The B-52s, The US Festival, 1982
May 20, 2023 8:10 PM   Subscribe

In 1982, the first version of The Us Festival [Wikipedia] happened, attracting a then-ridiculous-sounding 400,000 people in attendance across a three-day weekend. One of the acts on the first day, New Wave Day, was The B-52s. Thanks to the miraculous infusion of cash and technology from Steve Wozniak, who organized the festival we have The B-52s At The Us Festival [1h], the entire set, with pretty good video quality and great sound!
posted by hippybear (38 comments total) 62 users marked this as a favorite
 
I did a quick skim and it looks and sounds quite fantastic. Great find, hippybear!

Their weird was so weird but at the same time accessible, at least to me. Truly one of a kind, and so much better than you could expect from their top ten hit(s). So many to choose from but Dirty Back Road is probably my favourite.

This is yet another band where I developed a crush on the lady singers based totally on their voices and only after seeing video footage did the crush include their band looks. I liked Fred too but Kate and Cindy's voices far outshone his, and he was clearly far to weird for suburban young me. Innocent times...
posted by ashbury at 8:39 PM on May 20, 2023


The rest of the lineup for that day isn't too shabby!

Gang of Four
Ramones
The Beat
Oingo Boingo
The B-52's
Talking Heads
The Police
posted by gc at 10:09 PM on May 20, 2023 [20 favorites]


Every once in a while a band or musicians drop into pop culture and seem like they’re from the future, Missy Elliot and Timbaland come to mind, and Nirvana too, but the B-52’s seem like a band that came from so far in the future that the 20th Century was just hazily recollected, and they then tried to dress and play music they thought was “20th Century”.
posted by Kattullus at 1:08 AM on May 21, 2023 [36 favorites]


Thanks Woz!
Thanks hippybear!

It’s 6:18 AM and I’m Sunday-dancing.
posted by whatevernot at 3:19 AM on May 21, 2023 [3 favorites]


the B-52’s seem like a band that came from so far in the future that the 20th Century was just hazily recollected, and they then tried to dress and play music they thought was “20th Century”.

I've heard that when the B-52s put out their first album, John Lennon heard it - and his reaction was that "holy shit, I think that people are ready for Yoko now finally if this is what they're listening to," and that's what prompted him to come out of retirement and make Double Fantasy.

...I saw the band for free - they used to have free summer concerts down at this park just near Coney Island's boardwalk, and the B-52s did a gig there once. I found a place close to the front when I got there, but I wanted to stand up and dance and all the other people around me were sedately sitting in their folding chairs or blankets and I felt awkward. Then I saw about 20 feet behind me in the crowd there was a little knot of people, probably college-age kids, all dancing. I was 30-ish, but I still grabbed up all my stuff, edged back to them, and threw down my chair next to theirs; and by the time I had turned around to join them, one of the girls had spotted me and turned to dance with me, welcoming me into the circle. We never introduced ourselves, we were too busy hollering "You're livin' in YOUR OWN PRIVATE IDAHO!" at each other.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:12 AM on May 21, 2023 [22 favorites]


Nice post.
I was there, along with 399,999 others. I was 14 and very stoked.
I adore each of the bands that were on the stage that day, but the B-52s are special - defiant and fun and subversive and liberating.
posted by Glomar response at 4:41 AM on May 21, 2023 [18 favorites]


John Lennon heard it

I don't know if it was the same interview or not, but I remember Lennon on the radio being asked about the B52s and replying that he was glad people seemed to be catching up at last, because Yoko had been singing like that for years. Words to that effect, anyway.
posted by Paul Slade at 4:52 AM on May 21, 2023 [2 favorites]


I was there, along with 399,999 others. I was 14 and very stoked.

About the same age, but I was in summer camp, so they ran a LONG, LONG coax cable and showed it in the a tv in the counselor lounge.
posted by mikelieman at 5:05 AM on May 21, 2023 [3 favorites]


Love this band. I find it funny that with the beehive hairdos and other styles, they were spoofing a look that was only around 20 years old at the time. It'd be like a band wearing year 2000-era hair and clothes today.
posted by SoberHighland at 6:04 AM on May 21, 2023 [6 favorites]


The what festival?
posted by NBelarski at 6:37 AM on May 21, 2023 [5 favorites]


they were spoofing a look that was only around 20 years old at the time

I've noticed that for a while now, the past isn't as far away as it used to be (presumably because of the internet and increasing quality of primary-source media from the recent past).
posted by LooseFilter at 6:56 AM on May 21, 2023 [5 favorites]


The US Festival.

The Music Festival That Time Forgot: Inside Steve Wozniak’s US Fest

(At the time, living on the other side of the country, for some reason I thought the fest was associated with Us Weekly magazine, a celebrity gossip/news magazine found in grocery checkout lines and doctor's offices, and for the life of me I couldn't figure out why a magazine aimed at, like, my mom, was putting on this huge rock and roll show.)
posted by soundguy99 at 6:57 AM on May 21, 2023 [4 favorites]


I saw them in either 1988 or 1989. My friends and I were way too cool to like something as old and stodgy as the B-52s (aka we were snotty little punks) but somehow we got given free tickets so we went. The concert was fun, with huge clouds of weed smoke rising everywhere. We were super out of place with our spiked/dyed hair but people were nice about it; that might be the nicest concert crowd I've ever experienced. No fights, no tensions, and people sharing drinks and weed, everyone just there to dance and sing along and have fun.

