Love or hate this band…the one thing you have to give them is orginality. I can’t listen to them for hours but a song every now and then is great.
Kate Pierson has sai, the actual Love Shack is where she lived in the ’70s… a five-room cabin with a tin roof in Athens, Georgia. The band would sometimes work up songs there, including “Rock Lobster.” It really was set way back in the middle of a field (off of Jefferson River Road), with no plumbing or running water. The shack was later renovated, but in 2004 it burned down.
The band drew inspiration from the club in the movie The Color Purple, and also from a real club outside of Athens, Georgia, called the Hawaiian Ha-Le, where they would hang out.
The line, “The love shack is a little old place where we can get together” originally showed up just once in the song, but producer Don Was convinced the band to repeat that line and it became the hook. Kate Pierson credits Don Was with turning this song into a hit.
It was on the 1989 album Cosmic Thing. The album was a huge hit…because of this song and Roam.
The album peaked at #4 in the Billboard Album Charts, #8 in Canada, #1 in New Zealand, and #8 in the UK.
The song peaked at #3 in the Billboard 100, #5 in Canada, #1 in New Zealand, and #2 in the UK.
This was a global hit, but not in Japan, where a band with the name of an American bomber would not a good fit to say the least. The band was named after a hairstyle Pierson and Wilson wore, but there was no way to get that message across.
Cindy Wilson: “When you’re jamming, everybody is conjuring up their own images. Sometimes we’re all singing at the same time and later you go back and you hear what you’re doing. I personally was thinking about this bar that was out in the country [the Hawaiian Ha-Le]. It was a really cool place – a run-down love shack kind of thing, but it was a disco. It was a really interesting place.”
Love Shack
If you see a faded sign at the side of the road that says
Fifteen miles to the, love shack, love shack yeah
I’m headin’ down the Atlanta highway
Lookin’ for the love getaway
Headed for the love getaway, love getaway
I got me a car, it’s as big as a whale
And we’re headin’ on down to the love shack
I got me a Chrysler, it seats about twenty
So hurry up and bring your jukebox money
The love shack is a little old place where
We can get together
Love shack baby
A love shack baby
Love shack, baby love shack
Love shack, baby love shack
Love shack, baby love shack
Love shack, baby love shack
Sign says, woo, stay away fools
‘Cause love rules at the love shack
Well it’s set way back in the middle of a field
Just a funky old shack and I gotta get back
Glitter on the mattress
Glitter on the highway
Glitter on the front porch
Glitter on the hallway
The love shack is a little old place where
We can get together
Love shack, baby
Love shack, baby
Love shack, that’s where it’s at
Love shack, that’s where it’s at
Huggin’ and a-kissin’, dancin’ and a-lovin’
Wearin’ next to nothing ’cause it’s hot as an oven
The whole shack shimmies
Yeah the whole shack shimmies
The whole shack shimmies when everybody’s movin’ around
And around and around and around
Everybody’s movin’, everybody’s groovin’ baby
Folks linin’ up outside just to get down
Everybody’s movin’, everybody’s groovin’ baby
Funky little shack
Funky little shack
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
A love shack baby
Love shack, baby love shack
Love shack, baby love shack
Love shack, baby love shack (oh baby that’s where it’s at)
Love shack, baby love shack (baby that’s where it’s at)
Bang bang bang on the door baby!
Knock a little louder baby!
Bang bang bang on the door baby!
I can’t hear you
Bang bang bang on the door baby!
Knock a little louder sugar!
Bang bang bang on the door baby!
I can’t hear you
Bang bang bang on the door baby, knock a little louder
Bang bang on the door baby, bang bang!
On the door baby, bang bang!
On the door, bang bang!
On the door baby, bang bang!
You’re what?
Tin roof
Rusted!
Love shack, baby love shack!
Love shack, baby love shack!
Love shack, baby love shack!
Love shack, baby love shack!
…
Max, like you, I won’t listen to them for hours, but a song here and there is ok. I like Love Shack, Quiche Lorraine, Is that You, Mo’Dean? I think my favorite song of theres is this one:
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Thanks Lisa! I heard this while looking for a song by them to publish! This is only the second time I heard it…It’s good!
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Yes it is 🙂
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I love the B52’s and Love Shack is a great song like many of their others, because of the emotion they put into it.
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It is a bit of raw emotion…they are not polished and I love that part.
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It’s a fun song. like most of theirs. I’m like you, I like them a lot in small doses…my favorite song by them is ‘Roam’, which is probably the most atypical of their singles because it sounds somewhat conventional. My friend David Marsden used to use “Planet Claire” as the theme to his radio show for awhile.
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I was going to do Roam but picked this one. Oh cool… their music is interesting to say the least.
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Your right Dave this is a fun song. They should rerelease it as this world could use some good vibes right now…
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that last statement is so true! My wife works in customer service and it seems like this month people in general are way more pissed off than usual, and I notice it in store lineups and things (besides the news obviously)
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I think it’s the covid effect…people are sick and tired of it all and just angry. We hardly ever get out except for groceries.
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I liked the song to dance to when it first came out. Now, I’m afraid I’d prefer to listen to almost anything else. Still kinda interesting to read about how it came into being. Saludos amigo.
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They’re crazy, but I like ’em.
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Hard to believe they originated in Athens Georgia…I dont know why I think that is strange…I just do.
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Athens is where UGA is, and it’s kind of a hotbed of musical activity in the state. R.E.M. started there and the Indigo Girls might be able to trace their roots to there.
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I’ve heard Athens and Savannah are beautiful places to visit…I’ve never been there. I’m going to Atlanta next week but it’s business and I wont have time to go anywhere.
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Unbelievably belongs to an era – in fashion, style, dance, bizarre-ness. Great!
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Strange band with a good sound. I liked the retro vibe.
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One of the funnest (is that a word?) songs ever.
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It has to be because I know what you mean!
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My wife and I are certainly on the love and hate it spectrum with this. I love it, she doesn’t.
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I’m with you…I ike it in small doses… along with the band.
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I love the B-52s. “It wasn’t a rock! It was a Rock Lobster!” They are so much fun.
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LOL…yes they were different and I had to give them that. I respect the hell out of them.
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Such a fun song. They were quite big in Atlanta since they were from Athens, GA just up the road. Nice to see local band make it so big.
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CB has got his “jukebox money” I’ll meet ya there Max. We’d have to be nuts not to go. CB likes to have fun.
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Lets go dude! I need some fun man
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Hand cuff yourself to me, I stray sometimes especially after a few cocktails.
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Interesting title. I’ve rehearsed in a few shacks during my musical past and they were anything but full love.
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