Love Shack
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"Love Shack" is a song by American new wave band
the B-52's The B-52s, originally presented as the B-52's (with an errant apostrophe; used until 2008), are an American band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1976. The original lineup consisted of Fred Schneider (vocals, percussion), Kate Pierson (vocals, k ...
from their fifth studio album, ''
Cosmic Thing ''Cosmic Thing'' is the fifth studio album by American New wave music, new wave band the B-52's, released in 1989 by Reprise Records. It contains the hit singles "Love Shack", "Roam" and "Deadbeat Club". The music video for "Love Shack" won the a ...
'' (1989). It was released on June 20, 1989, and was produced by
Don Was Don Edward Fagenson (born September 13, 1952), known professionally as Don Was (), is an American musician, record producer, music director, film composer, documentary filmmaker and radio host. Since 2011, he has also served as president of the ...
. 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. "Love Shack" is considered one of the band's signature songs and has been a concert staple since its release. Commercially, the single topped the charts in Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand and reached number two on the UK Singles Chart, number three on the US ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
''
Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...
(becoming their first top-40 hit), and number five on the Canadian ''
RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...
'' 100 Singles chart. The song was later named one of the 365
Songs of the Century The "Songs of the Century" list is part of an education project by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the National Endowment for the Arts, and Scholastic Inc. that aims to "promote a better understanding of America's musical an ...
by the
Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
and one of the
500 Greatest Songs of All Time "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" is a recurring song ranking compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and industry figures. The first list was published in December 2 ...
by ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
''.


Background

The genesis of the song came from B-52's frontman
Fred Schneider Frederick William Schneider III (born July 1, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter and frontman of the rock band the B-52s, of which he is a founding member. Schneider is well known for his '' sprechgesang'', which he developed from reciting ...
, and was inspired by a club outside of
Athens, Georgia Athens is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Downtown Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta. The University of Georgia, the state's flagship public university and an Research I university, ...
, 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." Kate Pierson stated that it was "kind of like the
juke joint Juke joint (also jukejoint, jook house, jook, or juke) is the African-American vernacular term for an informal establishment featuring music, dancing, gambling, and drinking, primarily operated by African Americans in the southeastern United St ...
in '' The Color Purple''", and that the band would hang out there with a large "
bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a ...
" group of friends.
Cindy Wilson Cynthia Leigh Wilson (born February 28, 1957) is an American musician and one of the vocalists, songwriters and founding members of New wave music, new wave rock band the B-52s. She is noted for her distinctive contralto voice and also plays per ...
added, "It used to be this funky building with a
tin Tin is a chemical element; it has symbol Sn () and atomic number 50. A silvery-colored metal, tin is soft enough to be cut with little force, and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, a bar of tin makes a sound, the ...
roof that was old and rusty. They would have ''
Soul Train ''Soul Train'' is an American musical variety television show. After airing locally on WCIU-TV in Chicago, Illinois, for a year, it aired in syndication from October 2, 1971, to March 25, 2006. In its 35-year history, the show primarily featu ...
'' ance lines." 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. 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. 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". The cabin, which was on the cusp of being reoccupied and renovated, burned down in December 2004.


Composition and recording

The song was the last to be recorded for the ''
Cosmic Thing ''Cosmic Thing'' is the fifth studio album by American New wave music, new wave band the B-52's, released in 1989 by Reprise Records. It contains the hit singles "Love Shack", "Roam" and "Deadbeat Club". The music video for "Love Shack" won the a ...
'' album and was devised when the band's sessions with producer
Don Was Don Edward Fagenson (born September 13, 1952), known professionally as Don Was (), is an American musician, record producer, music director, film composer, documentary filmmaker and radio host. Since 2011, he has also served as president of the ...
finished a day early. 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. 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
ilson Ilson Wilians Rodrigues (born 12 March 1979) is a Brazilian former footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, America ...
s spirit. That was the goal, and I knew his presence was there." 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. Wilson's line "tin roof rusted" originated from a jam session for the song, where the band were rehearsing along with pre-recorded instrumentation. Wilson was yelling the line as the backing tape stopped, which the band found amusing and thought provided a suitable ending. Wilson later elaborated, "It was just a vision in my head of my love shack." 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. 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." 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." 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. 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. When the band reconvened, they realized the incomplete take was so good that they would keep it and splice it together with another take.


