LOVE SHACK
“Love Shack” is a single by pop-rock band The B-52’s. Originally released in 1989 from their album Cosmic Thing, the single was the band’s biggest hit song and first million-copy seller. The song was a comeback of sorts following the band’s decline in popularity in the early 1980’s coupled with the death of their guitarist, Ricky Wilson, in 1985. Named as one of the 365 Songs of the Century in 2001, the video for the song received an award from MTV as the Best Group Video, and was named the Best Single of 1989 by Rolling Stone. (More from Wikipedia)
Many other artists in the 1960s also took a whack at psychedelia. Kenny Rogers’ first band the First Edition had an early hit song with “Just Dropped in (to See What Condition My Condition was In)”; though the lyrics kind of miss the boat, they are still charmingly corny. “Hurdy Gurdy Man” is one of many great psychedelic songs Donovan came up with. The Beatles had Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and the Rolling Stones had Their Satanic Majesties’ Request. Even Motown got into the act: The Supremes hit with “Reflections”, while the Temptations had several psychedelic songs – “Psychedelic Shack”, “Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World is Today)”, “Runaway Child, Runnin’ Wild”, and others. Many were on their 1970 album Psychedelic Shack; one of the biggest hits by the B-52’s, “Love Shack” was in part an homage to this record.
(March 2011)
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One of the best music videos by the B-52’s was the one for “Love Shack”, featuring a road trip down the Atlanta Highway (that would be the old Atlanta Highway, a two-lane road from the looks of it) to a stylized dance club in the middle of nowhere. The video had just the right mix of kitsch and nostalgia.
(March 2016)
