The B-52’s “Love Shack” charted

Love Shack The B-52’s

Writer(s): Kate Pierson, Fred Schneider, Keith Strickland, Cindy Wilson (see lyrics here) Released: June 20, 1989 First Charted: August 26, 1989 Peak: 3 US, 4 CB, 6 GR, 5 RR, 14 MR, 2 UK, 5 CN, 19 AU, 3 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 0.5 US, 0.6 UK, 1.24 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 1.0 radio, 87.05 video, 244.05 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: The B-52’s arrived on the scene a decade earlier with their debut album and became a definitive band of the new wave/post-punk era. They had a cult following primarily comprised of the gay community and college radio listeners. However, their relevance declined and in 1985, they considered calling it quits after guitarist Ricky Wilson died of AIDS. Instead, they soldiered on with drummer Keith Strickland recording guitar parts in Wilson’s style. SF In 1989, they came back on the scene in a big way. The band wanted Nile Rodgers (best known for his band Chic) to produce their Cosmic Thing album, but he wasn’t available. They turned to Don Was who had his own group Was (Not Was), but had also worked with Bob Dylan, Elton John, and the Rolling Stones. Kate Pierson, one of the singers in the band, credits Was for making the song a hit. The band used to perform songs live before recording them, but Was helped them structure “Love Shack” and record it in the studio. SF “The gorgeously infectious ‘Love Shack’” TB didn’t just put the “perennially eccentric B-52’s” TB back on the radar, but gave them their first taste of mainstream success and became their signature song. It topped the charts in Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand and hit the top 5 in the U.S., UK, and Canada. WK The band was inspired by the club in the movie The Color Purple, as well as Hawaiian Ha-Le, a real club outside Athens, Georgia where the band hung out. The club drew a wide variety of hippies, scenesters, and University of Georgia students. Cindy Wilson, another of the band’s singers, described the club as “a really cool place – a run-down love shack kind of thing…It was a really interesting place.” SF The concept for the song was that the Love Shack was “a place where people of all stripes come together for a groovy time.” SF The song was additionally inspired by a tin-roofed cabin – also in the Athens, Georgia area – where Pierson lived in the ‘70s. The band conceived their 1979 hit “Rock Lobster,” probably their best-known song prior to “Love Shack,” at the cabin. Wilson’s memorable line about “tin roof rusted” was actually an outtake from a jamming session. WK The line has been famously misinterpreted as “Hennn-ry, busted.” SF Wilson has said she was thinking of the rusty roof from the Hawaiian Ha-Le club. SF Resources: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for The B-52’s BC Brad Carl (2015). 50 Songs from the 70s and 80s That Still Hold Up. Pages 30-31. SF Songfacts TB Thunder Bay Press (2006). Singles: Six Decades of Hot Hits & Classic Cuts. Outline Press Ltd.: San Diego, CA. Page 238. WK Wikipedia First posted 11/16/2019; last updated 5/2/2024.

Indigo Girls charted with “Closer to Fine”

Closer to Fine Indigo Girls

Writer(s): Emily Saliers (see lyrics here) First Charted: June 17, 1989 Peak: 52 US, 48 AC, 48 AR, 26 MR, 53 CN, 57 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 6.7 video, 35.76 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Amy Ray and Emily Saliers met in elementary school in the Atlanta, Georgia area. As the duo Indigo Girls, they walked “the musical line between R.E.M. and Tracy Chapman” SG and were signed to Epic Records. Their 1989 self-titled sophomore album, but major-label debut, was a two-million seller which nabbed them a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album and a nomination for Best New Artist. Blues singer Michelle Malone, who knew the duo “up-close and early on” SG said the album “captured the essence of that thing Amy and Emily have always done so well: vocal harmony weaving through well-written, sincere songs.” SG On one hand, there was Ray’s “husky alto…digging through the rubble of she was” SG while Saliers’ “lighter touch [served] as a counterweight to Ray’s fiery passion.” SG The album kicked off with “Closer to Fine,” a song featuring a penny whistle, a reference to Rasputin, and the Hothouse Flowers. SG It became “much more than just a folk song: it is joy, hope, and validation set to music.” SG The duo have played it at every concert since its release, eventually making it their show closer. Singer Matt Nathanson calls it a “magical unicorn of a song wrapped up in these campfire chords that anyone can play.” SG Saliers wrote the song sitting on the front porch of a cabin in Vermont while on vacation with her family. As she said, “whenever you’re in such a bucolic setting, it can make you feel very philosophical.” SF As a recent college graduate, she was wrestling with the impact of academia and, essentially, the purpose of life. In the song’s lyrics she “looked to the children” and “drank from the fountains” in search for answers, only to conclude that “the less I seek my source for some definitive / The closer I am to fine.” It served as “a testament to the spiritual notion that we each have all the truth and wisdom we need right here inside of us.” SG Resources: SF Songfacts SG Kelly McCartney (2/28/2019). Stereogum “Closer to Fine at 30: The Legacy of Indigo Girls’ Spellbinding Singalong” Related Links: First posted 10/20/2020; last updated 9/22/2022.