Tuesday, March 20, 2012

The Georgia Satellites

One of my favorite bands EVER!!

The Georgia Satellites
Origin: Atlanta, Georgia
Genres: Southern rock
Years active: 1980-1984, 1985-1990, 1993-present

-The Georgia Satellites are a southern rock band from Atlanta, Georgia, thus the name. They are best known for their 1986 Top Five hit "Keep Your Hands to Yourself".
-They take inspiration from Chuck Berry, AC/DC, Little Feat, along with others




History
-Started in 1980 by Dan Baird as lead singer(formerly of the Nasty Bucks), Rick Richards on lead guitar, Keith Christopher on bass guitar(formerly of The Brains), David Michaelson formed a band called Keith and the Satellites in Atlanta, Georgia
-After playing southern bars in the local area, the line up changed. Dan Baird became lead singer and guitarist, Rick Richards was put on lead guitar, Davr Hewitt became the bassist and Randy Delay became the drummer. They recorded a 6 track demo at Axis Studios in Atlanta. Their name also changed to The Georgia Satellites.







-They played every Monday at Hedgen's, a bar in the Atlanta, Georgia neighborhood of Buckhead, an otherwise financially well off area. Christopher left the band in 1982 to perform with Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush and soon moved to London, England for a few years. Currently lives in NYC
-Brought in to produce their music was Jeff Glixman, who had previous produced music from Paul Stanley, Kansas, Gary Moore, Yngwie Malmsteen, Black Sabbath. The band broke up in the summer of 1984. Randy Delay later on performed with the Tony Sarno Band and the Hell Hounds. He died of cancer in 1993
-When they felt they were making no progress, their English born manager, Kevin Jennings, took the demo to a Yorkshire-based label, Making Waves, and released it. They liked it and released the demos as Keep the Faith EP in 1985. This inspired the band to regroup. Baird had been playing with The Woodpeckers in North Carolina, while Richards stayed in Atlanta with The Hell Hounds, which included Mauro Magellan(drums) and Rick Price(bass).



-By 1986, Elektra Records was willing to sign them on. They reunited with Glixmant to record a full length album at Cheshire Sound Studios in Atlanta. Their debut album was a self titled one called Georgia Satellites. This album featured their trademark hit "Keep Your Hands to Yourself". This song immediately went to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, topped only by Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer". On MTV, this song got alot of airplay. This album also featured the lesser known hit "Battleship Chains"
-In 1988, they did their cover of The Swinging Blue Jeans 1964 song "Hippy Hippy Shake" for the movie Cocktail.
-On their second album, Open All Night, they did a cover of the Ringo Starr song "Don't Pass Me By"
-In 1990, Baird left to pursue a solo career



Current Activity
-They reunited in 1993. Led by original band members Rick Richards(lead guitar, vocals), Rick Price(bass, vocals), they had Kenny Head on keyboards, Todd Johnston on drums.
-Baird continues to perform with his band Homemade Sin, which features 3 previous Satellites members. Mauro Magellan joined The Crashers after moving to Wisconsin in the early 1990s.
-Richards, along with commitment to The Georgia Satellites, also plays with former Guns N Roses guitarist Izzy Stradlin in his band, Izzy Stradlin and the Ju Ju Hounds.

Discography
This is the album my stepdad has of them. I have it on my MP3.


2 comments:

  1. I have never heard of The Georgia Satellites before but I like Southern Rock and Chuck Berry music. :D

    -James

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