A new box set from Rhino will offer nearly all the studio material of Athens, Georgia alt-rock icons The B-52's.

The Warner Reprise Years, available June 20, brings together the six albums and two EPs the quirky quintet put together between 1979 and 1992 - a period where they went from cult favorites to unlikely hitmakers. The collection will feature the group's 1979 self-titled debut, 1980's Wild Planet, the 1981 and 1982 EPs Party Mix and Mesopotamia, Whammy! (1983), Bouncing Off the Satellites (1986) - the last album to feature all five original members - plus Cosmic Thing (1989) and Good Stuff (1992). The set will be available on CD as well as a 9LP vinyl set, limited to 2000 copies and pressed on a rainbow of colored vinyl. (A representative a Rhino has confirmed that Mesopotamia is presented in its original mix, having been revisited in 1990 for a "two-fer" CD reissue alongside Party Mix! and subsequently never on CD on its own in America.) The box is a nearly complete chronicle of the group's output, minus a few major omissions. Some single-only rarities and exclusive material has been released on two compilations by Rhino in 1998 and 2002; the label has also released a 1979 live set digitally and on vinyl for Record Store Day, and expanded Cosmic Thing for its 30th anniversary with single material and concert performances from 1990. The group's final album, 2008's Funplex, was released by Astralwerks.

Quite simply, no band sounded or looked like The B-52's when they exploded on the scene at the end of the '70s. Formed by siblings Cindy and Ricky Wilson on vocals and guitar, singer/keyboardist Kate Pierson, drummer/multi-instrumentalist Keith Strickland and vocalist/poet Fred Schneider, the women sported beehive hairdos and offered ethereal vocals as a counterpoint to Schneider's distinctive, animated Sprechgesang, delivered in an oft-imitated shout more than sung. Wilson's nervy guitar and Pierson's burbling organ evoked surf rock and post-punk, and the group's thrift store aesthetic and genuine love of kitsch culture made them a group for all seasons. Their self-titled debut, featuring the minor hit "Rock Lobster" and "Dance This Mess Around," was hailed by pop critics and generations of musicians from John Lennon to Dave Grohl. The album's critical success spurred follow-up Wild Planet (like its predecessor, recorded at Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas) to reach the Top 20 of the Billboard 200, and made a striking appearance as a 1980 musical guest on the variety show Saturday Night Live.

The B-52's hit their first major stumble with the sessions to Mesopotamia, which found them chafing under the ideas of Talking Heads frontman David Byrne, who served as the EP's producer. (Delays in recording necessitated the release of Party Mix! - dance mixes of three tracks apiece from The B-52's and Wild Planet.) 1983's Whammy! offered some bounce-back with their third straight gold record from the Recording Industry Association of America - their debut would later go platinum - and a minor hit single in "Legal Tender." But the toughest road was ahead: after completing work on the sessions for Bouncing Off the Satellites in 1985, Ricky Wilson succumbed to AIDS, having only told Strickland he was battling the disease. He was only 32 years old.

With Bouncing receiving little promotion and no tour, it wouldn't have been a surprise if the grieving bandmates called it a day. Instead, one of the decade's most unlikely comebacks happened. With Strickland switching to guitar full-time and producers Nile Rodgers and Don Was adding production flourishes, 1989's Cosmic Thing became a blockbuster, spinning off the Top 5 hits "Love Shack" and "Roam," reaching the Top 5 of the Billboard album chart and selling more than four million copies in America alone. The band also became darlings of MTV: "Love Shack," featuring a then-unknown RuPaul, was in heavy rotation, while "Deadbeat Club" paid homage to the band's hometown of Athens, which had become a hotbed for alt-rock greatness thanks to fellow late '80s and early '90s hitmakers R.E.M. (whose frontman Michael Stipe cameoed in the video). The group closed out their time with Warner and Reprise on 1992's Good Stuff, on which Cindy Wilson did not participate. The ensuing tour featured Julee Cruise in her stead, with former Waitresses bassist Tracy Wormworth and drummer Sterling Campbell - then recently of Duran Duran and soon David Bowie's drummer of choice for the rest of his career - rounding out the group. The group announced their retirement from touring in 2022 - Strickland had done so years before - but have popped up in Las Vegas residences and elsewhere, with a documentary on the band reportedly in production.

The Warner Reprise Years is available at the links below with a release date of June 20. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

The Warner Reprise Years (Rhino, 2025)

8CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
9LP: Rhino

CD/LP 1: The B-52's (Warner Bros. BSK 3355, 1979) (yellow vinyl)

CD/LP 2: Wild Planet (Warner Bros. BSK 3471, 1980) (red vinyl)

CD/LP 3: Mesopotamia (Warner Bros. MINI 3641, 1982) (green vinyl)

CD/LP 4: Party Mix! (Warner Bros. MINI 3596, 1981) (blue vinyl)

CD/LP 5: Whammy! (Warner Bros. 23819, 1983) (smoke vinyl)

CD/LP 6: Bouncing Off the Satellites (Warner Bros. 25504, 1986) (pink vinyl)

CD/LP 7: Cosmic Thing (Reprise 25854, 1989) (orange vinyl)

CD/LP 8-9: Good Stuff (Reprise 26943, 1992) (purple vinyl with fourth side band logo etching)