Its success served as a comeback for the band, following the death of guitarist, songwriter and founding member Ricky Wilson in 1985.

"[4] The band rented a rehearsal space in the Wall Street area of Manhattan, in which they worked four days a week.

[1] "Junebug" was the first song to be fully completed during the band's compositional jam sessions, which gave them confidence to persevere.

[5][6] Pierson described these songs as being "cinematic" and "nostalgic", and felt that the album in general had developed a "rural, kind of southern, dusty feeling to it".

Pierson stated that some songs on Cosmic Thing were more "pointed" about their concerns—such as environmentalism—than on previous albums, adding, "we definitely still have a light tone, but I think we've all evolved and grown and matured".

[3] The band had previously worked with Rodgers when he recorded their song "(Shake That) Cosmic Thing" for the soundtrack to the 1988 film Earth Girls Are Easy.

[4] After the band finished their sessions with Was a day ahead of schedule, he asked if they had any more material and the song was brought in to refine and embellish upon.

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.

Robert Christgau of The Village Voice opined that the album was "an almost touchingly brave attempt to dance away from the edge of ecocatastrophe" and found the band "trying to be seriously silly", but concluded that, "between Ricky Wilson's guitar and the permanent defeat his loss doesn't merely signify, they can't quite bring it off.

"[23] Jim Farber of Rolling Stone thought the album found the B-52's "on summer vacation, hanging out in the heat, fashioning insouciant odes to sloth", and that the band still mixed seriousness with "an impassioned commitment to goofiness."

He continued that the best songs "proudly declare silliness as a central part of identity" and that their most exciting material had always been "ballads with a backbeat", citing "Roam" and "Dry County" as examples.

[20] Kristine McKenna of Los Angeles Times felt the album sounded "remarkably fresh", despite adhering to a classic formula, and observed that "the slower pace of life associated with the South colors the entire album", noting that Wilson and Pierson "give soul to this irresistible LP, which may shape up to be the record you hear at every party this summer.

"[17] In retrospective reviews, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic found the album to be "a first-class return to form" that "updated their sound with shiny new surfaces and deep, funky grooves", containing "their best set of songs since at least Wild Planet, possibly since their debut.

"[21] Rich Wilhelm of PopMatters noted that while Cosmic Thing "fully brought the band's sound to the mainstream", it also "proved to have depth" and was "a fun, beautiful, and life-affirming record that was also a big hit.

Due to the band's growth in popularity at this time, the tour venues grew from theaters to large arenas and stadiums.