{"id":10160,"date":"2026-04-12T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/ive-just-written-the-stupidest-riff-ever-the-making-of-rock-lobster-by-the-b-52s-154052\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T09:00:00","slug":"ive-just-written-the-stupidest-riff-ever-the-making-of-rock-lobster-by-the-b-52s-154052","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/ive-just-written-the-stupidest-riff-ever-the-making-of-rock-lobster-by-the-b-52s-154052\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI\u2019ve just written the stupidest riff ever\u201d \u2013 The Making of \u2018Rock Lobster\u2019 by the B-52\u2019s"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

Originally published in Uncut Take 216 (May 2015<\/em><\/strong> issue)…<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Originally published in Uncut Take 216 (May 2015<\/em><\/strong> issue)\u2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Even in the melting pot of the American new wave scene, The B-52s\u2019 debut single stood out. Equal parts funny, weird and artfully avant-garde, \u201cRock Lobster\u201d is still the greatest nonsensical six-and-a-half-minute psychedelic surf-rock song about marine life. \u201cWell, there\u2019s not any songs like it,\u201d laughs vocalist Fred Schneider. <\/p>\n

The quintet bonded over a flaming volcano cocktail in a Chinese restaurant in Athens, Georgia, in late 1976, and quickly pieced together the song that helped secure them an audience on New York\u2019s alternative scene. \u201cNothing with the band was ever thought out or calculated,\u201d says drummer Keith Strickland today. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven the way we dressed was just how we dressed when we went to parties before the band started. I think that\u2019s what made it work, \u2018cos it was just who we were.\u201d Formed from an open-tuned riff written by the group\u2019s late guitarist Ricky Wilson and wry sprechgesang poetry from Schneider, all topped off with raucous fish impressions from Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson, \u201cRock Lobster\u201d even has the honour of having sparked John Lennon\u2019s return to the studio in the late \u201970s. <\/p>\n

Recognising Yoko Ono\u2019s influence on Cindy\u2019s wild screams, Lennon became convinced the music world was now ready for him and his wife, and swiftly began work on Double Fantasy. \u201cWe started out as a party band,\u201d says Schneider, \u201cand we all had a good sense of humour. But we don\u2019t do our songs in a funny way, we want to kick ass. We want to rock.\u201d <\/p>\n

Key Players<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fred Schneider (Vocals, songwriter)<\/p>\n

Keith Strickland (Drums)<\/p>\n

Kevin Dunn (Production)<\/p>\n

\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

KEITH STRICKLAND:<\/strong> I\u2019d been friends with Ricky since we were 16 in high school. I would play his guitar sometimes, but I would often break a string, and instead of replacing it I\u2019d just retune the guitar to some open tuning. This was much to Ricky\u2019s annoyance\u2026 I said, \u201cTry playing it like this.\u201d And he finally tried it. The next day I walked in, and he\u2019s playing the guitar and laughing. I go, \u201cWhat\u2019s so funny?\u201d and he says, \u201cI\u2019ve just written the most stupid guitar riff ever.\u201d And he plays the \u201cRock Lobster\u201d riff. He knew it was good, but he also thought it was funny \u2013 that was Ricky\u2019s sense of humour.<\/p>\n

SCHNEIDER:<\/strong> I first heard the riff when we started jamming. I\u2019d had the idea for the title I was at this disco in Atlanta, called 2003 Disco, and instead of a light show they had a really cheap, cheesy slideshow. They\u2019d show slides of puppies, lobsters on the grill, hamburgers, children\u2026 I mean, it wasn\u2019t a pervy place [laughs], but it definitely wasn\u2019t an expensive, deluxe place. And I just thought \u201crock this, rock that\u2026 rock lobster\u201d. So we went into our studio, which was an unheated bloodletting room in the African-American part of town, in a funeral parlour. <\/p>\n

STRICKLAND:<\/strong> I would just jam along with Ricky. Kate wasn\u2019t playing bass on the keyboard yet, so it was just drums and guitar; very White Stripes!<\/p>\n

SCHNEIDER:<\/strong> The way we worked was to jam for a long time. If we thought we had something, Ricky and Keith would take it back on their tape recorder, and then they\u2019d come back and play it for us, and show us parts and we\u2019d see if it worked for us. I just thought, \u201cOkay, so this is the title, imagine something and then just start singing about it\u2026\u201d Sometimes pot would help, too [laughs]. It just gradually grew and then it wound up at six and a half minutes long\u2026 <\/p>\n

STRICKLAND:<\/strong> When Cindy goes into the scream, that was sort of a tip of the hat to Yoko Ono. We were all big fans of her music. I think the fish sounds and Fred going \u201cthere goes a narwhal\u201d and \u201chere comes a bikini whale\u201d and all that stuff, that was just from the jams, and piecing it all together. <\/p>\n

