Ricky Wilson is my favourite guitarist by some distance. Really amazing style. There's been nobody like him before or since really. I mean, Keith Strickland had to learn his parts but it's not really the same thing. I think he tuned to something like CFXXFF. His death was fucking heart-breaking. He died when AIDS was still something of a mystery. There was all that 'Gay Plague' bullshit floating around the media. He kept his illness secret and the rest of the band only found out from a friend who worked as a nurse at the hospital he was being treated at. A week or so later he was dead.
This album is in my top ten for sure. I never get sick of it. '52 Girls' is a perfect song. It's probably been on a hundred mixtapes I have made over the years.
B-52 s Debut Album
13here, i started a thread on a different forum a few years ago on Ricky Wilson's guitar sound.
i got this reply.
i got this reply.
i can tell you something about ricky's "style." i spent some time with ricky. we were playing different things and he kept trying different tunings. after a while i said, "well, why don't you just try standard tuning and maybe we can come up with something interesting that way too?"
he said, "i don't know standard tuning" so i said, "well, what tuning are you in, (G?, D?, etc...) and i can show you how to get to standard tuning from there" and he said, "i don't know what tuning i am in."
I said, "huh, you don't know what tuning you are in? how do you write songs?" and he said, "i just tune the strings till i hear something i like and then something comes out". (mind you, we had just been jamming for an hour or so and had been working fine together)
so i asked him, "well, how do you replay the songs you have written, like rock lobster? do you write down the tunings?" and he said, "no, i don't write anything down, and i have no idea how the tunings go." i was flabbergasted and i asked him, "how the hell do you play the songs again then", and he said (in all seriousness), "i don't know!"
a true story. and the nicest guy you would ever meet. i still don't know how he did it but every time i saw them live it was a complete blast, and they drove me nuttier than a sane man ought to get, jumping around dancing and screaming. (mind you i got pretty stoned back then). what a great band.
B-52 s Debut Album
14pwalshj wrote:So. Damn. Great. This record never fails to cheer me up. It is loud. It is frequent.
It's on my "depression playlist" as well as my darkroom one, but I can only play it when I am printing alone, because I dance around the chemicals and such.
I think sometimes I sing along.
Not fucking crap.
B-52 s Debut Album
15For me, surfy guitars are an instant not-crap. After reading up on Ricky Wilson's guitar style, it furthers the not-crap feeling. Everything else on this album (beehive hairdos, nonsencical lyrics, cheesy keyboards etc.) ranks a hearty not crap.
The main issue that should be discussed regarding the B-52s is Camp or Not Camp.
The main issue that should be discussed regarding the B-52s is Camp or Not Camp.
B-52 s Debut Album
16This is a fantastic record. I often wonder to myself when listening to it, "It must be the craziest feeling to have your first record start with a song like Planet Claire".
Ricky Wilson was/is an incredible guitarist. All of his parts are perfect. Dance This Mess Around has some of the most interesting and cool guitar ever recorded. Such a weird sense of rhythm.
There's no filler in any of this record. All the parts in the songs seem to have a place.
Great band. One of the greatest debut records. So good.
Ricky Wilson was/is an incredible guitarist. All of his parts are perfect. Dance This Mess Around has some of the most interesting and cool guitar ever recorded. Such a weird sense of rhythm.
There's no filler in any of this record. All the parts in the songs seem to have a place.
Great band. One of the greatest debut records. So good.
B-52 s Debut Album
18r0ck1r0ck2 wrote:here, i started a thread on a different forum a few years ago on Ricky Wilson's guitar sound.
i got this reply.i can tell you something about ricky's "style." i spent some time with ricky. we were playing different things and he kept trying different tunings. after a while i said, "well, why don't you just try standard tuning and maybe we can come up with something interesting that way too?"
he said, "i don't know standard tuning" so i said, "well, what tuning are you in, (G?, D?, etc...) and i can show you how to get to standard tuning from there" and he said, "i don't know what tuning i am in."
I said, "huh, you don't know what tuning you are in? how do you write songs?" and he said, "i just tune the strings till i hear something i like and then something comes out". (mind you, we had just been jamming for an hour or so and had been working fine together)
so i asked him, "well, how do you replay the songs you have written, like rock lobster? do you write down the tunings?" and he said, "no, i don't write anything down, and i have no idea how the tunings go." i was flabbergasted and i asked him, "how the hell do you play the songs again then", and he said (in all seriousness), "i don't know!"
a true story. and the nicest guy you would ever meet. i still don't know how he did it but every time i saw them live it was a complete blast, and they drove me nuttier than a sane man ought to get, jumping around dancing and screaming. (mind you i got pretty stoned back then). what a great band.
that is awesome... really awesome...
Ricky is a huge influence on the way I play guitar... his "split tuning" was a father to my "clank tuning" its where I got the idea to split the guitar into 2 different modes of thinking, and I would not ahve devolped that without him.
Not Crap, but boy did they go downhill fast...
Ty Webb wrote:
You need to stop pretending that this is some kind of philosophical choice not to procreate and just admit you don't wear pants to the dentist.
B-52 s Debut Album
19Very not crap. Great, great record, and yeah, Ricky was a hell of a good guitar player, whether or not he knew what he was doing.
B-52 s Debut Album
20steve wrote:It's just not camp.
Si. It's tough, this record. This band is tough, for that matter.
Agree that Ricky Wilson was a unique and brilliant guitarist.
Ricky Wilson is a huge influence on my own guitar playing, particularly baritone.
I love Wild Planet as well.
Like parts of all their records. Keith Strickland is probably the only guy who could have stepped in for Ricky Wilson--he isn't as great, but they have still made good music after losing RW.
The women are also awesome.
Fred is also great. Fred Schneider is like the anti-Freddie Mercury, with no pejorative meant (I like FM as well).
Live clips of them in the early days are incredible. Those songs just go and go and go.