Song:Love Shack
Album:Time Capsule: Songs For A Future Generation
The B-52s were one of the first groups to emerge from Athens, GA which would become a music hotbed. They had some success at first because their music seemed to be more fun than the typical New Wave music of the time. And they also had a kitschy look. Love Shack was their biggest hit in 1989. The B-52s got together by accident when they jammed together in an Athens club in 1976. The members were Fred Schneider on vocals, Kate Pierson on organ and vocals, Cindy Wilson on vocals, her older brother Ricky Wilson on guitar and Keith Strickland on drums. They wanted to have fun so they decided to have a unique thrift store look and the girls wore beehive hairdos and that's where the name B-52s comes from. Their first single Rock Lobster was released on DB Records in 1978. It generated enough buzz to get them a record deal with Warner Bros. in the US and Island Records in the UK. Though they didn't have a hit single at the time, the first three B-52's albums sold very well and were certified Gold. After the 1983 album Whammy!, the B-52s took a break and returned with the 1985 album Bouncing off the Satellites. During the recording, Ricky Wilson became ill and died of AIDS on Oct. 12, 1985 at age 32. He kept his illness a secret from the band. They considered disbanding but Strickland had already switched to guitar and the band had been using drum machines. The B-52s returned to the studio in 1988. Strickland had written a lot of music and the girls and Schneider wrote the lyrics. The 1989 album Cosmic Thing was a success. Love Shack reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. Supposedly the song is based on a real cabin where Kate Pierson lived in the 70s. The song cemented the B-52s rep as a party band. They continued to record but weren't as successful in the 90s. You can get all their hits on this budget comp. Keith Strickland quit touring with the B-52s last year but The B-52s will tour this summer with The Go-Gos. Their most recent CD was released in 2008. Here's the video for Love Shack by The B-52s.
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