SCHNEIDER:<\/strong> \u201cPass the tanning butter\u2026\u201d That was probably a \u201960s reference, \u2018cos I lived near the shore, and there were constant ads for suntan lotion and all that stuff \u2013 I just threw everything into the mix. <\/p>\n

STRICKLAND:<\/strong> The humour came out very naturally for us. That is Fred\u2019s genius in a way. He would just yell the stuff out\u2026 very sort of punk, you know? It was how he delivered it that made it work. <\/p>\n

KEVIN DUNN:<\/strong> I first heard about the Bs when they were playing around at parties and they were the talk of the town, basically. I saw them when my band The Fans played with them in Atlanta it was something to see. It was a singular sound, nothing like it, Ricky especially. He was one of a kind, a perfect, na\u00efve genius. Honestly, I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever seen anything like that in my life. It was like mass kinesis in the audience. <\/p>\n

SCHNEIDER:<\/strong> We played New York before we ever played Athens. We\u2019d done parties in Athens but there was no place for us to play, \u2018cos we were the only punk band in town. Somebody said, \u201cYou sound as good as a lot of the bands at Max\u2019s\u201d, so we got a gig there on December 12, 1977. <\/p>\n

DUNN:<\/strong> The Fans were playing CBGB\u2019s a lot in \u201977 and we basically introduced the band to Hilly Kristal: \u201cHere\u2019s a cute little band from Athens, perhaps you might like to book them sometime.\u201d <\/p>\n

SCHNEIDER:<\/strong> And eventually we were one of the only bands they would allow to play both Max\u2019s and CBGB\u2019s, because we said, \u201cLook, we can\u2019t be driving 800 miles on alternate weekends.\u201d We started just totally selling out, and record labels came to see us, we were thrilled. We met Blondie, the Talking Heads\u2026 <\/p>\n

STRICKLAND:<\/strong> I remember playing Max\u2019s the second time and The Cramps were there, and I was talking to Lux and Ivy after our set. In those days, everybody was putting out an independent single and we hadn\u2019t recorded ours yet. I remember Lux and Ivy asking, \u201cWhat\u2019s your single gonna be?\u201d And we were like, \u201cWell, we haven\u2019t decided yet.\u201d They said, \u201cIt\u2019s gotta be \u2018Rock Lobster\u2019!\u201d I wasn\u2019t really sure, but it was always the last song at closing time. <\/p>\n

SCHNEIDER:<\/strong> I guess it was the strongest, and got the most response. By that time, we had \u201cKiller Bees\u201d, \u201cPlanet Claire\u201d, \u201c52 Girls\u201d, maybe \u201cDance This Mess Around\u201d. <\/p>\n

STRICKLAND:<\/strong> We went to Stone Mountain Studios, and basically set up live. Maybe we all played it live, so Kate played keyboards and keyboard bass at the same time. <\/p>\n

DUNN:<\/strong> I came to produce the first version of \u201cRock Lobster\u201d through Danny Beard [of DB Records]. He was sort of dating Kate, and was into the band a lot, and he decided that I knew something about recording. In a lot of ways I would always say I was the production chauffeur. I didn\u2019t add very much to the operation, which was pretty bare-boned. It was just like, here\u2019s the sound recorded. The engineer, Bruce Baxter, was a genius in that way, so uh\u2026 I directed traffic. That was basically it. I think it took the better part of two days. <\/p>\n

SCHNEIDER:<\/strong> I don\u2019t think we added any reverb to the whole recording at all \u2013 we didn\u2019t think about it! <\/p>\n

DUNN:<\/strong> The aesthetic back then was for dry drums. It was like, do as little to the core of the rhythm section as possible. <\/p>\n

STRICKLAND:<\/strong> There wasn\u2019t a lot of production. There were no overdubs. Um, I think we may have overdubbed the gong, though, and kind of pitched it down. <\/p>\n

DUNN:<\/strong> I tried, in the \u201cdown, down\u201d section, someone doing a very heartfelt, gut-wrenching song. It wasn\u2019t like, \u2018Here comes the punch line\u2026\u2019 <\/p>\n

SCHNEIDER:<\/strong> We signed with Warners in 1978. All these different labels kept courting us, \u2018cos we all figured like, hey, free meals! \u2018Cos we all had jobs that didn\u2019t pay well \u2013 25 cent tips\u2026 Imagine, I\u2019m washing pots and pans one week and flying down to the Bahamas to record our debut album the next. Keith and Ricky were working at the bus station. So it was exciting. <\/p>\n

