Channel Z (song)

"Channel Z" is a single by The B-52's from their 1989 album Cosmic Thing. The song was the first single from Cosmic Thing, but did not achieve as much success as the follow-ups "Love Shack" and "Roam." The single was reissued with a new 12" Mix after these two singles and before "Deadbeat Club."

"Channel Z"
Single by The B-52's
from the album Cosmic Thing
Released	June 1989
Recorded	Bearsville Studios, Woodstock, NY
Genre	New wave post-punk jangle pop alternative rock
Label	Reprise
Songwriter(s)	The B-52's
Producer(s)	Don Was
The B-52's singles chronology
"(Shake That) Cosmic Thing" (1989) "Channel Z" (1989) "Love Shack" (1989)

Multiple renditions of the song were released, including the album version and a 7" single edit and remix, as well as a "rock mix" and a "rock dub" which were on a 5-track CD single in the US.[1]

Fred Schneider told an interviewer in 2008 that the song was "probably our most straightforward political song up until then ... It was about the state of the country. And who knew nearly 20 years later it'd be worse?"[2]

The song peaked at number 61 on the UK Singles Chart.[3] In the US, it topped the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart in August 1989.[4] The song's music video features The B-52's playing on stage in front of an audience, along with clips of them running through a forest. It was shot outside of New York City, according to the credits of The B-52's 1979–1989.

Music critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine described it as "a fine song that effortlessly updated the classic B-52's sound", adding that "it made for a good single and still stands as one of their better songs of the era."[1]