Formed on an October night in 1976 following drinks at an Athens, GA, Chinese restaurant, The B-52’s played their first gig at a friend's house on Valentine's Day 1977. Naming themselves after Southern slang for exaggerated 'bouffant" hairdos, the newly-christened B-52's (Fred Schneider, Kate Pierson, Keith Strickland, Cindy Wilson and Ricky Wilson) began weekend road trips to New York City for pick-up gigs at CBGB's and a handful of other venues. Before long, their thrift store aesthetic and genre-defying songs were the talk of the post-punk underground.
The B-52’s influence cuts a wide path through much of “modern rock”; as Rolling Stone recently wrote, “These days, bands from the Strokes to Yeah Yeah Yeahs hang out at the crossroads between punk rock and New Wave; back in 1979, the B-52’s built that intersection.”
While we wait for The B-52’s long-awaited new studio album, it’s high time to remind the world of the band’s enduring relevance via a series of limited edition, exclusive must-have 12” coloured vinyl issues. Each will feature 4 brand new remixes from each of the band’s 7 classic albums. A host of established and emerging talent from the European and US dance scene (naturally all huge fans of the band) will be delivering brand new remixes destined straight for the club
dancefloors over the next few months.
1983’s Whammy! album is first up for a revisit, on deluxe green vinyl.
To get the ball rolling Riton reworks Trism. Riton has recently remixed the likes of Scissor Sisters, Kylie Minogue, New Order, Mylo and Alter Ego. Riton is a huge emerging talent.
Song For A Future Generation is reworked by Majortweaks – aka Roger Lyons, one half of 90’s Manchester duo Lionrock. He has since worked with the likes of New Order, Ian Brown, Ladytron …and the Bee Gees! This was the main single release from Whammy! in both the US and UK, and is taken to eleven in this rousing electro update. Majortweaks also remix Legal Tender from the album, which sees vocalists Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson in startling form.
MHC remix Whammy Kiss. MHC, aka Philip Larsen & Chris Smith, have remixed most of the electro premier league in their few years on the scene. Soft Cell, The Human League, Erasure, Moby, The Knife etc have all benefited from their nips and tucks, and they are currently putting the final production touches to Andy Bell from Erasure’s debut album, set for release later in 2005. Larsen also won a Grammy last year for his production work for Kylie Minogue. MHC, in their
Manhattan Clique alter ego, are also responsible for the A&R throughout this remix series.