Love Shack by The B-52’s

If you see a faded sign at the side of the road that says fifteen miles to the …. Looove …. SHACK!

The B-52’s

In 1976, Cindy Wilson, her older brother Ricky Wilson, Kate Pierson, Keith Strickland, and Fred Schneider shared a flaming volcano drink at a Chinese restaurant in Athens, Georgia. Then they jammed together, with Ricky on congas and Strickland on guitar.

When they played their first gig, Ricky was on guitar, and Strickland was the drummer. They embraced kitsch and took their name from the beehive hairdos of their female vocalists. Like their new-wave contemporaries, they made their limitations into virtues. Ricky Wilson’s open-tuned guitar was inspired by Joni Mitchell, while Schneider’s vocals are deadpan and Pierson’s Farfisa organ is quirky.

The B-52’s enjoyed critical acclaim for their first two albums. ‘Rock Lobster’ hit #1 in Canada and famously inspired John Lennon to return to music.

It sounds just like Ono’s music, so I said to meself, ‘it’s time to get out the old axe and wake the wife up!'”

John Lennon

But the subsequent releases were less successful, and their career stalled when Ricky Wilson passed away from AIDS in 1985.

Love Shack

The B-52’s reconvened in 1988, hanging out near Woodstock. Strickland took over as the group’s guitarist and main songwriter. The band enjoyed spending time together in nature.

We spent a lot of time just talking, and we needed that. We were our own support group after Ricky’s passing, which was a very traumatic thing for all of us and, in particular, for Cindy.

Keith Strickland, Rolling Stone

The songs from the sessions were often autobiographical. ‘Deadbeat Club’ was the first song to emerge, a tale of their early years in Athens, Georgia. Meanwhile, Schneider provided the initial ideas for ‘Love Shack’, inspired by the Hawaiian Ha-Lea, a club outside of Athens.

It was an African-American club that had a lot of good shows. It looked like a shack, you wouldn’t expect it to be what it was, and when you opened the door, it was a wild band playing.

Fred Schneider, Rolling Stone

‘Love Shack’ was a last-minute addition to Cosmic Thing. The band had a spare day of studio time, and quickly cobbled together some ideas they’d been working on.

It wasn’t even gonna make the album because it wasn’t solidified. But after we added that chorus, Bingo, here it is; it sounds like a hit. But we didn’t aim to write hits, we aimed to heal ourselves and channel Ricky [Wilson]’s spirit. That was the goal, and I knew his presence was there.

Kate Pierson, Rolling Stone

The reception was initially lukewarm, and Schneider visited radio stations to promote it. It eventually became the band’s first Billboard top 40 hit, and it’s now their signature song.

I had to go with our A&R person, bless her heart, and beg radio stations to play it — they thought it was too weird. We felt ‘Love Shack’ was probably the most accessible commercial thing we’d ever done, and finally they started playing it, and it made it all the way to No. 3 on the Billboard charts.

Fred Schneider, Entertainment Weekly

Some pressings of the single came with a cardboard kit for owners to construct their own love shack.

My Verdict

‘Love Shack’ is a ton of fun – it’s a dancefloor filler that’s charming rather than irritating. It also reignited The B-52’s career.

In 2001, the Recording Industry Association of America named ‘Love Shack’ as one of the 365 Songs of the Century in 2001. In 2005, Rolling Stone named ‘Love Shack’ as the best single of 1989.

Read more

• NZ #1 hits