How to Keep Your Husband Happy

The Cosmopolitans were a nifty little dance troupe-turned-rock combo that caught the fancy of swinging New Yorkers at the height of the punk/New Wave era. They are best-remembered for cutting one of the most infectious singles of the era: "(How to Keep Your) Husband Happy" b/w "Wild Moose Party" and "Dancin' Lesson," on the same Shake Records label that put out early releases by the dB's, Richard Hell and others.

As the Seventies bled into the Eighties, the Cosmopolitans' delightfully absurd and danceable party-rock creations inspired normally sedentary, shoe-gazing clubgoers to move their two left feet to the beat. Old Sixties dance steps like the Frug, the Jerk and the Swim were reborn, and hot new Eighties inventions like the "dB Drop" and the "Fleshtone Flank Step" - consult the aforementioned "Dancin' Lesson" for further elaboration - were brought to the floors of the hippest downtown rock clubs, including CBGB's, Max's Kansas City, Irving Plaza, Club 57, the Ritz, the Peppermint Lounge and Tier Three.

The group also ventured uptown (Hurrah) and over the river (Maxwell's, in Hoboken). In the anything-goes Eighties, these high-stepping terpsichoreans helped many a young man and woman make a splash at their next New Wave cotillion.

If Sam the Sham had been Samantha, if the Kingsmen had been Queens, if the Swingin' Medallions had been sorority sisters instead of frat boys, and if all of them had a schooled background in modern dance, then you might have some idea of the devilishly unique space the Cosmopolitans occupied. Think Shangri-La's meet Fleshtones, if you can wrap your mind around such a concept. The Cosmopolitans simultaneously referenced Sixties girl-group pop and party music; the DIY spirit of late-Seventies punk and power pop; the angular, driving minimalism of early-Eighties New Wave; and a timeless, well-cultivated sense of the absurd. And during their brief lifespan as a band, people got it. And now, you can too.

http://www.myspace.com/thecosmopolitans