Local Wire

B-52s @ Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum

It's been over 20 years since "Love Shack" reached the Billboard Top 40. Since then, there hasn't been one wedding, bar mitzvah, sweet 16, or retirement party that is safe from the song. Actually, though, the B-52s formed a dozen years before "Love Shack" hit the mainstream. Though they may have stayed off of most people's radar after all their "bang bang bangin' on the door, baby" (save the occasional event with a DJ hired out from a company found in the Yellow Pages) they managed to remain part of popular consciousness. How? Honestly, I'm not sure. Maybe it's because in the mid-'90s, three 52s appeared in The Flintstones and two of them wound up singing the third incarnation of the theme song for the popular Nickelodeon cartoon Rocko's Modern Life. Could those gigs keep them alive? Maybe. In 2008, they released their first studio album in over a decade and a half. Even if they stray from the limelight now and again, somehow they always find their way back.

KEEP PHOENIX NEW TIMES FREE... Since we started Phoenix New Times, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Phoenix, and we'd like to keep it that way. With local media under siege, it's more important than ever for us to rally support behind funding our local journalism. You can help by participating in our "I Support" program, allowing us to keep offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food and culture with no paywalls.
Sarah Ventre

Latest Stories