Rocktrospectiva: The Confident And Succesful "Cosmic Thing" Turns 35

 

Released on 27 June 1989, "Cosmic Thing" was the fifth studio album by American new wave/alternative band The B-52s., the album reached the No. 4 on the Billboard 200, and spawned five singles "Channel Z", "Cosmic Thing", "Love Shack", "Roam", & "Deadbeat Club", the album was produced by Nile Rodgers and Don Was, and it was the 9th., best-selling album on 1990 in the US alone, also had international success charting in the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

 

The album helped the band as a comeback after the death of guitarist songwriter and founding member Ricky Wilson, in 1985, the band was uncertain about their future together, therefore this album had been the band's most expensive to produce, and their foregoing of a tour to promote it resulted in the band seeing little revenue, which led to them experiencing great financial difficulties.

 

Back in 1988, prompted by drummer/guitarist Keith Strickland, the band began to group together and write new songs, the result was so catartic, singer Kate Pierson described this as a healing process for herself and the band after Wilson's death three years prior. Much of the album was written in Woodstock and surrounding areas in upstate New York, a place to which Strickland and Pierson had both relocated during the group's hiatus, and all four members felt a proximity to nature in these places that was not found in their previous home of New York City. The band spent a year writing the songs for this album, this was what the band needed, also, they get rid of their former manager Gary Kurfirst and moved from Warner Bros. to Reprise. 

Strickland took over guitar duties and composition, recorded demos, while Kate Pierson, Cindy Wilson and Fred Scheneider improvise on melodies and lyrics over the recordings, they came out with the autobiographical "Deadbeat Club", about band's early life in Athens, Georgia, "Junebug" came out as a jam along with the whole band, many of the songs on "Cosmic Thing" are about their concerns as the environmentalism more than on previous albums, a light tone, but all grown and matured, "Channel Z" by instance stands s political matter as a band and all the serious and important things that was happening back then. The band biggest hit "Love Shack" was the last song recorded for the album, this was taken from 15-minute unfinished piece the band had created, initially Strickland felt the song was not ready or suitable to be included but Pierson and Schneider tought the contrary. 

 

The first single "Channel Z" released on march 1989, was not commercially succesfull but generated amounts of airplay on college radio, this helped the band to regain the popularity between young people and eventually hit the No. 1 on Modern rock track chart, next was "Cosmic Thing" and the "Love Shack", the radios at first wasn't too enthusiastic, at first it was embraced by college radio and then breakout worldwide reaching No. 3 on Billboard Hot 100, then it comes "Roam" a top 20 hit and "Deadbeat Club" a top 30 hit, this prompted the album to sell strongly specially in the US. 

The critics were good praising the record as touching brave attempt to keep moving away from catastrophe, a remarkable fresh record back then despite still using their classic formula, unlike AllMusic critic that tough the album as a first-class return to form updating their sound with shiny new  surfaces and deep, full of funky groove containing their best set of songs since a long time ago, this record achieved to deliver the band's sound to the mainstream. 

 

Cosmic Thing Track List: 

 

1. Cosmic Thing

2. Dry County

3. Deadbeat Club

4. Love Shack

5. Junebug

6. Roam

7. Bushfire

8. Channel Z

9. Topaz

10. Follow Your Bliss