It was still not my own kind of music, but the vibe was so fun and nice that I've had a soft spot for the band ever since.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:28 AM on May 21, 2023 [3 favorites]


Love, love, love their rendition of Give Me Back My Man here.
posted by signal at 7:33 AM on May 21, 2023 [1 favorite]


We were super out of place with our spiked/dyed hair but people were nice about it; that might be the nicest concert crowd I've ever experienced.

Speaking of the hair, the whole row of people behind us spent the evening lightly and fascinatedly touching our hair. It was a little weird at first, then they shared their weed and we decided we were fine with an evening of hair caressing. Mine was all spiked out and spraypainted blue with household spray paint, my friend had a good sized mohawk, and the other friend had a more asymmetric thing going on. We were basically a petting zoo, but like with the baby goats people were being gentle and happy so it was fine.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:51 AM on May 21, 2023 [6 favorites]


The US Festival always makes me think of this Bloom County strip
posted by kokaku at 8:02 AM on May 21, 2023 [6 favorites]


OMG the present day interview in full costume
posted by nebulawindphone at 8:07 AM on May 21, 2023


he was glad people seemed to be catching up at last, because Yoko had been singing like that for years

Well, I sort of see where some of Kate/Cindy's vocals could sound Yoko-esque, but I think the salient difference is that The B-52s had actual songs with hooks that people would want to hear again. And the more outré vocalizations were filigrees, not the main attraction, for lack of a better word.
posted by the sobsister at 8:09 AM on May 21, 2023 [11 favorites]


I do sort of like how The B's made this HUGE announcement about how they weren't going to be touring anymore, did a whole round of farewell concerts, not touring anymore... and then immediately announced a Las Vegas residency and they're also doing festival appearances all summer. So they're not TOURING... but they're still performing all the time.
posted by hippybear at 8:18 AM on May 21, 2023 [1 favorite]


>the past isn't as far away as it used to be

The 1982 US Festival was as close to the attack on Pearl Harbor as it is to today.

The 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s did seem to pack in more change than the 80s, 90s, 00s, and 10s.

Fashion-wise, most certainly. I'd kill to be able to shop for my clothing (we're work-casual now) in a 1982-era Millers Outpost. I'd also kill for my 1982-era beltsize but that is another story.

Social-wise we've been running in circles since the 1970s as reaction has set in. Trump was just a replay of Reagan's first term but with worse actors and . . . never mind, this is a depressing subject and this is supposed to be a happy post.

Back to the music, I don't think anything has changed since 1982? Aside from the DX7 coming out in '83, we've got the same Fender guitars, synths, and music beats. The highlights for me of the recent top 40 this decade has been Kate Bush's '85 hit and Dua Lipa's "Levitating" which could have been from 1980.

It's said Japan hit the 2000s early and stayed there, while we hit the 80s and never left??
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 8:31 AM on May 21, 2023 [4 favorites]


DO WHATEVER!

This is so fun. This would have been amazing to see live, but this video is pretty neat too.
posted by os tuberoes at 8:31 AM on May 21, 2023


I've always been confused by the B-52s, because for a while they could have been the best harmony singers in rock -- like, they were right up there with Linda Ronstadt when they wanted to be -- and instead they mostly wanted to do weird shouty yodel-y novelty funk.

But you know what, fuck it, this sounds like a lot more fun than being Linda Ronstadt.
posted by nebulawindphone at 8:37 AM on May 21, 2023 [3 favorites]


Well, I sort of see where some of Kate/Cindy's vocals could sound Yoko-esque, but I think the salient difference is that The B-52s had actual songs with hooks that people would want to hear again. And the more outré vocalizations were filigrees, not the main attraction, for lack of a better word.

I think you need to listen to more Ono. Not everything she wrote and recorded is primal screams.
posted by rhymedirective at 9:01 AM on May 21, 2023 [2 favorites]


Hard to believe it's been almost 40 years since we lost Ricky.

This is a great find, hippybear. Thank you.
posted by JoeZydeco at 9:54 AM on May 21, 2023 [4 favorites]


Yeah, I can definitely see how John Lennon would see an affinity between the B-52’s and something like Yoko Ono’s Move on Fast or Open Your Box.
posted by Kattullus at 11:20 AM on May 21, 2023


I had a long comment written about how cultural time is flattening, how the 50s is still considered "oldies" and even tech seems to have slowed down, but I cut all that. This is a thread about the B52s and none of you need that crap from me today. I'll save it for a thread that doesn't rock so hard.
posted by JHarris at 11:21 AM on May 21, 2023 [3 favorites]


The B-52s actually covered Yoko Ono's Don't Worry, but then Yoko asked that it be removed from further pressings of Whammy! and replaced with Moon 83.
posted by hippybear at 11:28 AM on May 21, 2023 [1 favorite]


Oh wow, I wasn't expecting YouTube to be so kind to me this week. So much good stuff. But I won't be making another B-52s post so here is The B-52s Video Collection. 15 videos, about 1 hour.

