The B-52s had recently been at the top of the charts with "Love Shack," a good-time party anthem. This episode had them performing less-known singles, including the title track, from the same album. It was a surprising contrast with their previous appearance on SNL, only 10 years before, which had been as unnerving as any other new group that showed up in those first years of Saturday Night.
- Discordant keyboards - in one case played literally on a toy piano.
- Female vocalists with caterwauling vocals and bouffant hairdos that had been out of fashion for years.
- Half the band falling to the ground, as if struck dead, at the bridge of Rock Lobster
- Speaking of which: A song about a beach party and the dangerous ocean life nearby. Or something.
- And one about "All sixteen dances" - like the Hippogriff, the Escalator, and the Aqua-Velva.
- Surf music undertones, but definitely not the Beach Boys.
- Nor punk nor rock nor blues nor anything really that was heard before.
- Plus cowbell. Seriously. Played front-and-center by Fred Schneider.
And all this in two songs comprising less than 8 minutes of performance time.
On this Earth Day show, however, they were more clearly a regular pop group. They were certainly more polished, less dangerous. While some of the change in perception is due to looking back 24 years, a glance at Rock Lobster or Dance This Mess Around in 1980 shows how seriously unexpected they had made themselves. Compared to that, the 1990 version seems tamer, more a part of the world - normal, even.
Whereas, looking at that first performance, it really is, even now, seriously weird.
Whereas, looking at that first performance, it really is, even now, seriously weird.
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