The B-52's: The Godmothers of Queer Pop
Before Todrick Hall, Grayson Chance, Wrabel, Leo Kalyan, Cub Sport, Myylo, MNEK, Olly Alexander, Kim Petras, Troye Sivan, Frank Ocean, Sam Smith, Adam Lambert, The Scissor Sisters, Melissa Etheridge, KD Lang, Erasure, The Pet Shop Boys, Bob Mould, Morrisey, George Michael, Boy George, and Frankie Goes to Hollywood, there was The B-52s.
The B-52s emerged at the tail end of the 70s at the height of post punk/new wave and nobody really knew what to make of them back then. Here was a group that merged 50s Sci-Fi and fashion with 60s surf music and a post punk attitude led by 3 boys and 2 girls who all fell somewhere on the LGBTQ spectrum. The B-52s were both familiar and strikingly new and from what I understand anyone who saw them when they first came out witnessed a concert like no other. A good family friend, who is the same age as my parents, saw The B-52s twice in 2 consecutive nights in the late 70s and he told me they were the two best concerts he has ever attended in his whole life!
At first The B-52s was a cult act beloved by critics and those lucky enough to see them live and they were true trailer blazers back then. That said, most people feel they peaked early on their first 2 albums and after the tragic death of founding member Ricky Wilson from AIDS in 1986, the band seemed to be over. Nonetheless the band managed to re-grouped and had one of the biggest comeback stories in music history when their 1989 Album Cosmic Thing became a huge breakout hit on both MTV and top 40 radio. Cosmic Thing turned The B-52s into genuine pop stars and it introduced a whole new generation to their music, image and attitude.
In the years since, Cosmic Thing has become the album that introduces most people to The B-52s due to its accessible pop sheen and steady presence across various radio formats and every wedding you have ever attended since 1989. Seriously name the last wedding you attended that didn't play Love Shack. Yet, for all its success the songs off Cosmic Thing feel unique and different from most other music out there, because there has never truly been another act like The B-52s.
Speaking for myself, my introduction to the group occurred back in 1997/1998. I had just gotten into modern pop music thanks to The Spice Girls. At this point my musical background was what my parents listened to (oldies, classic rock, adult contemporary), Disney films and modern pop (1996/1997). I was just beginning my journey as a pop music lover and as such there was a lot of music I didn't know yet, but that I was starting to discover. I was beginning to soak up more and more pop music as I became more and more enamored with it as a whole. I remember we were living in California in the late 90s and we drove down to southern California for a family vacation. We were listening to various different radio stations, which were exposing me to lots of music I had never heard before, and that is how I first heard The B-52s.
The song was of course Love Shack and it made me sit up and ask "Who is this?" Love Shack felt so different from all other pop music I had ever heard. While I was not quite as obsessed with the different genres, eras and decades of pop music like I would be in the future, I remember thinking when did this come out? The reason being that I could not place this song on any earth timeline I was aware of at age 11. It felt like this song came from another world it was so unlike anything I had ever heard before. My Dad knew it was The B-52s and that stuck with me. I remember seeing their greatest hits at the Virgin Mega store not long after that and it wasn't too long after that, that I heard Roam on the radio as well and for a while that was pretty much all I knew about the group.
When I went to a Catholic middle school I remember there was a boy named Wes who LOVED The B-52s, or least Love Shack because he used to sing that song all the time. I can still remember him singing "Jump in my car it's as big as a whale and it's about to set sail" when we were out on the field for gym. I never bought an album by the B-52s during this period, but the first 2 mix CDs I ever had, which were both made by a friend in high school in 2001, had The B-52s. The first mix had Love Shack and the second mix had Roam and that's when I finally owned some songs by The B-52s. From that point forward those songs, especially Roam, made their way onto various mix tapes, mix CDs and iPod playlists.
In fact, as I transitioned away from pop and to Alternative Rock The B-52s still had a place because they were not only played on pop radio but Alternative Rock radio too. I may have turned my back on a lot of pop during much of the 00s, but I still kind of secretly craved it and The B-52s were able to give me that sugar rush from pop while still being able to slip them into my Alternative Rock mixes in high school.
In college I played The B-52s on my college radio show dedicated to Alternative Rock. In fact, on my first ever show I played Roam. Andrew, who I mentioned back in my Grunge article, was a DJ who helped train me initially which is how we met. I had to have someone shadow my first show and I had Andrew be the DJ who shadowed me. When I played Roam he asked me who this was and I told him it was The B-52s and shortly thereafter he got the Cosmic Thing album and started playing songs off of it on his classic rock show. So in some ways The B-52s was the first music act we bonded over.
As college progressed I look into a few more songs by The B-52s for my radio show such as Deadbeat Club and their 1992 #1 modern rock hit Good Stuff. Good Stuff soon was played on my radio show and the various college dance parties my friends and I held at our apartment along with Love Shack and Roam. I remember a high point of one dance party being Love Shack and Spice up Your Life being played back to back with everyone singing along at the top of their lungs. My friend Amanda also loved Good Stuff once I introduced it to her due to how silly but fun it is to sing along to. As I think back on it I realize that pretty much all my friends in college were on board with The B-52s, which was rare to have an act everybody liked. When The B-52s put out their 2008 comeback album Funplex I bought it on CD and reviewed it for my school paper, which if I am remembering correctly I gave 3 out of 4 stars too, which I think still stands. It's a solid album but my friends and I mostly agreed Juliet of the Spirits was the best song since it emphasized the girls harmonies.
