The B-52's - The B-52's

The B-52's arrived in 1979 sounding like nothing else on Earth, and their self-titled debut remains one of the most joyful oddities in American rock.

Formed in Athens, Georgia, the band blended surf guitar, thrift-store kitsch and new wave nerve into a party nobody had thought to throw yet. Chris Blackwell produced the album at Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas, and he wisely let the band be gloriously themselves: Fred Schneider's deadpan bark, the soaring harmonies of Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson, and Ricky Wilson's oddly tuned guitar riding Keith Strickland's insistent drumming.

"Rock Lobster" is the immortal centerpiece, a nearly seven-minute beach party that descends into a gloriously absurd roll call of sea creatures. "Planet Claire" opens the record with a sci-fi surf vamp that sounds beamed in from deep space, "Dance This Mess Around" lets Cindy Wilson cut loose with a wild, wailing vocal, and "52 Girls" rattles off its list of names with infectious glee.

Every song feels built for dancing in a living room with the furniture pushed back.

Decades later, its fingerprints are all over indie, dance-punk and anyone who ever dared to be weird on purpose, and this pressing keeps the original nine-song running order intact.