Complete List Of The B-52's Songs From A to Z

Feature Photo: Kim Reinick / Shutterstock.com

The B-52’s emerged from Athens, Georgia, in 1976 with a sound that seemed to have landed from another planet. Fred Schneider, Kate Pierson, Cindy Wilson, Ricky Wilson, and Keith Strickland combined surf guitar, dance rhythms, science-fiction imagery, and playful vocals into music unlike anything else on American radio. Their thrift-store fashions, beehive hairstyles, and colorful live performances were every bit as distinctive as their records. What could have been a novelty act instead became one of the most original and influential groups to come out of the late-1970s new wave movement.

The band’s first independent single, “Rock Lobster,” appeared in 1978 and helped build an enthusiastic following before their self-titled debut album arrived in 1979. The original five-piece lineup followed it with Wild Planet, the remix collection Party Mix!, and the David Byrne-produced Mesopotamia EP. Songs such as “Planet Claire,” “Private Idaho,” “Give Me Back My Man,” and “Dance This Mess Around” demonstrated that the group could make adventurous, strange music feel completely natural on a dance floor. Their next studio album, Whammy!, embraced electronic textures without abandoning the band’s unmistakable personality.

Tragedy struck in 1985 when guitarist and founding member Ricky Wilson died. The group completed Bouncing Off the Satellites but stepped away from the stage for a period afterward. When the remaining members returned with Cosmic Thing in 1989, the band enjoyed the biggest commercial success of its career. “Love Shack” and “Roam” became international pop hits, while “Deadbeat Club” celebrated the Athens friends and places that had inspired them. Good Stuff followed in 1992, and the B-52’s reunited for more recording and touring before releasing Funplex in 2008.

The B-52’s catalog also reaches well beyond their seven studio albums. It includes early versions of famous songs, the extended mixes on Party Mix!, soundtrack recordings credited to the B.C.-52’s, and new tracks recorded for the 1998 compilation Time Capsule. Their appearance on Miranda Lambert’s “Music City Queen” demonstrated how easily their sound could cross musical boundaries. The archival collection Ancient Culture: Mesopotamia Revisited, released in 2026, brought previously unreleased recordings from the band’s early-1980s sessions to listeners, offering another fascinating chapter in an already unusual recording history.

Complete List Of The B-52’s Songs From A to Z

0–E

“52 Girls” – Rock Lobster / 52 Girls single (B-side) (1978)
“52 Girls (1979 Album Recording)” – The B-52’s (1979)
“52 Girls (Party Mix! Version)” – Party Mix! (1981)
“53 Miles West of Venus” – Wild Planet (1980)
“6060-842” – The B-52’s (1979)
“Adios Desconocida” – Ancient Culture: Mesopotamia Revisited (2026)
“Ain’t It a Shame” – Bouncing Off the Satellites (1986)
“Bad Influence” – Good Stuff (1992)
“Big Bird” – Whammy! (1983)
“Big Bird (Mesopotamia Session Version)” – Ancient Culture: Mesopotamia Revisited (2026)
“Breezin’” – Good Stuff (1992)
“Bushfire” – Cosmic Thing (1989)
“Butterbean” – Whammy! (1983)
“Cake” – Mesopotamia (EP) (1982)
“Channel Z” – Cosmic Thing (1989)
“Communicate” – Bouncing Off the Satellites (1986)
“Cosmic Thing” – Cosmic Thing (1989)
“Dance This Mess Around” – The B-52’s (1979)
“Dance This Mess Around (Party Mix! Version)” – Party Mix! (1981)
“Dancing Now” – Funplex (2008)
“Deadbeat Club” – Cosmic Thing (1989)
“Debbie” – Time Capsule: Songs for a Future Generation (1998)
“Deep Sleep” – Mesopotamia (EP) (1982)
“Detour Thru Your Mind” – Bouncing Off the Satellites (1986)
“Deviant Ingredient” – Funplex (2008)
“Devil in My Car” – Wild Planet (1980)
“Dirty Back Road” – Wild Planet (1980)
“Don’t Worry” – Whammy! (1983)
“Downtown” – The B-52’s (1979)
“Dreamland” – Good Stuff (1992)
“Dry County” – Cosmic Thing (1989)
“Eyes Wide Open” – Funplex (2008)