This is incomplete because I know there were at least two videos made for songs on the Funplex album, Funplex and Juliet Of The Spirits, although annoyingly I'm not finding the Juliet video at the moment.
posted by hippybear at 11:46 AM on May 21, 2023 [2 favorites]


Back to the music, I don't think anything has changed since 1982

There's a certain worldview in which that's true, but it tends to ignore or marginalize hip-hop culture, which is the genuinely revolutionary and forward-thinking art form of the last half-century. Anyway, I was too young to catch the B's in their initial depth charge, having come of age about the time Ricky left our plane. But I do remember growing up in my depressing Midwestern post-industrial town, gazing up at the poster in my local record store and praying that college would finally deliver me to people who weren't afraid to lose their minds to the B-52's. Their music beckoned likeminded people to create a kind of utopia amongst themselves, and for a moment, it really worked.
posted by mykescipark at 12:52 PM on May 21, 2023 [2 favorites]


I took a solo road trip in 2000, deliberately looking for kitsch; I started in NYC and ended in Vegas, following the little two-lane highway back roads, stopping at cheesy roadside attractions and eating in diners with waitresses in pink nylon who called you "hon".

One of the CDs I brought with me and wore to absolute death on the trip was the B-52s double-CD greatest-hits anthology Nude On The Moon, which was completely ideal for that kind of trip.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:36 PM on May 21, 2023 [6 favorites]


But you know what, fuck it, this sounds like a lot more fun than being Linda Ronstadt.

Ms. Ronstadt dated Jim Carrey, so I think she has had some fun.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:17 PM on May 21, 2023 [2 favorites]


the B-52’s seem like a band that came from so far in the future that the 20th Century was just hazily recollected

You’ve forgotten - they came from Planet Claire.
posted by skyscraper at 5:29 PM on May 21, 2023 [3 favorites]


Ricky Wilson was a special guitarist.

Some comments on his Mosrite guitar and assorted tunings

posted by Ayn Marx at 5:53 PM on May 21, 2023 [7 favorites]


If I recall correctly, Steve Wosniak really liked outlaw country, and wanted the original festival be that. Jerry Jeff Walker (who actually performed on Day 3), Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, etc. Hence the location (San Bernadino) too.

But his backers convinced him that was kind of niche and that a grand festival with big rock names would do more for the message.


That's an interesting alternate history to think about.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:11 AM on May 22, 2023 [2 favorites]


The year: 2001
The place: a ballroom at the Bellagio in Vegas
The event: The Qwest 2001 sales kickoff
The band: Yep - a private concert for 2000 tech salespeople. On the one hand, seeing them up close like that was kind of cool. OTOH, OMG THE B52s ARE SELLOUTS!!!!!!!!

The drunk VP of Marketing told us later that night that the company paid $250K for the 75-minute show. So, I can't really blame them. That's not a bad payday for a one-day trip to Vegas.

Amusingly, somebody had run into a couple of guys from Styx in the hotel that morning, so we were all sure Styx was the band.

My celebrity encounters that weekend include craps with Senator John McCain, and a young blond woman who none of us believed was his daughter, but it was, in fact, Megan McCain. George Carlin was also at the same table. I also played blackjack at about 3 AM with a very drunk Anne Hecht.

I haven't been back to Vegas since.
posted by COD at 9:06 AM on May 22, 2023 [5 favorites]


they're still performing all the time.

Yep, my across the street neighbor just got back from seeing them in Vegas.
posted by jessamyn at 9:20 AM on May 22, 2023


Love this band. I find it funny that with the beehive hairdos and other styles, they were spoofing a look that was only around 20 years old at the time. It'd be like a band wearing year 2000-era hair and clothes today.

(Some of) The Kids definitely are doing mid-00s right now. I’ve always felt like these cycles have gotten shorter in the internet era but maybe not. Maybe it just feels like that because it’s happening to me. Or maybe it’s that we have these 60-some years of popular culture that are pretty well documented, and they get better and better preserved closer to now, which makes it possible to observe that people are simultaneously doing the 80s and the 00s-doing-the-80s, which makes it feel like we’re converging on some sort of eternal present.
posted by atoxyl at 10:24 AM on May 22, 2023 [1 favorite]


Ricky Wilson was a special guitarist.

Some comments on his Mosrite guitar and assorted tunings


I remember reading in Rip It Up and Start Again, Simon Reynold's history of postpunk music, that the B-52's were big fans of Gang of Four. I think the Gang of Four influence is most apparent in the jaggedness and spikiness of Ricky's guitar. After Ricky died, the B-52's sound completely changed & you get Cosmic Thing and the whole post-"Love Shack" incarnation of the band. "Before Ricky died" is to Joy Division as "after Ricky died" is to New Order.
posted by jonp72 at 8:59 PM on May 22, 2023 [2 favorites]


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