and telling stories about there lives and music, especially early on in their career.
Yeah, us too. Unfortunatly only Fred was in town and was available.
This song was HUGE … thanks Fred for sharing your story !
"Warner didn't know what to do with us....but once we started selling they got on board." - I love this line.
Fred you are a Legend.
I remember this song was HUGE in Sydney, Australia all those years ago...we hadn't heard anything like it before...awesome times
Australia broke so many bands in the late '70's. We had huge alternative radio stations here in Melbourne and Sydney (In the US you'd call them college radio). Plus we had a TV show (ABC's Countdown) which wasn't frightened to showcase upcoming "new wave" acts. Bands like Blondie, The Motels and XTC to name a few didn't know what hit them when they first went to Australia around that time.
Stephen Charman Radios In Motion, was an XTC song and a radio show in Detroit early 80s WDET, Mike Halloran (and Gramps) he played totally progressive tits tunes,
I'm a fairly big XTC fan and I remember reading, as XTC were just starting their Australia tour, one of the members (Colin?) asking someone in management if he thought Australia would like them. The answer was something like "Christ was nailed to the cross, what do you think your chances will be?"
Saw them is Sydney. Hash and apple cider. Fantastic night! You see them and you just have to do the frug!!
Saw B52 in the tour discussed in Australia and also saw XTC around then and many. I agree lots of bands levelled up in Australia at that time. Our National broadcaster helped our local music and new wave bands get a mass audience.
I've always liked the B-52's. i forget that Fred and Kate Pierson both grew up in New Jersey which is so cool cuz the rest of the band came from Georgia. But my cousin Rilo got me into them when I was a little kid cuz growing up in Harlem, we weren't around a lot of rock music, unless some miracle happened where we were exposed to it by an applicable source. He wanted to learn guitar cuz he was a huge fan of Living Colour, so one of the first songs he learned on the acoustic my mom bought him for his 10th birthday was "Rock Lobster". Dude was able to go from not playing any guitar ever before to, playing that song flawlessly within like 3 months. Not bad for 10 years old, but when he told me about the B-52's, I looked them up and saw Love Shack, Roam, and all the other music videos I could find until youtube came out over a decade later. So I'm grateful my cousin somewhat got me into them. They're a great band with their own niche of sound and image. Fred is my favorite member because even though he really doesn't sing, he more somewhat raps/spoken word speaks I guess you can say, he's such a staple of their strength and creativity. Rilo also had a thing for Cindy cuz he loves tall blonde women lol
The B52s came along to save us from the monotony of disco. I was the only one in my crowd to like them, but they will forever be a reminder of my 20’s when we would wear the crazy fashions and go to concerts. Forever in my heart ❤️.
This tune was a highlight of every high school dance I attended in the 80s. We went nuts! Love the B-52s, totally unique.
Good ole Fred, such a unique vocal sound! I love the way he sort of speaks his lyrics in that cool, gay drawl that works perfectly alongside the harmonies of Cindy and Kate. My favourite band and Loveshack is an all time classic!
Good call Scott Ward and I SO love singing this tune in karaoke LOL!
How can a drawl be gay?
Southerner from G.A.
Whiskel when you're a Southerner and gay..it's quite simple
Ah, so the drawl part is Southern, that's what I meant. Badly worded.
It’s the summer of 1980 at The Hollywood Palladium and The B-52s have the entire place going crazy dancing. I’m 17, shy, not sure of myself. But at that moment, with the whole place rocking, I started dancing for the first time in my life. I got pretty good at it too ... IMHO.
Thank you B-52s! You all made my life so much better and funner :-)
B52's just the tonic I need whenever I need cheering up. cindy wilson's voice, Fred Schneider's dancing. Late 70's growing up was such a great time in music. Punk, emergence of new wave, synth pop.
By far, one of the greatest fu@kin' songs of all time. This song still makes my ears ring... because I can't help the fact that I keep steadily turning it up while it's playing.
I was in 3rd grade in 1979 when I first heard it. It sounded unique at the time and I was hooked.
The B-52s are their own genre…if Ed Wood and a John Waters had a space baby that was raised on surf rock in an Airstream Trailer in Rural Georgia that made an annual family vacation to Myrtle Beach, you’d ALMOST get close to what makes The B-52s’ sound.
Yo compré este álbum en Sinaloa México era el grupo favorito en las escuelas y fiestas del barrio viva B-52 México loves you guys.
Top 20 all time rock record for this here metalhead. Total perfection
Fun fact: John Lennon said the B-52s were the best sounding live band he ever heard.
