The B-52’s were formed in 1976 when vocalist Cindy Wilson, her older brother and guitarist Ricky, organist and vocalist Kate Pierson, original drummer and percussionist Keith Strickland and cowbell player, poet and vocalist Fred Schneider played an impromptu musical jam session after sharing a tropical Flaming Volcano drink at a Chinese restaurant in Athens, Georgia. Other ideas they had to name their band were the “Tina-Trons” and “Felini’s Children”. When they first jammed, Strickland played guitar and Wilson played congas. They later played their first concert (with Wilson playing guitar) in 1977 at a Valentine’s Day party for their friends. This concert was just one year later, and the same year their first single, “Rock Lobster”, recorded for DB Records in 1978, was an underground success, selling over 2,000 copies in total. It would late be re-recorded and become a classic.
