Song for a Future Generation

Infobox Single
Name = Song for a Future Generation


Artist = The B-52's
Album = Whammy!
A-side =
B-side = "Planet Claire"
Released = 1983
Format = 7", 12"
Recorded = 1983
Genre = New Wave
Length = 4:00
Label = Warner Bros. Records / Island Records
Writer = The B-52's
Producer = Steven Stanley
Certification =
Last single = "Whammy Kiss" (1983)
This single = "Song for a Future Generation" (1983)
Next single = "Summer of Love" (1986)

"Song for a Future Generation" is the third single taken from The B-52's 1983 album "Whammy!". It peaked at #63 on the UK Singles Chart and also reached number nine on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart, along with the album tracks "Whammy Kiss" and "Legal Tender." It is the first and only song by the B-52's to feature all five band members singing lead vocals.

The song's lyrical content has been speculated to be a satirical look at heterosexual coupling, evidenced both by the dating agency styled introductions of the band members, and by the repeated lyric: "lets meet and have a baby NOW!" The title of the song is not part of the lyrics, and was used as the title of a 1998 B-52's greatest hits compilation album, "".

A music video was filmed to accompany "Song for a Future Generation" for promotion on television. It features the band members performing the song on podiums, swings and in a Brady Bunch style split screen. The video also features some of the most extravagant, elaborate bouffant wigs that the female members of the band notoriously wore throughout their early career, including one made of golden tinsel, one with a chicken wire frame (nicknamed "the bird cage") and one bouffant atop which sat a giant bow made from wig-hair.

The B-52's sang "Song for a Future Generation" live over a backing track on the "Whammy!" tour in 1983.

Track listing

UK vinyl 12" single: Island Records

ide A

# "Song for a Future Generation"
# "Song for a Future Generation" (Instrumental)

ide B

# "Planet Claire"

UK 2 x vinyl 7" single: Island Records

# "Song for a Future Generation"
# "Song for a Future Future Generation" (Instrumental)
# "Planet Claire"
# "There's a Moon in the Sky (Called the Moon)"