1. The B-52’sThe B-52’s
This is probably one of the first albums that I ever really heard. Growing up in Athens in the ’80s, R.E.M. wasn’t quite the Warner Brothers band yet, you know? But The B-52’s, they were on Saturday Night Live and stuff. I was too young to see that, but that was the kind of band they were. It wasn’t too long after I first discovered them that they came back around with ‘Love Shack’ and that whole album … But I picked this one because, well, it has something to do with a lot of the other albums on the list, something I’m very envious of because a lot of people associate me with – god forbid! – this sort of shoegaze-y, wall of sound sort of thing, which was very trendy when Deerhunter came around, but I’ve never been a huge shoegaze person. I’ve always admired starkness in music, and there’s very few albums more stark than this one. It’s basically just guitar, drum set and vocals, with an organ here and there. It’s like the Ramones in that way. They had this minimalism.
I’ve always liked how democratic the band is. Obviously Fred Schneider is sort of the frontman, but then it’s not like other bands too, with everybody in the band sort of in it together.
I always viewed the band as Ricky’s [Wilson], who’s one of my all-time heroes. If he were alive I’d like to assume that we would be like a couple of something. If I’d grown up in his time, you know what I’m saying? Ricky and Keith [Strickland], they were the music. Ricky wrote the melodies, and Keith was this amazing drummer who later on, after Ricky died, really took over. The thing I like about The B-52’s, is that it’s all really like a party, you know? It’s just like some friends.