STRICKLAND:<\/strong> We didn\u2019t spend too long recording the first album at Compass Point, maybe a couple of weeks. We recorded pretty quickly once we found a deal \u2018cos we just wanted to get the album out that summer. So I think we were down there for maybe two weeks. Things went pretty quickly, most of it was recorded live as well. <\/p>\n

SCHNEIDER:<\/strong> Chris Blackwell wasn\u2019t really hands-on at all. Robert Ash basically produced the record and I think Chris just listened to it, and made some suggestions. <\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI JUST THOUGHT IT WAS DREADFUL, THE WHOLE THING, THE WHOLE ALBUM\u2026IT WAS TERRIBLE.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

STRICKLAND:<\/strong> I remember after we finished the album, we listened back to it and I just thought, \u2018This sounds horrible.\u2019 I just thought it was dreadful, the whole thing, the whole album\u2026 it was terrible. Because I just thought, you know, you go into a studio and you think you\u2019ll sound bigger and better or whatever, you know? And Chris really wanted to keep it stripped down and just sound the way we did it. I mean to me, to my ears, we never sounded that way. In the club, it\u2019s reverby, the acoustics are horrible and so there\u2019s a lot of splashing around with sounds, it always sounded much bigger to me when we played live. And it was louder and bigger, but in the recording it doesn\u2019t sound that way, it sounds very stripped down and very minimal. <\/p>\n

SCHNEIDER:<\/strong> I thought it sounded a little \u2018rinky dink\u2019, to be honest. I mean, I guess that\u2019s what we sounded like live, I don\u2019t know. <\/p>\n

DUNN:<\/strong> The sound got a little sharp on the album version. I think the somewhat primitive nature of the equipment involved in the original session made it warmer, more guttural. <\/p>\n

STRICKLAND:<\/strong> Now, I get it and I like it, it\u2019s a document. John Lennon said a few times that he liked the song. Of course, this is something we didn\u2019t know until after he had been killed; so it was quite bittersweet to hear it. It blew my mind because The Beatles were the reason why I wanted to be an artist at all. I was just blown away that he had heard it and he\u2019d heard Yoko through Cindy, and thought, \u2018Now they\u2019re ready for us.\u2019 <\/p>\n

SCHNEIDER:<\/strong> We\u2019d always been fans of The Beatles, John, Yoko\u2026 people still don\u2019t get Yoko, she\u2019s brilliant. So to hear they liked it\u2026 oh God, yeah. Yoko sang on \u201cRock Lobster\u201d when we did our 25th anniversary show. Unfortunately I didn\u2019t have her in my ears, but c\u2019est la vie [laughs]. <\/p>\n

STRICKLAND:<\/strong> It was just amazing. Yoko\u2019s just going; she\u2019s wailing, she was way into it. I remember thinking, \u2018Let\u2019s just keep it going, let\u2019s just jam out on this.\u2019 But I couldn\u2019t really get everyone on board in time, and the song seemed to end so quickly. But we could\u2019ve just gone all night doing that! She and I sat down for a moment backstage and we talked about John and Ricky, and it was just blowing my mind that she knew all about Ricky and his guitar playing and everything [Wilson passed away in 1989], so it was a really sweet moment to have that with her. <\/p>\n

SCHNEIDER:<\/strong> I would always say that we were good for all theatres, \u2018cos if we played, they could tell if they were structurally sound. The balconies would have a bit of give\u2026 and boy, did they start giving! <\/p>\n

STRICKLAND:<\/strong> Yeah, \u201cRock Lobster\u201d was the dangerous one, we had to stop a show in Minnesota in 1990 because plaster was falling from the ceiling, on to the people down below. That was probably one of the only times we didn\u2019t play \u201cRock Lobster\u201d. <\/p>\n

SCHNEIDER:<\/strong> For some reason, I don\u2019t get bored with it, I don\u2019t know why. <\/p>\n

STRICKLAND:<\/strong> It sounds like a children\u2019s record, if you think about it. It\u2019s like those children toys where you learn, like; \u2018This is the sound a pig makes\u2026\u2019 I mean, we were aware of that, we were like, \u2018This is ridiculous\u2019, but it just made us laugh. So we just went for it!<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The post \u201cI\u2019ve just written the stupidest riff ever\u201d \u2013 The Making of \u2018Rock Lobster\u2019 by the B-52\u2019s<\/a> appeared first on UNCUT<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally published in Uncut Take 216 (May 2015 issue)… Originally published in Uncut Take 216 (May 2015 issue)\u2026 Even in the melting pot of the American new wave scene, The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5851,31,35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-b52s","category-features","category-interviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10160\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}