Bouncing off the Satellites

''Bouncing off the Satellites'' is the fourth studio album by American, new wave band the B-52's, released on September 8, 1986 by Warner Bros. Records. It was recorded in July 1985 and was produced by Tony Mansfield. Founding member and guitarist Ricky Wilson died of AIDS after most of the work on the album was completed, but a year prior to its release. The B-52's had gone on hiatus by the time ''Bouncing Off the Satellites'' was released, and it took three years for the band to recover from Wilson's death and release their next album, ''Cosmic Thing''.

Recording and death of Ricky Wilson

Recording sessions for ''Bouncing off the Satellites'' began in July 1985. The album was seen as darker and more melancholy than the band's previous work, having more ballads.

A backwards message was deliberately inserted into the album by the B-52's. The message occurs in the song "Detour Thru Your Mind", in the last 30 seconds of the track: Fred Schneider says (slowly and distinctly), "I buried my parakeet in the backyard. Oh no, you're playing the record backwards. Watch out, you might ruin your needle."

During the recording, guitarist Ricky Wilson had been suffering from AIDS.AIDS and the Arts: A Lost Generation - Newsweek Health - MSNBC.com
None of the other band members other than Keith Strickland were aware of his illness. Strickland later stated that Wilson "was very protective of Cindy and his family." In another interview, Kate Pierson stated that Wilson had kept his illness secret from his bandmates because he "did not want anyone to worry about him or fuss about him." Because of this and the lack of new material for the album, Wilson and Strickland allowed Pierson and Schneider to contribute solo material they had been working on at the time; they contributed one track each for the album, "Housework" and "Juicy Jungle", respectively.

On October 12, 1985, Wilson finally succumbed to the illness, at the age of 32, and though Strickland and a few session musicians worked on overdubs for the recorded tracks, the rest of the band were not involved. The band initially felt that it would be impossible to continue without Ricky and decided to take a hiatus from their musical careers until they reformed in 1988 for the recording of their next album, ''Cosmic Thing''.

Release, promotion and reception

The album was finally released on September 8, 1986. Devastated at Wilson's death, the band went into seclusion and did not tour and were involved in minimal promotion for the album.
" Summer of Love" was released as a lead single and initially received a considerable amount of airplay from some radio stations thus managed to peak at No. 3 on the ''Billboard'' Dance Club Songs chart. The music video for " Girl from Ipanema Goes to Greenland" was also made.

The band's record label did not promote the album due to the band's lack of TV or promotional appearances; as a result, it only reached No. 85 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart.Allmusic Guide Chart Information for ''Bouncing Off the Satellites''
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''Bouncing off the Satellites'' was, by most accounts and in comparison the band's previous albums, a critical and commercial failure, though three tracks from the album — "Summer of Love", "Wig" and "Girl from Ipanema Goes to Greenland" — have been performed semi-regularly by the band on tour since the 1990s.

Track listing

Personnel

The B-52's
* Cindy Wilson – vocals (1, 2, 4–7, 9, 10)
* Kate Pierson – vocals (1, 3–6, 9), organ (3)
* Fred Schneider – vocals (4, 5, 6, 8, 9)
* Ricky Wilson – guitars (1, 2, 7, 9), bass (4, 5, 6), vocals (6), backing vocals (7)
* Keith Strickland – bass (1, 2, 9, 10), keyboards (2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10), guitars (3-7), percussion (3), sitar (5), vocals (6), harmonica (7), backing vocals (7, 10)

Additional musicians
* Tony Mansfield – Fairlight CMI
* Mark Mazur – guitars (3), bass (3)
* Tim Rollins – guitars (3)
* John Coté – all other instruments (8), backing vocals (8)
* Tom Beckerman – lead guitar (8)

Production

* Tony Mansfield – producer
* Shep Pettibone – additional production (1, 2), remixing (1)
* Michael Hutchinson – engineer (1)
* Steve Peck – engineer (2)
* Tony Phillips – engineer (3-10)
* Fernando Kral – assistant engineer
* Don Peterkofsky – assistant engineer
* Phil Brown – mastering at K Disc Mastering (Hollywood, California)
* Andrea Starr – coordinator
* Matthew Murphy – coordinator
* Pat Sabatino – coordinator
* Keith Strickland – back cover photography
* Kenny Scharf – front cover painting
* Keith Bennett/Kav Deluxe – art direction
* Gary Kurfirst – management

Chart performance

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bouncing Off The Satellites
The B-52's albums
1986 albums
Warner Records albums
Albums recorded at Sigma Sound Studios
Albums published posthumously