FEATURE:
I'm Headin' Down the Atlanta Highway…
The B-52’s’ Cosmic Thing at Thirty-Five
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WHEN writing about…
IN THIS PHOTO: The B-52's photographed on 27th September, 1989 in Munich, Germany/PHOTO CREDIT: Fryderyk Gabowicz/Picture Alliance via Getty Images (via Billboard)
The-B52’s’ majestic and brilliant Cosmic Thing, we have to give some context. It is sandwiched between two of their albums that were not big critical smashes. A triumph following from 1986’s underwhelming Bouncing Off the Satellites, they followed Cosmic Thing with 1992’s Good Stuff. A band who many feel peaked with their first two albums – 1979’s The B-52's (which turns forty-five on 6th July) and 1980’s Wild Planet -, there is no denying that Cosmic Thing was a brief return to form. Perhaps not as consistent as the first two albums, Cosmic Thing does contain several of the most popular and well-known songs from the Athens (Georgia) band. Roam, Cosmic Thing and Love Shack are among their finest releases. It is quite timely marking the upcoming thirty-fifth anniversary of Cosmic Thing. The B-52’s have recently played farewell gigs. Playing together for over forty-five years, it was a sad but celebratory send-off. A chart success in the U.S. and U.K., Cosmic Thing was co-produced by Nile Rodgers and Don Was. Recorded at a variety of studios around New York, it was released on 27th June, 1989. With Fred Schneider, Kate Pierson, Cindy Wilson and Keith Strickland in incredible form, you can hear something very special through Cosmic Thing. It would not be right to call it a comeback or revival. Their first two albums are so lauded, so maybe anything that fell below that was unfairly criticised. There is no doubting that Cosmic Thing was a new stage for The-B52’s.
I want to get to some reviews and features about Cosmic Thing. Giving us more background and insight into one of the most life-affirming albums ever. Even if many reviews were tepid in 1989, retrospective assessment has been kinder and more accurate. Maybe not up to the dizzy heights of Wild Planet, Cosmic Thing is a wonderful album that deserves attention and respect ahead of its thirty-fifth anniversary. In 2019, Albumism marked thirty years of The-B52’s’ fourth studio album. A time when many were ready to write them off:
“The songs on Cosmic Thing were a slight move away from the band’s previous four albums which had been perceived as more underground “new wave.” Their 1979 eponymous debut album was a hit, particularly in Australia where it achieved the number 3 spot on the charts along with all three singles achieving similar success. Both "Rock Lobster" and “Planet Claire" have become some of music’s most legendary songs in their own right and have also gone on to forever be synonymous with the band and the new wave era they epitomized throughout the ‘80s.
The band’s following three albums did moderately well, with many claiming that their sophomore LP Wild Planet (1980) is their best. Whammy! (1983) and Bouncing Off The Satellites (1986) did not go on to achieve the same success as the previous two and maybe because of this, the band felt the need in the making of the latter album to write separately and switch up instruments (Keith Strickland moved from drums to guitar and keyboard). Sadly, these disruptions were trivial in comparison to the tragedy that struck the band in the most extreme way possible when Ricky Wilson, their guitarist and lead vocalist Cindy Wilson’s brother, passed away from an AIDS related illness in late 1985. It sent the band into shock.
Bouncing Off The Satellites had not yet been completed and given the devastation felt by all band members, the album was not promoted and the band wisely took a much needed hiatus. It’s important to mention Wilson’s death here for a number of reasons; not only was he a founding member of The B-52s and a prophetic guitarist giving the band an incredibly unique sound, but he was also a gay man who had passed away from an AIDS related illness at the height of his career. In 1985, this was not only incredibly taboo and surrounded by prejudice, but it could have very well been the catalyst for the band’s demise. Thankfully it wasn’t and given that June is Pride month, one must pay homage to yet another musician and person who sadly lost their life to HIV/AIDS.
1988 saw the band reunite after nearly three years away from the recording studio and start writing collaboratively, with all remaining four band members having songwriting credits on all four lead singles from the album. In June 1989, the album’s third single “Love Shack” was released and whilst the two preceding singles “Cosmic Thing” (from the soundtrack Earth Girls Are Easy) and "Channel Z” had provided little buzz for the band, it was their foray into the more commercial and incredibly upbeat party anthem that reaffirmed that they were well and truly back.
“Love Shack” is undoubtedly the band’s most recognizable song on a global scale and given that it charted incredibly well worldwide, with a staggering eight weeks at No.1 in Australia, this album was so much more than just a comeback. It was the first time the band had played without Ricky Wilson and to achieve all this success must have been somewhat bittersweet. Sometimes when we are at our lowest, we dig the deepest for inspiration and this album is living proof of that.