F–J

“Follow Your Bliss” – Cosmic Thing (1989)
“Funplex” – Funplex (2008)
“Girl from Ipanema Goes to Greenland” – Bouncing Off the Satellites (1986)
“Give Me Back My Man” – Wild Planet (1980)
“Give Me Back My Man (Party Mix! Version)” – Party Mix! (1981)
“Glove Slap” – The Simpsons: Testify (2007), with The Simpsons
“Good Stuff” – Good Stuff (1992)
“Hallucinating Pluto” – Time Capsule: Songs for a Future Generation (1998)
“Hero Worship” – The B-52’s (1979)
“Hot Corner” – Funplex (2008)
“Hot Pants Explosion” – Good Stuff (1992)
“Housework” – Bouncing Off the Satellites (1986)
“Is That You Mo-Dean?” – Good Stuff (1992)
“Juicy Jungle” – Bouncing Off the Satellites (1986)
“Juliet of the Spirits” – Funplex (2008)
“Junebug” – Cosmic Thing (1989)

K–O

“Keep This Party Going” – Funplex (2008)
“Lava” – The B-52’s (1979)
“Lava (Party Mix! Version)” – Party Mix! (1981)
“Legal Tender” – Whammy! (1983)
“Love in the Year 3000” – Funplex (2008)
“Love Shack” – Cosmic Thing (1989)
“Loveland” – Mesopotamia (EP) (1982)
“(Meet) The Flintstones” – The Flintstones: Music from Bedrock (1994), credited to the B.C.-52’s
“Mesopotamia” – Mesopotamia (EP) (1982)
“Moon 83” – Legal Tender single (B-side) (1983)
“Music City Queen” – Palomino (2022), Miranda Lambert featuring the B-52’s
“Nip It in the Bud” – Mesopotamia (EP) (1982)

P–T

“Party Out of Bounds” – Wild Planet (1980)
“Party Out of Bounds (Party Mix! Version)” – Party Mix! (1981)
“Planet Claire” – The B-52’s (1979)
“Planet Claire (François Kevorkian Remix)” – Time Capsule: The Mixes – Summer of Love ’98 (1998)
“Private Idaho” – Wild Planet (1980)
“Private Idaho (Party Mix! Version)” – Party Mix! (1981)
“Pump” – Funplex (2008)
“Queen of Las Vegas” – Whammy! (1983)
“Queen of Las Vegas (Mesopotamia Outtake Version)” – Nude on the Moon: The B-52’s Anthology (2002)
“Quiche Lorraine” – Wild Planet (1980)
“Quiche Lorraine (Live)” – Tame Yourself (1991)
“Return to Dreamland” – Good Stuff single (B-side) (1992)
“Revolution Earth” – Good Stuff (1992)
“Roam” – Cosmic Thing (1989)
“Rock Lobster” – Rock Lobster / 52 Girls single (1978)
“Rock Lobster (1979 Album Recording)” – The B-52’s (1979)
“Runnin’ Around” – Wild Planet (1980)
“Runnin’ Around (Instrumental)” – Rock Lobster single (B-side) (1979)
“She Brakes for Rainbows” – Bouncing Off the Satellites (1986)
“Song for a Future Generation” – Whammy! (1983)
“Song for a Future Generation (Instrumental)” – Future Generation 12-inch single (1983)
“Strobe Light” – Wild Planet (1980)
“Summer of Love” – Bouncing Off the Satellites (1986)
“Summer of Love (Original Unreleased Mix)” – Time Capsule: Songs for a Future Generation (1998)
“Tell It Like It T-I-Is” – Good Stuff (1992)
“The Bedrock Twitch” – The Flintstones: Music from Bedrock (1994), credited to the B.C.-52’s
“The Chosen One” – Pokémon 2000: The Power of One (soundtrack) (2000)
“The World’s Green Laughter” – Good Stuff (1992)
“Theme for a Nude Beach” – Bouncing Off the Satellites (1986)
“There’s a Moon in the Sky (Called the Moon)” – The B-52’s (1979)
“Throw That Beat in the Garbage Can” – Mesopotamia (EP) (1982)
“Too Much to Think About” – Funplex (2008)
“Topaz” – Cosmic Thing (1989)
“Trism” – Whammy! (1983)

U–Z

“Ultraviolet” – Funplex (2008)
“Vision of a Kiss” – Good Stuff (1992)
“Whammy Kiss” – Whammy! (1983)
“Whammy Kiss (Live)” – Nude on the Moon: The B-52’s Anthology (2002)
“Wig” – Bouncing Off the Satellites (1986)
“Work That Skirt” – Whammy! (1983)

THE B-52’S STUDIO ALBUMS

The B-52’s (1979)

Wild Planet (1980)

Whammy! (1983)

Bouncing Off the Satellites (1986)

Cosmic Thing (1989)

Good Stuff (1992)

Funplex (2008)

Looking for the best of the best? See our Top 10 B-52’s Songs. Want to learn more about the band’s lineup over the years? Check out our Complete List of The B-52’s Band Members.

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