"Rock Lobster" is a song written by Fred Schneider and Ricky Wilson, two members of The B-52's. It was produced in two versions, one by DB Records released in April 1978, and a longer version, which was part of the band's 1979 self-titled debut album, released by Warner Bros. The song became one of their signature tunes and it helped launch the band's success. "Rock Lobster" was the band's first single to appear on the Billboard Hot 100, where it reached No. 56. A major hit in Canada, the single went all the way to No. 1 in the RPM national singles chart. Its follow-up was "Private Idaho", in October 1980, which reached No. 74 in the US. Rock Lobster was well received by critics and was placed at No. 147 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Composition and themes
The DB Records single version lasts 4:37 and is faster and rawer than the 1979 Warner single version. However, it has the same lyrics as the second version, but with extra lines in the listing of marine animals. The 1979 single version is an edit itself from the album version, which lasts about seven minutes and contains an extra verse. According to a "Behind the Vinyl" video with Fred Schneider for CHBM-FM, the song was mostly inspired by a discotheque in Atlanta named 2001, where instead of having a light show, the club featured a slide show with pictures of puppies, babies, and lobsters on a grill. The song's lyrics describe a beach party while mentioning both real and imagined marine animals, with absurd noises accompanying each, provided by Kate Pierson on the higher-pitched sounds and Cindy Wilson the lower-pitched ones. The chorus consists of the words "Rock Lobster!" repeated on top of a keyboard line. "Rock Lobster" is written in the key of C minor and is in common time. Instruments used in the music include a baritone-tuned surf-style Mosriteelectric guitar, a Farfisa Combo Compact organ and drums. Pierson played the song's bass line on a Korg SB-100 synthesizer.
Reception
of AllMusic called the song "incredibly infectious" and "memorable".
The song was well-received overall, and was the band's first single to appear on the Billboard Hot 100, where it reached No. 56. In Canada, released on the Warner Bros. label, the single became a huge hit, eventually going on to reach No. 1 in the RPM-compiled national chart on May 24, 1980. Although "Rock Lobster" only reached No. 37 on the UK Singles Chart in August 1979, it fared better there when reissued in 1986, reaching No. 12 as a double A-side with "Planet Claire". In Australia, the single heralded the band's breakthrough and was their first big hit to chart there, peaking at No. 3 in 1980.
In the spring of 1980, John Lennon, whose post-Beatles music career had been on hiatus for nearly five years while he helped raise his son Sean, was prompted to record again after hearing "Rock Lobster"; according to Lennon, "it sounds just like Ono's music, so I said to, 'It's time to get out the old axe and wake the wife up!'" His return to the studio led to the release of Double Fantasy. At a 2002 B-52's concert in New York, Yoko Ono joined the band on stage for the performance of this song. The song appears in the Family Guy episodes "The Cleveland–Loretta Quagmire", "" and in the 2008 movie . Early Commodore Amiga 500 units had "B52/ROCK LOBSTER" etched on the main circuit board. The song is playable in the video games Just Dance 4 and Rock Band 3. Panic! at the Disco sampled the song's guitar riff for their song "Don't Threaten Me with a Good Time" from their fifth studio albumDeath of a Bachelor. This song was covered by the crossover thrash band Dead Horse on their 1991 albumPeaceful Death and Pretty Flowers.
