Cosmic Thing

''Cosmic Thing'' is the fifth studio album by American new wave band the B-52's, released in 1989. It contains the singles "Love Shack" and "Roam". The success of the album served as a comeback after the death of guitarist Ricky Wilson in 1985.

Six of the album's songs were produced by Nile Rodgers in New York City, and the remaining four by Don Was in upstate New York. The band embarked on the Cosmic Tour to promote the album.

Background and recording

Following Wilson's death and the short promotional campaign for their 1986 album ''Bouncing Off the Satellites'', the group mutually agreed to part ways indefinitely. The group's popularity had declined in the late 1980s, so it was unknown, both to the public and amongst the group, whether the band would record another album in the foreseeable future.

In 1988, prompted by drummer/guitarist Keith Strickland, the band began to group together and write new songs. Cindy Wilson described this as a healing process for herself and the band after her brother's death three years prior. As the album began to take shape, it became clear that the new songs were of a more mature and less-kitsch variety than those of their previous albums, with themes such as anti-capitalism, environmentalism, and self-reflection and reminiscence of being introduced to songs.

Much of the album was written in Woodstock and surrounding areas in upstate New York, a place where Strickland and Wilson had relocated to following the group's hiatus, and all four members felt the proximity to nature in these places that was not found in their previous home of New York City.

Recording of the album was focused in two locations: Skyline Studios in New York City, and Dreamland Recording Studios in West Hurley, upstate New York. The initial sessions in New York City were produced by Nile Rodgers, who aided the band in the crafting of their songs and of a new, more mature and ultimately commercially appealing sound for the album. The rest of the sessions were helmed by producer Don Was in upstate New York, which allowed the band time to greater flesh out more songs amongst their new surroundings, including the future hit "Love Shack".

Promotion and commercial performance

"Channel Z" was selected as the album's first single and was released in March 1989. While the single was not commercially successful in the mainstream at first, it generated substantial amounts of airplay on American college radio, helping re-establish the group's youth popularity. The single eventually peaked at number one on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and reached number 61 on the UK singles chart.

Following the release of promotional single "Cosmic Thing", June 1989 saw the release of the band's largest, global hit, "Love Shack". The track helped propel the success of the album globally, while reaching number 3 in the US and number 2 in UK, and spending 8 weeks at number one in Australia in 1990. Following this, the album reached the top 10 in the UK and US album charts, and number one in Australia and New Zealand.

Aided by further success of singles such as the transatlantic top 20 hit "Roam", or the US top 30 "Deadbeat Club", the album continued to sell strongly, particularly in the US, where it spent 22 weeks inside the Billboard 200 top 10 in 1990, becoming the country's 9th best-selling album of the year.

By 2000, "Cosmic Thing" had achieved platinum status in the UK, and 4× platinum status in the US, denoting sales of over 4 million copies there. As of 2019, the album has sold over 5 million copies worldwide.

In addition to the album's successful singles, the band embarked on the extensive "Cosmic Tour" to promote the album worldwide, their first since Wilson's death. Drummer Keith Strickland switched to guitar for the tour, with Zack Alford serving as the touring drummer. Sara Lee served as bassist and Pat Irwin as keyboardist and extra guitarist. This was also the first tour in which the group hired a backing band, meaning the group's members, especially Kate Pierson, had more opportunity to move around on stage, and gave their songs more accuracy to the studio versions in concert. Due to the band's growth in popularity at this time, the tour venues grew from theaters to large arenas and stadiums.

In popular culture

In the third segment of the 1993 anthology horror film '' Body Bags'', Brent Matthews (Mark Hamill) crashes his car while retrieving a cassette tape of ''Cosmic Thing'' from his passenger seat.

Track listing

Notes

* All tracks on disc 2 of the 30th anniversary expanded edition were recorded live on 4 August 1990 at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in Houston, Texas except track 15, recorded live at the Starplex Amphitheatre in Dallas, Texas, on 3 August 1990.

Personnel

The B-52's
* Fred Schneider – vocals (1-5, 7-9), percussion (5, 7)
* Cindy Wilson – vocals (1-9)
* Kate Pierson – vocals (1-10), keyboards (4, 5, 8)
* Keith Strickland – guitars, keyboards (2, 5, 7-10), backing vocals (2-3, 9)

Additional musicians
* Richard Hilton – programming (1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 10), keyboards (6, 10)
* Tommy Mandel – keyboards (1)
* Philippe Saisse – keyboards (2, 3)
* Nile Rodgers – guitars (9)
* Sara Lee – bass (2-7, 9, 10), keyboards (10), backing vocals (10)
* Steve Ferrone – drums (1)
* Sonny Emory – drums (2, 3)
* Charley Drayton – drums (4, 5, 7, 8)
* Leroy Clouden – drums (6, 9, 10)
* The Uptown Horns on "Love Shack":
** Crispin Cioe – saxophones
** Arno Hecht – saxophones
** Bob Funk – trombone
** Paul Litteral – trumpet

Production

* Nile Rodgers – producer (1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 10), mixing (1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 10)
* Don Was – producer (4, 5, 7, 8)
* Tom Durack – engineer (1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 10), mixing
* David Cook – engineer (4, 5, 7, 8)
* Paul Angelli – second engineer (1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 10)
* Ed Brooks – second engineer (1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 10)
* Patrick Dillett – second engineer (1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 10)
* Keith Freedman – second engineer (1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 10)
* Martin Kunitz – assistant engineer (4, 5, 7, 8)
* Bob Ludwig – mastering at Masterdisk (New York City, New York)
* Budd Tunick – production manager (1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 10)
* Virginia Liberatore – photography
* Manhattan Design – cover concept, design
* The B-52's – cover concept
* Christoph Lanzenberg – cinematographer
* Alpana Bawa – dresses
* Chris Isles – dresses
* Arthur Koby – earrings
* Kachin – wardrobe stylist
* Tokyo – hair styling
* Martin Kirkup and Steven Jensen at Direct Management – management

Charts

Album charts

Album charts

Certifications and sales

References

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The B-52's albums
1989 albums
Albums produced by Nile Rodgers
Albums produced by Don Was
Reprise Records albums