music.wikisort.org - Composition

Bouncing off the Satellites is the fourth studio album by American, new wave band the B-52's, released on September 8, 1986. 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.

Bouncing off the Satellites
Studio album by the B-52's
Released	September 8, 1986 (1986-09-08)
Recorded	July 1985
Studio	Sigma Sound Studios (New York City, New York)
Genre	New wave synth-pop
Length	45:55
Label	Warner Bros.
Producer	Tony Mansfield Shep Pettibone (add. production tracks 1-2)
The B-52's chronology
Whammy! (1983) Bouncing off the Satellites (1986) Cosmic Thing (1989)
Singles from Bouncing off the Satellites
"Summer of Love" Released: 1986 "Girl from Ipanema Goes to Greenland" Released: 1986 "Wig" Released: 1987

Recording and death of Ricky Wilson

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (April 2011)

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.[1]

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."[2][3][4]

During the recording, guitarist Ricky Wilson had been suffering from AIDS.[5] 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."[6][7] 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."[7] 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.[5][8] 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

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[9]
PopMatters	6/10[10]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[11]
Sounds	[12]
Spin Alternative Record Guide	7/10[13]
The Village Voice	B+[14]

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.[15] "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.[16] 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.[16][17]

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

Chart (1987)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard 200	85[16]

References

На других языках

---

- [en] Bouncing Off the Satellites

---

[it] Bouncing off the Satellites

Bouncing off the Satellites è il quarto album in studio del gruppo musicale new wave statunitense The B-52's, pubblicato nel 1986.

---

---