The B-52s' Cosmic Thing

Pete Crighton (Freelance writer, Canada)

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Paperback

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English

Bloomsbury Academic USA
04 September 2025

Music reviews & criticism; Rock & Pop music; Punk, New Wave & Indie; Individual composers & musicians, bands & groups; Gay & Lesbian studies

Series: 33 1/3

The B-52s were always queer, though not overtly, and this book dissects the coded queer messaging in their music, using 1989’s Cosmic Thing as a focal point.

Alongside the author’s own queer awakening, Crighton investigates the band’s history and recorded work to date, providing cultural context along the way, and proves what was obvious all along – the B-52s aren’t just pop culture icons, they are queer history.

Cosmic Thing took the world by storm in 1989 in the wake of the band’s single greatest tragedy: losing guitarist Ricky Wilson to complications from AIDS in 1985. Cosmic Thing is a celebration of queer joy in the face of that seismic setback. Not only did the B-52s have to fight through their pain and grief to make their fifth full length record, the band was also up against a conservative government under Reagan (then Bush), a misunderstood virus still ravaging the queer community and an indifferent public after years out of the spotlight. Watching the band enjoy their greatest success in the face of adversity was part of what made Cosmic Thing such a marvel to behold - as miraculous as the B-52s’ entire career.

By: Pete Crighton (Freelance writer Canada)
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic USA
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 164mm, Width: 120mm, Spine: 10mm
Weight: 120g
ISBN: 9798765133125
Series: 33 1/3
Pages: 136
Publication Date: 04 September 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Pete Crighton is a Toronto based author, freelance writer and record collector. He is the author of The Vinyl Diaries: Sex, Deep Cuts and My Soundtrack to Queer Joy (2025) and his work has appeared in the Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star and the West End Phoenix. Crighton sings (badly) in the Dolly Parton choir “The Tennessee Mountain Homos.”