The B-52's: Bringing the World Together

I was watching those B-52’s videos I posted yesterday and I started to think about how much I used to love them when I was a teenager. I remember plastering my walls with their images. I loved their fashion sense and the ability their music had to instantly make me feel better when I was having a bad day. I was fanatical in my devotion and would defend them against anyone who spoke negatively. As I thought about all of this, it occurred to me is how much they really shaped my teenage years as a young gay person growing up in the early 90’s.

There was this B-52’s newsletter that you could receive by sending a self addressed stamped envelope to this woman in New York City. It was basically a few pages of xeroxed colored paper containing news and information on the B’s (that’s what we diehard fans called them). There was one particular section of the newsletter that I really enjoyed. It was the back page where you could have a brief bio and contact information listed so that fellow fans from across the globe could send you mail.

I remember sending in my information and waiting patiently for it to be printed. I was so excited when it was finally published and I eagerly awaited mail from my new friends. I received a few letters. One was from this weird girl in Georgia who published her own zine. Another was from this skater dude in California. I never really connected to either one of them, but there was another who I formed a very quick bond with. His name was Erik and he lived in Pennsylvania. He was eccentric, a bit nerdy and adored the B-52’s. Frankly, he was exactly like me. We wrote long letters to each other talking about our friends, families, and interests.

It wasn’t long until I decided to share with him my deep dark secret. I wrote a letter telling him that I was gay. I was terrified what he would think. Would he hate me? Would he even bother to respond? I received a response within the week. To my relief, he didn’t hate me. In fact, he was gay as well. Suddenly, I didn’t feel so alone in the world. I had met another gay person and he was my friend. He was thousands of miles away, but that hardly mattered. I had shared my secret with him, and I was accepted. He was just like me. I had met another gay person and it was all because of the B-52’s.

Erik and I lost touch after a few years. We reconnected briefly on MySpace, but it was clear that we had both changed a lot since our first “meeting” almost 15 years ago. Even though we don’t keep in touch any longer, I will always remember him as my first gay friend and how we met through that back page in the B-52’s newsletter.