Source?
@@Scrimjer I believe I read it in a Rolling Stone article about the B-52s. Or maybe Musician Magazine.
He never saw them live. He heard the record in a Bermuda disco in 1980.
@@scottandrewbrass Booo! Thanks, boner kill.
@@scottandrewbrass You can get a good enough vibe as a musician to know how they sound live.
I just found this RUclips station today. And I hope it'll be coming on my feed often
Albert ardis cohn thanks for giving us the time, we have over 150 episodes for you. You may not like them all but if you’re a music fan, you may. There is a lot of Canadian artists here as we are a Toronto radio station.
Albert ardis cohn same her
Unique and fun, the B-52’s are all that. “Rock Lobster,” classic, classic, classic!!!
How amazingly normal! Fred, you’re awesome and Rock Lobster is killer. Social honesty
I LOVE WATCHING these super stars cueing up their hits on the LP
45s guy Superstar....?
I know right? Soundtracks of our lives
I met Fred at an airport in 2010 and he did not look well. I am glad to see at the time of this interview (2016) that he looked and sounded much better!
This song has a special place in my heart playing it in just dance when I 1st met my cousins thats the only song we would
i remember the snl performance. the next day my brother and a friend and i didnt know what to make of the song. it was so crazy for the time. really made an impression
Fred is the best shouter of all time : )
Loved this record back in 1980 in northern Scotland 😉
Memories. When I was a soldier in the 80s my roommate and I blasted this into the common area all doors would open and WTF we were out there dancing like fools! Like it or not it was a blast!! Thanks for the memories!!
Awesome song. Awesome band.
Still have my yellow and red LPs! Played them constantly when I was a kid. I loved all the disco music then but was drawn to the Bs for some reason! Still listening in 2021. 😎👍🤩
With the great Kate Pierson on backing vocals, and Ricky Wilson absolutely nailing the guitar. Excellent.
Very unique band. I vaguely recall them having some connection with the Flintstones back in the early 90s, i was about 4 or something, first time i ever knew about them.
Y'know, I thought that the record was done by studio cats because it was so tight....but it was indeed the band.
I grew up with songs like "love shack" and "roam". I liked the band but now love them when i discovered earlier tracks like "rock lobster" and my favorite "your on private idaho". They truly do rock.
Ever watch the live video version of Rock Lobster? It's my fav.
@@markmarkofkane8167 Yessir. So much energy. Checked it out again, and now its stuck looping in my head. Not a bad thing.
Fred always rocking those shades😎 meet him at FantasyLand Records in Atlanta many years ago... very cool and chill guy...🤘
I love this guy
The B-52s are the Ultimate party band! Love 'em!
I lived in Atlanta and was there at 2001. Very different place to say the least.
Seeing them on SNL was a mindblower. I used to leave my radio on overnight on a local, non-descript Top 40 station. Every time Rock Lobster was played I would re-animate like the zombies from Night Of the Living Dead. Like clockwork. Every single time.
love this guy, great song too!! fun to play
This song even sounded good on my clock radio. Then I saw them in 83 in a 2K theater in Boston and they blew the doors off of the place. Even the security guards were dancing. Awesome
I was lucky enough to see them twice live. Once in a dance club, The Metro, in Boston. And in a theater in Worcester Mass.. So much fun!
The world doesn’t get my love for this song
Rachel Rose ,
I do 💚
You need more musical education then you will get it. Like lots of great bands the B 52s have their slot.
@@Senna-xi1gr lol ok
When something goes wrong, start giggling! Really great to hear the stories from Fred voice, and man he looks awesome!
This band is always so much fun, I still got ingrained on my brain their performance of Channel Z on SNL as they got their Cosmic Thing brand new album then, a swell return from all the World losing Ricky... My, oh my, those troubling times we struggled to survive and... here we are!
The band loves to party with a Conscience and that's what the world needs right now. Loved the B-52s and still do! ❤👍
Fantastic band. Come back to Australia Pleeeeease!!!!
Canada loved you first!! LOL I had this 45 in 1980 when I was 8. I think the flip was 6060-842!!!
I saw them in London at the Hammersmith Palais, winter of 1980, right after my military service. Great live show!
I saw them at a small venue, 79, maybe 80. Fred playing the toy xylophone 😄
Thanks for the details, Fred! I live in Georgia and have been a B52s fan since inception. Enjoyed watching them play Rock Lobster and other hits in Atlanta on 1/6/23 and they never missed a beat. The best party band EVER.
