"Love Shack" is a song by American new wave band the B-52's from their fifth studio album,Cosmic Thing (1989). It was released on June 20,1989 by Reprise Records,and was produced by Don Was. The song was a comeback for the band,following their decline in popularity in the mid-1980s and the death of guitarist Ricky Wilson in 1985.[6]
The genesis of the song came from B-52's frontman Fred Schneider,and was inspired by a club outside of Athens,Georgia,called the Hawaiian Ha-Le:"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."[7]Kate Pierson stated that it was "kind of like the juke joint in The Color Purple",and that the band would hang out there with a large "bohemian" group of friends.[8]Cindy Wilson added,"It used to be this funky building with a tin roof that was old and rusty. They would have Soul Train [dance] lines."[7]
Another inspiration for the song was thought to be a cabin near Athens with a tin roof,where the band had conceived "Rock Lobster",a single from their 1979 debut album.[9] The five-room cabin,which was located on a dairy farm,had once been rented by Pierson and her then-husband,after they had relocated to Athens in the 1970s.[10] Author Mats Sexton recalled that Pierson had stated several of the band's early songs were conceived in the cabin through jamming,including "many different guitar riffs and assorted lyrics".[10] The cabin,which was on the cusp of being reoccupied and renovated,burned down on December 16,2004.[9]
Composition and recording
The song was the last to be recorded for the Cosmic Thing album and was devised when the band's sessions with producer Don Was finished a day early.[11] The band had a 15-minute long piece that was undeveloped and presented it to Was,who suggested integrating another piece they'd been improvising about a "love shack" as the song's chorus.[11] Pierson later recalled,"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."[11] The section that begins "the love shack is a little old place where..." was initially only in the song once,but both Pierson and Was felt it should repeat,although Schneider disagreed.[8]
Wilson's line "tin roof rusted" originated from a jam session for the song,where the band were rehearsing along with pre-recorded instrumentation.[8] Wilson was yelling the line as the backing tape stopped,which the band found amusing and thought provided a suitable ending.[12] Wilson later elaborated,"It was just a vision in my head of my love shack."[12] While there has been speculation about the meaning of the line,Pierson has also corroborated that the line is literally referencing a rusted tin roof.[13] Wilson mused,"It's amazing what people have come up with in the past about it. I kind of like that. Let the people participate in the meaning. I'm fine with that."[12]
According to Was,Wilson's performance of the "tin roof rusted" line in the song's first proper recording session had an "exuberance that shocked everybody ... she infused it with so much feeling,it threw everybody."[11] After further attempts to re-record it failed to recreate the same "manic energy",Was decided he would keep the take and punch in the remainder of the song.[11] During the recording of one take,a lightning storm caused the power to go out in the studio during the breakdown section,which put the session temporarily on hold.[11] When the band reconvened,they realized the incomplete take was so good that they would keep it and splice it together with another take.[11]
Reception
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 magazine, 2018[14]
Commercial
"Love Shack" became the band's biggest hit song as well as their first million-copy seller.[15] It was the band's first song to reach the top 40 on the US BillboardHot 100, peaking at number three in November 1989, and spending a total of 27 weeks on the chart.[16] It also reached number five in Canada,[17] number two in the United Kingdom,[18] and number one in Australia (eight weeks),[1] Ireland (one week)[19] and New Zealand (four weeks),[20] as well as on the BillboardModern Rock Tracks chart (four weeks).[21]
Critical
Caren Myers from Melody Maker said, "This wins hands down on packaging of the week, as it comes in a fold-out, pop-up love shack that you can brighten your mantelpiece with. The shack is the sort of place that shimmies when people start grooving there. The B-52's are still pretty much making the same frivolous music they always have, but I'd take their joyful silliness over a whole warehouse full of self-conscious iconoplasts any day. Next Thursday would be fine."[22] David Giles from Music Week wrote, "The B-52's deserve a hit after their fine return to form last summer with the Cosmic Thing LP, but I'd be surprised if this is the track to do it." He added, "Like 'Party Out of Bounds', it tries to conjure up a wild, chaotic celebration, but unlike that particular track it is neither inventive nor melodic enough."[23] Pan-European magazine Music & Media named it "the best track from the disappointing Cosmic Thing. Good clean fun from some of the US' most productive eccentrics."[24] Ian McCann from NME felt it was a rip-off of the Miracles' "Going to a Go-Go".[25]People magazine noted the "wild abandon" of the song.[26]
