Every Georgia party has a moment when somebody cranks up “Love Shack” and the whole room loses its mind. That song, and the band behind it, started right here in Athens.
A flaming drink and a big idea
The story goes that in October 1976, five friends shared a flaming tropical cocktail at a Chinese restaurant in Athens and decided, more or less on the spot, to start a band. Fred Schneider, Kate Pierson, Cindy Wilson, her brother Ricky Wilson, and Keith Strickland had little in common with the arena rock of the day. They had thrift store clothes, a love of surf guitar and sixties girl groups, and a sense of humor nobody else in rock and roll seemed to have.
They played their first show at a friend’s Valentine’s Day party in 1977. The name came from Southern slang for the towering beehive hairdos Kate and Cindy wore, said to look like the nose of a B-52 bomber.
Photo: Angie Garrett from Ridgely, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
“Rock Lobster” and a Georgia label
In 1978 the band cut “Rock Lobster” for DB Records, a small independent label out of Atlanta. It was strange, funny, and impossible to sit still through, and it traveled far beyond Georgia. Before long the band was packing New York clubs and signing a major label deal. Their self titled debut album arrived in 1979, recorded in the Bahamas with Island Records founder Chris Blackwell producing.
“Rock Lobster” even found its way to John Lennon, who later said hearing it in a club in 1980 helped convince him to get back to making music.
Loss, and a comeback for the ages
The band kept making records into the mid 1980s, but in 1985 guitarist Ricky Wilson died, and the remaining four stepped away to grieve. Keith Strickland, who had been the drummer, taught himself to play guitar the way Ricky did, and slowly the music came back.
The result was Cosmic Thing in 1989, produced by Nile Rodgers and Don Was. It turned the Athens party band into a household name. “Love Shack” climbed to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 that fall, and “Roam” followed it to No. 3 early in 1990. The album went multiplatinum, and the “Love Shack” video, with its packed dance floor and conga line, became an MTV staple.
Photo: H. Michael Karshis from San Antonio, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
“Love Shack” itself was inspired by a cabin outside Athens where the band spent time in its early days. Decades later, the song still sounds brand new.
Photo: KevinPatrickLaw, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Why the B-52’s still matter in Georgia
The B-52’s proved you could come from a college town in Northeast Georgia, do things your own way, and win over the whole world. They were weird on purpose, generous with joy, and they never forgot where they came from. Athens became a music destination in the 1980s, and the B-52’s lit the first fuse.
They are also one of only two Athens bands, along with R.E.M., that broke all the way through to commercial radio, which is exactly why you hear them here.
Listen for them on TGC Radio
The next time “Love Shack” or “Roam” comes on, turn it up and remember it all started a few blocks from where you might be standing. That is the beauty of the 80s and beyond: the soundtrack of the Classic City is still playing.
Want the full history? Read more about the B-52’s in the New Georgia Encyclopedia.
Hear the B-52’s and all your Continuous Georgia Classics on 95.9 FM in Athens and Northeast Georgia, in the TGC Radio app, or just say “Alexa, play TGC Radio.”
Keep reading Georgia Classics, In Depth: Ray Charles · James Brown · R.E.M. · Otis Redding · all stories
Featured photo: The B-52’s at the Benicàssim festival, 2008. Photo by Alterna2, licensed CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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