The album’s fourth and fifth singles, “Roam” and "Deadbeat Club," went on to chart well, with “Roam” faring better and gaining a GRAMMY nomination. “Deadbeat Club” was a homage to the band’s early life when their parents constantly referred to them as “Deadbeats” and even featured a cameo from their fellow Athenian, R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe, in the music video. Other notable tracks on the album are the beautifully upbeat “Junebug” and the transcendental, instrumental closing track “Follow Your Bliss.”
Cosmic Thing had a lot riding on its back, but with a production team that included Don Was (Was Not Was) and the legendary Nile Rodgers of Chic fame, coupled with a regrouping of sorts by the band, the album went on to become the group’s most commercially successful venture to date. Whilst many said the band had become “too commercial,” Cosmic Thing most definitely stayed true to their core style of new wave, continuing with the infusion of surf music (most notably with “Follow Your Bliss”) and their own unique brand of upbeat, lyrically positive and infectious dance grooves (think “Love Shack,” "Roam” & “Topaz”)”.
I want to move to a couple of positive reviews for Cosmic Thing. This is an album whose songs I first heard not long after they came out. I recall hearing Love Shack in 1989 or 1990. Roam is quite an early memory. The older I got, I heard the whole album was really impressed. Even if The-B52’s are an acquired taste to some, I have always liked their music. Cosmic Thing might be my favourite album from them. AllMusic had this to say when they reviewed Cosmic Thing:
“Many observers were prepared to write off the B-52's after the release of Bouncing Off the Satellites. Granted, the album was completed in the wake of Ricky Wilson's death, but the group appeared bereft of new musical ideas and were sounding rather stale. In other words, the last thing anyone expected was a first-class return to form, which is what they got with Cosmic Thing. Working with producers Don Was and Nile Rodgers, the B-52's updated their sound with shiny new surfaces and deep, funky grooves -- it was the same basic pattern as before, only refurbished and contemporized. Just as importantly, they had their best set of songs since at least Wild Planet, possibly since their debut. "Cosmic Thing" and "Channel Z" were great up-tempo rockers; "Roam" had a groovy beat blessed with a great Cindy Wilson vocal; and "Deadbeat Club" was one of their rare successful reflective numbers. Then there was "Love Shack," an irresistible dance number with delightfully silly lyrics and hooks as big as a whale that unbelievably gave the group a long-awaited Top Ten hit. The thing is, Cosmic Thing would already have been considered a triumphant return without its commercial success. The big sales were just the icing on the cake”.
I am going to wrap things up with a review from the BBC. I do hope that there is some form of commemoration and highlighting of Cosmic Thing prior to its thirty-fifth anniversary on 27th June. It is deserving of a lot more love than it got back in 1989. I guess, in such a big and important year for music, there was focus on other types of sounds and bands. No real excuse, mind:
“In the late 80s, after an initial burst of Technicolor freakery around the start of the decade, The B-52s were circling the Where Are They Now? columns, seemingly a wonky remnant of their own past. By the time Cosmic Thing had successfully reinstalled them bigger and better than ever before, the question was answered thusly: "Probably in Australia, hovering up sales, or scooping up awards ahoy."
This was the band’s first album (their fifth overall) to be recorded after guitarist Ricky Wilson died during the recording of 1986’s Bouncing off the Satellites; understandably, with the band in no mood to promote BOTS at the time, Cosmic Thing signalled something a comeback. It also saw a slightly less-lurid and kitschy look adopted – a professional move onwards from the wigs, lobsters and planets named Claire found on their iconic eponymous debut of 10 years earlier. It paid off too, chiming with the positivity and fun times the awaiting 90s had to offer, and becoming their most successful album to date.
Of course, this was mainly due to the success of the single Love Shack, a karaoke staple to this day. It was kept off the number one slot by Beats International and Snap! in the UK, but was one of the biggest singles of the year in their native US and spent eight weeks at the summit in Australia, a place that had taken the band to its heart before anyone else had. The song was based around a road trip they took out to Atlanta. Roam, the other big hit from the album, also did decent business and has been commandeered ever since as a theme for adventure holidays. The album is like a celebration of life and wonder, rather than what could have been an obituary for their earlier selves. This is true even on Deadbeat Club – a song that can be taken either as a slacker anthem or, more factually, a reflective discourse on their earlier days of no money, with ideas bursting out of their hair.
Smoothly produced by Nile Rodgers and Don Was, Cosmic Thing breathed new life into the b(r)and, and pointed the way ahead. We’ll draw a discreet veil over the Flintstones theme cover that followed a few years later, and instead hold Cosmic Thing aloft as a fine encapsulation of The B-52s’ world”.
If you have not heard Cosmic Thing or are unfamiliar with The-B52’s, then I would say that this album is worth revisiting. Also check out their eponymous debut and Wild Planet. Put it on, turn it up loud, and you’ll imagine yourself headin’ down the Atlanta highway…
LOOKIN’ for the love getaway.