THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

633-B-52’s-Love Shack.

1989-Number 2 single.

Best Bit-At 4.49. Fred Schneider exclaims, ‘You’re what!,’ to which Cindy Wilson replies, ‘Tin roof rusted.’ This is Southern American slang, meaning she’s pregnant.

The B-52s were formed in Athens, Georgia, United States, in 1976, by Fred Schneider, (vocals, and percussion) Kate Pierson, (vocals, keyboards, and synth bass), Cindy Wilson (vocals, and percussion) her brother Ricky Wilson, (1953-1985) (guitar), and Keith Strickland, (drums, guitar, and keyboards) there have been a further 10 members come and go, and at the time of writing they remain active, with all four original living founding members, still performing with the group. The B-52’s took their name from a particular style of hairdo, resembling the nose cone of the ‘Boeing B-52’ aircraft, which Kate Pierson, and Cindy Wilson wore in performances during the bands first decade. In 2008 the ‘B-52’s’ dropped the apostrophe in their name, and are now known as ‘B-52s,’ Kate Pierson has said, ‘It was not grammatically correct. It’s not like a possessive. It just seemed superfluous.’ In 1985 tragedy struck when one of the groups founding members Ricky Wilson died of Aids at the age of 32, which affected the group as a whole, leading to them going on hiatus, until reforming in 1988, and continuing as a four piece.

The discography of the B-52s includes seven studio Albums released between 1979-2008, and 31 singles released between 1978-2008, there are also six official compilation Albums, and three live Albums available. In America on the Billboard Hot 100, five of their singles have made the top 40, with ‘Love Shack,’ (1989) and ‘Roam,’ (1990) both peaking the highest at Number 3. In the UK, they have charted within the top 40 on six occasions, with ‘Love Shack’ peaking the highest at Number 2.

‘Love Shack’ was the third of five singles issued from the B-52’s fifth studio Album ‘Cosmic Thing,’ from June 1989, with all four group members at that time receiving the songwriting credits, and the production being by Don Was, who also produced three of the other tracks on the Album. Don Was was born Don Edward Fagenson, on September 13th, 1952, in Detroit, Michigan, United States, he is a musician, music producer, and documentary filmmaker. In 1979 he co-founded the ‘Disco/Funk’ group ‘Was (Not Was’) with David Weiss, and adopted the stage name Don Was. As ‘Was (Not Was’) and with other group members, they have issued five studio Albums, and 19 singles, and are probably best remembered for the 1987 hit single ‘Walk the Dinosaur’ (Billboard Number 7 & UK Number 10.) Don Was has produced Albums that have sold around 100 million copies worldwide, for artists including The Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan. In 2014 He won the ‘Emmy Award’ for ‘Outstanding Music Direction,’ for his work on the CBS television special ‘The Beatles: The Night That Changed America.’

It was the release of the B-52’s fifth studio Album ‘Cosmic Thing,’ in 1989, that took the group from a cult following to mainstream success, particularly with the release of ‘Love Shack’ as a single. One inspiration for the song came from a real club outside of Athens, Georgia, called the ‘Hawaiian Ha-Le,’ where the group would meet up, Cindy Wilson has said, ‘I personally was thinking about this bar that was out in the country, it was really a cool place, a run-down love shack kind of thing, but it was a disco. It was a really interesting place.’ For Kate Pierson, the actual love shack for her was where she lived in the 1970’s, in a five room cabin, where the group would sometimes work on songs such as ‘Rock Lobster,’ and ‘Planet Claire.’ Pierson has said, ‘It really was set back in the middle of a field, with no plumbing, or running water, but it did have a tin roof.’ Unfortunately that building isn’t there anymore, as it burned down in 2004, the reason being arson.

‘Hop in my Chrysler, it’s as big as a whale, and it’s about to set sail. I got me a car, it seats about twenty, so come on and bring your jukebox money. The love shack is a little old place, where we can get together, love shack baby.’