Happy 40th Anniversary to The B-52’s’ third studio album Whammy!, originally released April 27, 1983.
Wanna be the ruler of the galaxy? Wanna be the king of the universe? / Let’s meet and have a baby now! – “Song for a Future Generation”
The B-52’s always seemed like they were having a blast making music. Their music was one big party and we were all invited along for the ride. Whammy! is the band’s third studio album and it marked a huge turning point in their careers. Their focus moved toward using synthesizers and drum machines with Keith Strickland moving away from playing drums full time.
In a 2011 AV Club interview, Kate Pierson explained, “Keith and Ricky truly cross-collaborated sometimes. Keith would play the guitar or come up with guitar parts—he played multiple instruments—and at this point, he didn’t want to play drums anymore, so Whammy! featured drum machines and some synthesizers. It was kind of a big change in sound, which I wasn’t really for very much. I didn’t really like the drum machine. It was a different sound, but Whammy! was very much based around that, so there were lots of [imitates drum machine] and lots of click-click-click sounds and everything.”
The origins of Whammy! started in early 1982, when the band started to record what was supposed to be their third album Mesopotamia. David Byrne, who was recording the soundtrack to The Catherine Wheel at the time, was brought on by the B-52’s’ manager Gary Kurfirst to produce the record. Byrne worked on The Catherine Wheel during the day and Whammy! at night. The band felt they did not have enough songs and were not ready to put out an album.
At Kurfirst’s insistence, the band went along with the plan. The collaboration between Byrne and the band was less than ideal and the sessions came to a halt. Enough usable material existed to make Mesopotamia an EP instead of a full album. This strange period of transition included the band’s guest spot on the CBS soap opera The Guiding Light.
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The B-52’s returned to the studio in December 1982 knowing what changes they needed to make going forward. Strickland and Ricky Wilson played all the instruments on Whammy!, which was a departure from their previous albums. At the time, critics called it a return to form, but I saw Whammy! as part of their growth as a band. It was kitsch, but you could dance to it. “Song for a Future Generation” is a quintessential song in the B-52’s catalog because it embodies the spirit of the band. It’s fun and doesn’t take itself too seriously.
“Butterbean,” “Big Bird,” and “Queen of Las Vegas” were holdovers from the Mesopotamia sessions, but seem right at home with the other six tracks. Looking back on the success of Whammy! is bittersweet. It was the final album the B-52’s released before Wilson’s death in 1985 due to AIDS-related complications. During the recording of Whammy!, Wilson discovered he had contracted HIV and told no one except Strickland. “Ricky was very, very quiet about things,” Cindy Wilson, his younger sister and bandmate shared during an interview with The Age. “He didn’t tell anybody else but Keith Strickland, and that was his choice. I don’t know if he was in denial. I think it was probably a bit of everything.” Wilson’s important contributions to the band’s sound are clear on Whammy! and a huge component of their evolution. Whammy! is an underrated gem in the B-52’s’ catalog that too often gets overlooked.
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