After college when I launched my own Alternative Rock online station I grabbed a few more B-52's songs that charted on the modern rock chart in the late 80s and early 90s such as Channel Z and Tell It like It T-I-S, but I wouldn't fully dive into their catalogue until after I discovered this current wave of Queer pop. It was at that point that I realized I needed to give all their music a listen since they really did pave the way for these current Queer pop stars. As I began soaking up their entire catalogue it became fascinating to discover how queer the The B-52s were without ever directly saying they were queer. From their clothing, wigs, and the high level of camp that pervades everything that they do, The B-52s are one of the gayest bands to ever exist and yet never do they directly mention same sex relations in their music or in their music videos. For those in the know, it's obvious which team The B-52s play for, but for those who would be most offended it's easy to miss if you are not really paying attention.
In my opinion this is also how The B-52s were able to sneak so much queerness into the mainstream. This is also why so many kids were attracted to The B-52s, even ten years into their career when Cosmic Thing came out. The B-52s presented a united front that appealed to Queer kids as well as outsiders in general while still being fun enough for everyone else to enjoy at the same time. Their music videos for Love Shack and Good Stuff featured a very young Ru-Paul and Love Shack was the first time most people saw Ru. Now Ru-Paul is practically the biggest Queer icon on the planet and we have The B-52s to thank for that. The B-52s also did the theme song to one of my favorite childhood shows Rocco's Modern Life and in the Rocco comeback movie in 2019 one of the characters is now trans!
Then there is the Hulu original series Difficult People, which is a Will & Grace style comedy but even meaner and stars Julie Klausner and openly gay actor Billy Eichner. On Difficult People Julie and Billy make fun of everyone and everything with vicious glee except for Madonna and The B-52s. In one of the series only real moments of genuine emotion and kindness, Julie spots Kate from the B-52s entering the restroom. Julie stops Kate so she can tell her what a role model and inspiration she was to her growing up. Julie talks about how she felt like she never fit in anywhere when she was a teenager, but then she saw the The B-52s on MTV with Kate and Cindy dancing and singing to their own beat and Julie felt like she was finally seen through The B-52s music and style. This scene really struck me because it reinforced how special and life changing the B-52s were to an audience that usually felt left out of pop music. The B-52s were not only presenting Queerness but femininity and female power & solidarity with Kate and Cindy that appealed to girls as much as the gay boys.
When The B-52s announced their 40th Anniversary Tour in 2019 I knew I had to go and I went with my friend Will, someone I met through Andrew at college and who also loves The B-52s, so it felt only natural that we go together. Unlike the other gay pop shows I had attended, I definitely felt like one of the youngest people in the audience. The Queers had shown up and while they were not quite as loud and flamboyant as the younger gays at the shows for Troye Sivan and Years & Years, they still came out in mass wearing their B-52s Shirts, with some fun wigs and multi-colored sunglasses. This was the generation of Queers who survived the AIDS epidemic, but probably had to watch too many of their friends die from the disease. In fact, when they introduced each member of the B-52s on a giant screen before the band took the stage, Ricky, the member who died of AIDS in 1986, got the loudest cheers from the audience. An audience that still remembers the horrors of surviving that plague during the 80s.
Overall it was a fun show, though Fred seemed a little low energy and even exited the stage for a short break in the middle. It was during this section that Kate and Cindy sang Deadbeat Club, Juliet of the Spirits and Roam, all of which emphasized their uniquely wonderful vocal harmonies. This to me was the highlight of the entire concert though of course when they closed with Love Shack, Planet Claire and Rock Lobster the entire audience erupted in cheers and sang along to every word. As I said gay pop shows are the best shows period, but this was different due to the older generation who were in attendance that night. It was humbling to be surrounded by people from my community who by all accounts faced more bigotry and hardships than this current generation of Queers and who truly struggled and fought for acceptance and the right to not only love who they wanted to love but to be visible period. I could tell their current happiness at this concert was hard fought and probably came with more than a few sacrifices & tragedies along the way.
That's something I think the current generation of Queer people needs to remember. They need to remember those who came before them, those who died, those who marched and those who poured all their blood, sweat and tears into giving our community the visibility and respect it deserves. In a way this is how I also feel about the B-52s. At the height of the AIDS epidemic they faced their own tragedy with the death of Ricky and yet they preserved and in doing so open the doors for greater Queer representation and visibility in pop music, which has inspired fans and musicians around the world ever since. Yet, I think The B-52's biggest legacy is that they are just a damn fun band! Before the concert they played clips of the band's 40 year history and at the end it said "The B-52s Born to Party." I think this is a mantra for not just the band but the Queer community as a whole. Despite all the setbacks, discrimination, violence, and death that plagues the LGBTQ community we not only keep fighting, but we keep dancing through tears. Our happiness is something we have had to fight for every step of the way, which is why we cherish the moments where we can not only be ourselves but also the times when we can have as much fun as we want. Like the B-52s, the Queer community throws the best parties period and that's because we earned them!
