(Credits: Far Out / R.E.M / The B-52s / Press / Public Domain)
Fri 24 October 2025 13:30, UK
A charming fusion of new wave, post-punk and pop rock that elicits involuntary body movement, The B-52’s have established a standard of creativity that only a select few have been able to reach.
Bold and committed at every sharp turn across a career that has spanned nearly half a century, they somehow managed to get it right every single time. With only seven full-length studio albums to their name, they have one of the cleanest and most diverse resumes in the music industry, but what’s most remarkable is how they have managed to stay together despite the hardships they were dealt, and they continue to perform for fans all these years later.
While The B-52’s have settled into their role as a legacy act today, the mid-1980s, in particular, were an extremely difficult time for the band as founding member and guitarist Ricky Wilson tragically passed away at just 32 from Aids. Though his work made it to their fourth album, Bouncing Off the Satellites, the other four members had to figure out how and if to move forward without him.
Initially, the drummer, Keith Strickland, took on the guitar parts to help finish the record after Wilson was unable to join them in the studio, ultimately switching to that role full-time. It wasn’t until a few years later that they would get back to recording material together again, this time as a four-piece, and the result was ten fresh tracks bundled into Cosmic Thing, the 1989 album that was produced mostly by Nile Rodgers.
Despite its commercial success in the United States and beyond, singer and now-frontman Fred Schneider feels as though not every moment of brilliance from the album received its due credit, with one song that he insists should’ve earned more praise.
During an interview with Vulture, the veteran vocalist singled out ‘Dry County’ as a cut that “should’ve gotten more love”. Animated and vibrant, the track was named after the swaths of areas in the United States that didn’t sell alcohol at the time, with the town of Athens in Georgia, the band’s home country, being one such spot.
“The religious nuts have control of things,” Schneider said of his own experience, but on a more positive note, he bragged that the booze-free zone inspired him and his teammates to write a “well-crafted, catchy, and well-sung song,” adding, “I’m really proud of that one”.
Additionally, he also named the title track from The B-52’s’ last album as a song he liked that “was a little too weird to get a lot of radio play”, as well as ‘Summer of Love’ from Bouncing Off the Satellites.
The members have quite a funny relationship with their music, with vocalist Cindy Wilson previously naming ‘Devil In My Car’ from Wild Planet as one of her all-time favourites, but she also stated that they refuse to perform it live, explaining, “It’s a very long song, and for some reason, Fred just doesn’t want to do it. There is some kind of superstition about the ‘Devil In My Car’ song; every time we used to perform it, something bad would happen. So maybe Fred doesn’t want to do it because of that.”
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