The B-52's: Wild Planet (Warner Bros.)
Richard Grabel, New York Rocker, November 1980
EVEN THE most novel ideas can fall victim to the old adage that familiarity breeds contempt. In 1978, when exuberant dance music was a rare commodity, the B-52's were strange, challenging. In 1980, "dance music" is a part of every promo man's vocabulary and the B-52's are the visible figurehead of a new pop sub-genre. It's a dangerous position to be in, given the temptation to simply recycle the formula that made 'Rock Lobster' the advertising jingle for all those suburban cover-band bars that began to "go new wave" last year.
Total word count of piece: 780