When listening to “Rock Lobster” by the B-52s, many questions immediately come to mind. What is a bikini whale? Why are there piranha and narwhals operating in the same ecosystem? Is that thing under the dock over there a rock? (Spoiler alert for people who have never listened to the song: It is not.)
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Now, though, founding B-52s singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Kate Pierson has revealed that we’ve all been asking the wrong questions. (Why is it important that you all have matching towels? Who eats baked potatoes at the beach?) The real question posed by “Rock Lobster” is not “What the hell is a rock lobster?” It’s “How do we help it, now that we know it’s there?”
This is per a new (and absolutely lovely) interview Pierson gave to Vulture this week, running through every lead single the band has released in its nearly 50 years together—kicking off, obviously, with “Rock Lobster,” the first track to get them any serious radio play. At the time, the song’s titular creature was apparently inspired by images that frontman Fred Schneider saw at a disco, but has since taken on a deeper meaning. “The rock lobster represents animal rights to Fred,” Pierson asserted in the peice. “He’s a staunch vegetarian. To him, he really thought of saving the lobster.” We will never consider the song’s demands that we frug the same way; now, we frug for the cause of good.
Among other things, the look back at the band’s singles also serves as a quiet tribute to guitarist Ricky Wilson, a key part of the band’s founding line-up, who died of AIDS in 1985. Pierson recalls at one point, during the writing of “Rock Lobster,” “I remember Ricky came in and said, ‘I’ve just written the stupidest guitar line,’” which, if you’ve ever worked on a collaborative creative endeavor, you know that’s the sound of someone striking genius.
You can read the full piece (including the explanation for why neither “Love Shack,” nor “Roam,” the band’s two biggest hits, were lead singles) over at Vulture.