The Totality Of Madness That's ALL Around Us As The World Is Now.
i was in 7th grade when that saturday night live appearance happened. i think that's a point in your life where you really start honing your own musical taste and paying attention to that kind of thing as part of your own identity. so in a way it was life changing. i sort of went 'THAT! i want to hear more of that!' and began to seek out bands that did things differently. on a semi-related note, i can't imagine not being crushed out on Keith.
When I think of The B-52's,I go back to the summer of 1980;Ft. Gordon,Georgia and one of the hottest Summers on record.
A fellow in our Training Company,Tom Dunham,would play this album on weekends and drive the Kool and the Gang crowd f*****g NUTS!
One of my all time favorite albums!!! Listen to tracks off it all the time!!! It was and is so creative and original!!!!!
DANG.... LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!! YOU ROCK LIKE NO OTHERS, AND HAVE BEEN A HUGE INFLUENCE ON ME AS A MUSICIAN / SONGWRITER, HEARTFELT THANKS
"Now it's just B five two S..." lmfao! That was hilarious.
I just love everything they put to vinyl. Was lucky enough to see them live at Rewind fest. Henley on Thames.
Such a fun band! On my bucket list to see them!
Beautiful impression!
1972 or so I had the album David Bowie Ziggy Stardust. On the back cover of it it said “Play Loud”. I’m like what? No one ever told me to play my music louder! Radical!
I've still got my vinyl, just like that 😃
I love this guy and the story is really funny. I can definitely picture that empty club with a cheesy slide show and Fred standing by himself looking at it and then... boom! it went off the charts. we love you guys, thanks for the music.
Best 80s party band! We would all dance low or lie down with the lyrics “Down Down!” And the then making the hand motions for the tanning butter, clapping, flipping, snapping ... so much fun! Thank you Australia for helping launch so much good music.
The 2's as my 2 year Daughter says, IS the best dance band since the 50's and the KICK ASS band of ALL time. I've seen them at Madam Wong's in LA.
AWESOME, SEEN THEM 3 TIMES AND BETTER THAN EVER!
Saw them in DC in September, excellent show! Opening acts were Berlin and OMD!
6.48 minutes of pure fun. Rinkydink? That makes B-52’s fun!
Still think this is their best album. Saw them live in Miami on their Cosmic Thing tour. Such a great show and this song was the closer.
Thx so much for the rocking tunes! Still love it,so don't my granddaughter!!!
Awesome, great story!
got that song played 6 or 7 times at my graduation (in Montreal): we had a GREAT evening!!
When the band did their January 1980 appearance on Saturday Night Live (including "Rock Lobster"), it kind of put The B-52s on the map.
I am so used to typing or writing _B-52's_ with the apostrophe there (Fred called it an asterisk here, haha). And I didn't know they changed it at one point to the grammatically correct plural way!
In high school in the 80s, this song got played at dances after football games, homecoming, etc. And the "down down down!" part of the song had 100 people wriggling on the floor like steamed lobsters!
Saw them at Heatwave around 81' - great live act. Chip Barkhouse The Drummist
Athens GA is where happiness comes from. come visit us sometime . you'll love the town ,the people, and music.
My favorite song is private idaho
J'ai cet album vinyle, un bonheur d'avoir connu un pote pendant le service militaire, qui ma fait découvrir ce groupe. Merci Éric Causse.
Love this I got it when it came out
Fun fact: Cocaine is actually credited on the first 3 B-52s albums as co-song writer.
LMFAO!😂🤣
As most of 70’s and 80’s songs
It must be quite difficult to chat cohesively with your own music playing in the background. Especially 'Rock Lobster' 😄
Love this song, kind of forgotten about it until Family Guys episode...
1979? I was alive then. How different this was from ALL the other music of the time is hard to overstate. You can easily call the sex pistols 'rock and roll' but what do you call the B-52's? They were intensely creative and refused to GAF. Those things go together.
Just found this on RUclips. Interesting story!!!
i love this tune!
Alright! Alright!
It's a hell of a feeling!
Gotta say I like them speakers...oh and bangin choon!
I love ya Fred. Sooo funny!!
In my youth in the 1980s . The hardcore clubs would play Rock Lobster before the live acts came on and we would slam dance, scank, stage dive ,PA dive and mosh to this!! Good times.!!
A recording that fused 60s garage punk with the future
Absolute legend.
Soy de mi tan deseada Venezuela 🇻🇪 y aunque no entienda su idioma, me gusta su música 😃👏