B-52s fans: Can Fred Schneider sing?

Cafe Society
1

I’m not a huge fan of the B-52s, but am familiar with their most popular hits (Love Shack, Rock Lobster, etc.). One thing that’s immediately striking about the music is Fred Schneider’s vocals. In contrast to the band’s two female vocal leads, Schneider’s vocals are much closer to speaking than singing. I suppose the technical term for this is sprechgesang.

I’m curious, does Schneider always perform his vocals this way, or are there some tracks of his (either with or without the B-52s) where he actually sings in a more conventional manner?

2

I only know the B-52s big songs and he does tend to use more of a speaking voice. In fact, looking at some of his more recent/independent stuff, he’s still sounds exactly like that.

On another note, Kate Pierson sings backup on REM’s Shiny Happy People. If you didn’t already know that, you’ll never not notice it again.

3

No, Fred Schneider cannot “sing”, at least not that I’ve heard. Whatever you call what he does, it absolutely works but singing it aint.

4

Its more like a marching chant or cheerleading than singing

5

And if anyone remembers “Candy” by Iggy Pop (I still hear it on the radio often enough), that’s clearly her doing the female lead vocal there, as well. She has such a distinctive voice.

6

Someone should start this thread: Lead vocalists who don’t “sing” in the traditional sense but are still good.

In addition to Fred Schneider, I would include Lou Reed in this group.

7

I have 18 songs by the B-52s. He sounds the same on all songs on the songs where he sings.

8

Yeah, I’ve noticed her on other songs as well (and then looked it up to make sure). I think she does a lot more back up work than we realize. Shiny Happy People was just the first one I knew about. I’m almost positive it was something I learned on Pop Up Video.

9

That’s how he always sings.

10

Or David Byrne of the Talking Heads.

11

She actually sang backup on four songs on that album. Frankly I much prefer Me in Honey.

12

Not true.

13

Yeah, listen to “Take Me To The River” and tell me that ain’t singing.

ETA: Fred, though, yeah Fred don’t sing. Doesn’t have to, he’s got singers to do the heavy lifting.

14

Whatever you call it, he does it a hell of a lot better than I ever could. I call him a singer.

15

He always reminded me of Danny Kaye, but not in a good way.

16

And a Kate Pierson muppet appears in the Sesame Street version of that (“Furry Happy Monsters”).

17

I’ve done a bit more research on the subject and can now report my findings!

In a 2010 interview in Surviving the Golden Age, Fred says this about singing:

Your vocal style is pretty distinct. How did you develop it?
Well, I’m more of a writer. I’ve always felt my strong point is writing. That’s how it started. Keith and I used to make basement tapes; he would play guitar and I would just recite stuff off the top of my head. I can sing but I don’t know maybe I just freeze up and forget melody.

According to this short radio interview clip, posted in 2019, Fred does refer to what he does with the B-52s as “singing”, before correcting himself that he really means “talk-singing”. But then he goes on to say that now he does do some actual singing, as opposed to talk-singing:

Fred: I didn’t sing until I was in the band, really.

Interviewer: You didn’t?

Fred: No, I never sang in high school or grammar school or anything. I sang with Keith on… we had, uh, basement tapes. But, uh, was I in the chorus? No. I wasn’t going to stay after school.

Keith: I think I was the first person to hear Fred sing.

Interviewer: Really?

Keith: 'Cause I would play noise guitar and Fred would…

Fred: Recite.

Keith: Fred always had these wonderful poems, so Fred would recite—sing—his poems and I would play noise guitar.

Interviewer: And that just continued. You…

Fred: I mean talk-sing.

Interviewer: Talk-sing?

Fred: But now I sing more.

Interviewer: Yeah. Yeah, I love to hear you sing.

I was curious to hear some of this supposed actual singing, so I checked out his Wikipedia page and found that his most recent album is The Vertical Mind from 2017, issued by his side project Fred Schneider & the Superions. The album is available on YouTube. Most of the tracks I listened to featured his usual sprechgesang, though maybe a bit more melodic than with the B-52s. But at least one track does feature bona-fide singing in the traditional style. I now proudly present to you all Fred Schneider actually singing “When the Dingoes Ate the Babies”:

You’re welcome.