Music of the Day, 18 January 2024

too many words

My head has been overflowing with words lately—by which I mean that focusing on my job search, along with listening to and thinking about current events, has silenced the radio station in my mind. The best treatment for too many words is instrumental music, which often means classical for me. But I haven’t been in the mood for that either.

It took a bit of searching in my music library, but I found the perfect tune. New wave + laid-back surfer guitar = bliss.

I can’t really say that I’m a fan of the B-52s,¹ primarily because my interest has never risen to a high enough level to merit the term. My first exposure may have been courtesy of my friend D, who was more interested in new wave music than I was, or the radio. I’m pretty sure I saw their appearance on Saturday Night Live in 1980, but unlike Devo’s,² I don’t remember having a strong response. I enjoyed the songs I heard on the radio, and that was that.

At some point later in my life, I must have crossed paths with a B-52s fan, because I have four of their albums in my collection: their eponymous debut album; Wild Planet; Cosmic Thing; and Good Stuff. I’m pretty sure I’ve not spun a single one in its entirety so far, but I had a vague recollection of a cool instrumental. A bit of searching and the first few notes (including that big tom sound) confirmed that “Follow Your Bliss” was the tune I’d been thinking of.

Cosmic Thing was the B-52s’ first album after the untimely death of guitarist Ricky Wilson, and has gone 5x platinum over the years since, largely on the back of the band’s biggest hit, “Love Shack.” It’s a great, energetic song. For me today, however, all I want is to follow my bliss and just soak in the mellow vibes of “Follow Your Bliss.”

1. Originally styled as “the B-52’s,” the band dropped the unnecessary apostrophe in the early 2000s

2. Instantly smitten