Comments on: Popdose Flashback: The B-52’s, “Cosmic Thing”

By: kingofgrief

kingofgrief — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:40:53 +0000

"Channel Z" is still my Cosmic Thing jam. It was the first track from the album to be released to MTV...and was ridiculously banished to the B-side of the first physical single, and we all know what that was.

I haven't listened to the full album from top to bottom in almost twenty years, but I haven't felt much of a need either, thanks to my record store gig at the peak of its popularity. Maybe I'll take it with me for today's to-and-from work commute. I'll get back to you.

By the way, Funplex should be avoided outright...the title track is a subtle copy of that A-side I alluded to...but I've at least eliminated the apostrophe in my artist tags as a concession.

By: kingofgrief

kingofgrief — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 15:40:53 +0000

By: deltablues2

deltablues2 — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 04:48:03 +0000

My pussy only accepts Diner's Club. *sniffle*

By: BobCashill

BobCashill — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 23:17:19 +0000

That's one of my code names.

By: DavidMedsker

DavidMedsker — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:23:33 +0000

Even when I was absolutely sick to death of the album's two big hits, there were half a dozen other songs that I still love to this day, namely Bushfire, Topaz and Dry County. Fantastic comeback album. Pity they couldn't keep their momentum.

By: barelyawakeinfrogpajamas

barelyawakeinfrogpajamas — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:01:59 +0000

Bizarre. I happened to be studying in SE Asia in '89 and made a trek through Thailand with a couple of friends. One of them grabbed a copy of Cosmic Thing from a street vendor and “Roam” was one of the songs I most associate with that time period.

You would happen to actually be Henry the lecherous Norwegian, would you?

By: BobCashill

BobCashill — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:06:22 +0000

What happens in Patpong, stays in Patpong.

By: addictedtovinyl

addictedtovinyl — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:03:37 +0000

This album holds a special place for me as a favorite when I was growing up. I played it end to end, and as you say, I wouldn't part with a single song on it….although “Junebug,” now that you mention it….

But damn, “Dry County” and “Deadbeat Club” are still singalongs for me every time they come on. Not sure if a guy is supposed to sing along with “Deadbeat,” but f. em, I'm always going to do it.

By: JonCummings

JonCummings — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:30:13 +0000

I'll try to stop LOLing long enough to say that I, too, am a huge fan of “Roam,” and placed it rather than “Love Shack” in my personal Popdose 100. The harmonies in the chorus are just astounding–two pitch-perfect banshees wailing in a perfect alchemic explosion.

I used to attend a conference for managers of performing arts centers back in those days, held at the NY Hilton on 53rd & 6th the weekend before Xmas. In 1989 the hotel still had a well-worn disco — and so my last real discotheque experience was flying around that dancefloor with a bunch of friends to the newly released “Roam” and feeling on top of the world. When we came back the next year, the disco was gone, one of the first things replaced during a renovation that spruced the place up to the point where it could host the final ballroom scene in “Michael Clayton” a couple years back.

OK, so my story ain't “my pussy takes Visa,” but it's a story. (I think I saw a commercial featuring that woman, that ended with her saying, “My pussy don't take American Express…Visa. It's everywhere you want to be.”) BTW, Bob, that chronic scratching I've seen you do tells me you found a taker for the Gold Card eventually that night in Patpong. I won't tell Lora if you don't. She'd probably set the cats on you.