In retrospective reviews, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic described it as "an irresistible dance number with delightfully silly lyrics and hooks as big as a whale that unbelievably gave the group a long-awaited Top Ten hit."[27] Matthew Hocter from Albumism cited "Love Shack" as an example of the band's "own unique brand of upbeat, lyrically positive and infectious dance grooves".[28] The Daily Vault's Denise Henderson commented, "The celebration of life in dance and music is demonstrated by the repetitive chorus 'Everybody's movin/everybody's groovin baby!' Well, when in doubt, dancing and drinking and having a little fun always worked for me!"[29]
The music video for "Love Shack" was directed by American film, music video and television director Adam Bernstein and shot at the home and studio of ceramic artists Phillip Maberry and Scott Walker in Highland, New York.[32][33] Bernstein initially wanted to shoot the video in a New York studio but was convinced to relocate once he saw the house.[11]
The video features a cameo from a pre-fame RuPaul in his first mainstream appearance.[34] Pierson later recalled, "we invited all our friends and had a party. ... We started out really early in the morning and it turned into this rave. RuPaul got the dance line going, and it almost felt like we weren't being videotaped."[11] Guitarist Keith Strickland stated that the dance line scene was an homage to the television show Soul Train, and that RuPaul stepped in to direct the scene when Bernstein "didn't get the process".[11] Video artist Tom Rubnitz also appears in the video as the bartender.[35] The video won the award for Best Group Video at the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards.[36]
Track listings
The single release contained different tracks in different countries of release. Some countries, including the United States, had singles backed with "Channel Z", while other releases included live versions of "Planet Claire" and "Rock Lobster" as the B-side recorded at the Cleveland Music Hall (Cleveland, Ohio) on December 2, 1989. In January 1999,[37] the single was released again with a number of remixes, including one by DJ Tonka. Although the re-release did not chart in the United States, it did enter the UK Singles Chart.[38]
Credits are lifted from the Cosmic Thing album booklet. The Uptown Horns consist of Chris Cioe, Paul Litteral, Arno Hecht, Bob Funk, and Carl Beatty.[53]
The song was covered in Glee's third-season episode "Heart". The episode, broadcast on Valentines Day, used the song to close the show. The cover, primarily performed by Darren Criss and Chris Colfer, was cited as the highlight of the episode by several critics, and a "rousing" end to the episode.[84]
In 2016, the song was lip synced by American basketball player Shaquille O'Neal on the television show Lip Sync Battle.[85] Because O'Neal commonly goes by the nickname Shaq, host LL Cool J pointed out that O'Neal was singing a "love song to himself."[85]
↑ Wilkerson Daily Corporation, ed. (1990). The Hollywood Reporter, Volume 315, N° 1 to 17.
↑ "B-52s". WOLX-FM. From groundbreaking songs like 'Rock Lobster,' ... to chart-topping hits like 'Love Shack' ... the B-52s' unforgettable dance-rock tunes start a party every time their music begins.
↑ Kate Pierson (January 23, 2020). The B-52's - Love Shack | The Story Behind The Song | Top 2000 a gogo(YouTube video) (Interview). Top 2000 a gogo. Event occurs at 5m 13s. Retrieved June 10, 2022. There's been a lot of speculation about what 'tin roof, rusted' means. It was a rumour that it meant you were pregnant. Nobody in the band was, like, how did that...? Or you were drunk, or... You know, people were like, what does that mean? Well, it's just literal. In Georgia, there's a lot of cabins, my house has that, had a rusted tin roof, 'cause it was a funky old shack. Fifteen dollars a month.
↑ "Love Shack – B-52'S". VRT (in Dutch). Top30-2.radio2.be. Archived from the original on February 22, 2012. Retrieved July 28, 2013. Hoogste notering in de top 30: 9
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