Reception


Commercial

"Love Shack" became the band's biggest hit song as well as their first million-copy seller. It was the band's first song to reach the top 40 on the US ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
''
Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...
, peaking at number three in November 1989, and spending a total of 27 weeks on the chart. It also reached number five in Canada, number two in the United Kingdom, and number one in Australia (eight weeks), Ireland (one week) and New Zealand (four weeks), as well as on the ''Billboard''
Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...
chart (four weeks).


Critical

Caren Myers from ''
Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...
'' 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." David Giles from ''
Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...
'' 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." Pan-European magazine ''
Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later m ...
'' named it "the best track from the disappointing ''Cosmic Thing''. Good clean fun from some of the US' most productive eccentrics." Ian McCann from ''
NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...
'' felt it was a rip-off of
the Miracles The Miracles (later known as Smokey Robinson and the Miracles from 1965 to 1972) were an American vocal group formed in Detroit, Michigan in 1955. They were the first successful recording act for Motown Records and are considered one of the most ...
' " Going to a Go-Go". ''
People The term "the people" refers to the public or Common people, common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. I ...
'' magazine noted the "wild abandon" of the song. In retrospective reviews,
Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...
of
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
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." 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". 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!"


Legacy

"Love Shack" was named one of the
Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
's 365
Songs of the Century The "Songs of the Century" list is part of an education project by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the National Endowment for the Arts, and Scholastic Inc. that aims to "promote a better understanding of America's musical an ...
in 2001. In 2005, ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'' named it the best single of 1989, and in 2010 ranked it 246th on its list of the
500 Greatest Songs of All Time "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" is a recurring song ranking compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and industry figures. The first list was published in December 2 ...
.


Music video

The accompanying
music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
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. Bernstein initially wanted to shoot the video in a New York studio but was convinced to relocate once he saw the house. The video features a cameo from a pre-fame
RuPaul RuPaul Andre Charles (born November 17, 1960) is an American drag queen, television host, singer, producer, writer, and actor. He produces, hosts, and judges the reality competition series ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' and has received List of awards ...
in his first mainstream appearance. 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." Guitarist
Keith Strickland Julian Keith Strickland (born October 26, 1953) is an American singer-songwriter, composer, musician, multi-instrumentalist, and one of the founding members of the B-52s. He was born in Athens, Georgia. Originally the band's drummer, 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". Video artist Tom Rubnitz also appears in the video as the bartender. The video won the award for Best Group Video at the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards.


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 The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...
recorded at the Cleveland Music Hall (
Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
,
Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
) on December 2, 1989. In January 1999, 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.


"Love Shack"

* Non-UK 7-inch single : US and Australian cassette single : Japanese mini-CD single # "Love Shack" (edit) – 4:15 # "Channel Z" (LP version) – 4:49 * US 12-inch maxi-single :A1. "Love Shack" (12-inch remix) – 7:58 :A2. "Love Shack" (12-inch instrumental) – 6:34 :B1. "Love Shack" (12-inch mix) – 6:09 :B2. "Love Shack" (Big Radio mix) – 5:32 :B3. "Channel Z" (12-inch rock mix) – 6:22 * US maxi-CD single # "Love Shack" (12-inch remix) – 7:58 # "Love Shack" (remix/edit) – 4:02 # "Channel Z" (12-inch rock mix) – 6:22 # "Love Shack" (12-inch mix) – 6:09 # "Love Shack" (a cappella) – 3:54 # "Love Shack" (Big Radio mix) – 5:32 * Australian 12-inch and maxi-cassette single :A1. "Love Shack" (12-inch remix) – 7:58 :A2. "Love Shack" (12-inch instrumental) – 6:34 :A3. "Rock Lobster" (original version) – 6:49 :B1. "Love Shack" (12-inch mix) – 6:09 :B2. "Love Shack" (Big Radio mix) – 5:32 :B3. "Channel Z" (12-inch rock mix) – 6:22 * UK 7-inch, CD, and cassette single # "Love Shack" – 4:18 # "Planet Claire" (live) – 5:10 # "Rock Lobster" (live) – 5:17 * UK 12-inch single :A1. "Love Shack" (12-inch remix) :B1. "Love Shack" (12-inch mix) :B2. "Love Shack" (7-inch version)


