Essential Music #5

I was listening to the "Essential Music" show on the Detroit branch of NPR yesterday.  During the show, the host plays listeners' lists of essential music that are sent into the show with explanations.  I've never really heard about what makes a song "essential," but my best guess is that it sums up the things you feel and think and want to say in a way that you may never have been able to before.  Or it could be a song that captures an era.  Or maybe it's just a song that you really enjoy.  An essential song is not necessarily your favorite song; rather, I feel that it is a song that everyone needs to hear before they die.

In the hopes of having my list heard on the airwaves sometime in the future, I have compiled my list of essential songs.  While it may have been somewhat hastily created, there is no way that I'd ever be able to make a completely comprehensive list - there're just too many songs!

#5: "Rock Lobster," The B-52's (1979)

No list of essential music would be complete without "Rock Lobster."  This was the B-52's first hit from their debut album and signaled a sort of new direction in music.  They're considered a part of the "New Wave" that would infest the music scene in the 1980's.  The nonsense lyrics about a silly beach party, accompanied by the animal noises, great bass line, and the spoken word delivery that would become commonplace in B-52's material cements this song as one of the best and most important pieces of music out there.  While not the most famous B-52's song ("Love Shack?"), nor the most successful ("Roam?"), "Rock Lobster" announced their arrival.  Whenever I hear it, the volume goes up and the world goes away, while I get lost in a sea of absurdity.  This is exactly what should happen with great music.