"After the musical neutron bomb that was “The B-52’s” hit in 1979, we didn’t have to wait too long for the all-important sophomore album. By the summer of 1980, “Wild Planet” was released and I can recall buying a copy the week of release. Such was the band’s cachet at the time! When we removed the disc from the green paw print inner sleeve and let the needle drop, we were treated to an album that was less shocking and paradigm shifting from their debut waxing, but made up for its lack of world building by sporting outrageously good songs that were by turns, more sophisticated than much of their debut album...The lead single in America was the amazing “Private Idaho,” a song that focused the B-52’s aesthetic like a laser and still managed to sound as if it actually belonged on the radio in the bargain! Holding off the beat while the guitar riff set the rhythm for half a bar was a genius move of arrangement. That alone created a wave that sucked the listener into the song immediately. Then Kate Pierson’s freaky backing vocals reminded us that here was the band that was unafraid to venture into those Yoko Ono waters. The urgency of the song was unstoppable and the “outer limits” organ riff leading into the chorus was clearly the band at the top of their game. That this triumph managed to get to just #74 in the US Hot 100 was some kind of slap in the face."

- postpunkmonk, postpunkmonk.com