"Love Shack 99"

* UK CD single # "Love Shack 99" (radio mix) – 4:39 # "Love Shack" ( DJ Tonka remix) – 6:28 # "Love Shack" (album version) – 5:21 * UK cassette single # "Love Shack 99" (radio mix) – 4:39 # "Love Shack" (album version) – 5:21


Credits and personnel

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. Studios * Recorded analog at Dreamland Recording Studios ( West Hurley, New York) * Pre-produced at
Bearsville Studios Bearsville Sound Studio was an independent residential recording studio founded by Albert Grossman in the Bearsville, New York, Bearsville section of Woodstock, New York. From the late 1960s through the early 2000s, the studios were the site of n ...
( Bearsville, New York) * Mixed analog at Electric Lady (New York City) * Mastered at
Masterdisk Masterdisk is an American multimedia company in New York, located at 8 John Walsh Boulevard in Peekskill. They provide production services such as audio mastering, vinyl cutting and enhanced CD and DVD production. Their clients include such n ...
(New York City) Personnel * The B-52's – writing ** Fred Schneider – vocals ** Cindy Wilson – vocals ** Kate Pierson – vocals, keyboards ** Keith Strickland – guitar * Sara Lee – bass guitar * Charley Drayton – drums * Uptown Horns – horns * Don Was – production * Tom Durack – mixing * Dave Cook – engineering * Martin Kunitz – assistant engineering *
Bob Ludwig Robert Carl Ludwig (born December 11, 1944), is a retired American mastering engineer. He mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists, including Led Zeppeli ...
– mastering


Charts


Weekly charts

"Love Shack 99"


Year-end charts


Certifications


Release history


In popular culture

* 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 Darren Everett Criss (born February 5, 1987) is an American actor, singer, and songwriter. He rose to fame starring on the television series ''Glee (TV series), Glee'' (2010–2015) and received a Primetime Emmy Awards, Primetime Emmy Award and ...
and
Chris Colfer Christopher Paul Colfer (born May 27, 1990) is an American actor, singer, and author. He gained international recognition for his portrayal of Kurt Hummel on the television musical ''Glee'' (2009–2015). Colfer's portrayal of Kurt received crit ...
, was cited as the highlight of the episode by several critics, and a "rousing" end to the episode. * In 2016, the song was lip synced by American basketball player
Shaquille O'Neal Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal ( ; born March 6, 1972), commonly known as Shaq ( ), is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program ''Inside the NBA''. He is a and Center (basketball), center ...
on the television show ''
Lip Sync Battle ''Lip Sync Battle'' is an American musical reality competition television series that premiered on April 2, 2015, on the American cable network Spike, later known as Paramount Network. The show is based on an idea by Stephen Merchant and John ...
''. Because O'Neal commonly goes by the nickname Shaq, host
LL Cool J James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968), known professionally as LL Cool J (short for Ladies Love Cool James), is an American rapper and actor. He is one of the earliest rappers to achieve commercial success, alongside fellow new school hip ho ...
pointed out that O'Neal was singing a "love song to himself."


See also

* List of Billboard number-one alternative singles of the 1980s * List of number-one singles in Australia during the 1980s * List of number-one singles of 1990 (Ireland) *
List of number-one singles from the 1990s (New Zealand) The following lists the number one singles on the New Zealand Singles Chart during the 1990s in music, 1990s. The source for this decade is the Recorded Music NZ chart, the chart history of which can be found on the Recorded Music NZ website or ...


References

{{Authority control 1989 songs 1989 singles 1999 singles The B-52's songs Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Number-one singles in Australia Number-one singles in New Zealand Reprise Records singles Song recordings produced by Don Was Songs written by Cindy Wilson Songs written by Fred Schneider Songs written by Kate Pierson Songs written by Keith Strickland Music videos directed by Adam Bernstein