Ricky Wilson

For the Bs, Love Shack was much more than just a cool party track, though.

It was marked as a critical comeback for the band because they were recovering from the tragic passing of their founding guitarist, Ricky Wilson, in 1985.

I mean, everyone out there believed that Ricky's passing ended the band forever, but Cosmic Thing was the ultimate comeback for them.

What makes the Love Shack work so well, though, is how real the inspiration was.

In 2010...

Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards published his highly anticipated memoir called Life, which was co-written by journalist James Fox.

The book received a lot of praise for its honest look at his musical roots, his relationship with Mick Jagger, which has always been on again, off again.

and his wild rock star lifestyle.

Although if you want to sponsor me, Darude, feel free.

Artists who were born on October the 26th include Keith Hopwood, who was born in 1946.

He was the lead guitarist and backup vocalist for the 1960s British invasion band Herman's Hermits.

Michael Piano was born in 1944.

And speaking personally, if I have to talk about musical influences, the B-52s are single-handedly the biggest influence on any music that I have ever had anything to do with.

Mostly the guitar playing of the late, great Ricky Wilson, who died...

As of this recording, he died yesterday, 32 years ago, tragically young at the age of 32.

One of the first AIDS deaths, notably of a celebrity.

them.

Because we love them more than most other bands.

But I felt a little bit uncomfortable about doing an impersonation of Ricky Wilson's guitar playing.

I didn't really want you to have to do the Fred Schneider vocal.

That was the week that a band from the booming music scene of Athens, Georgia watched their debut single Rock Lobster hit the Hot 100 and peaked at number 56.

The B-52s comprised of Fred Schneider on vocals and percussion, Kate Pearson, Keith Strickland, drummer in the beginning, and brother and sister Cindy and Ricky Wilson, who sang and played guitar, respectively.

The B-52's debut album was full of camping new wave charisma.

This was never more on display than with Rock Lobster, a new wave masterpiece of epic proportions if there ever was one.

The B-52s formed in 1976 when the aforementioned members all had an impromptu jam session after partaking of a flaming volcano drink at a Chinese restaurant in Athens, Georgia.

Actually, when they first jammed, Strickland played guitar while Ricky Wilson played the congas.

The first gig, which actually happened to fall on Valentine's Day, Ricky played the guitar.

Their avant-garde tendencies served the band very well as they supported each other with Kate Pearson and Cindy Wilson's beehive hairdos and Fred Schneider's eccentric persona.

Kate Pearson and Cindy Wilson, whose soaring, harmonizing, occasionally shrieking voices are the secret weapon on the whole enterprise.

Ricky Wilson, Cindy's brother, playing that strange, jagged guitar, sometimes even with the strings removed, tuned in ways that shouldn't work.

and Keith Strickland on drums, keeping it all barreling forward.

They'd become a local sensation, then a New York sensation, playing places like CBGB and Max's Kansas City on the strength of their original Rock Lobster single.

It was, it was strange, it was arty, it was queer, it was all the things that I think adult Amanda was going to end up falling in love with.

They became one of my favorite bands almost immediately, and I want to talk about their guitarist, Ricky Wilson, because Ricky is not on Love Shack.

Uh, Ricky died, I think, in 1986, uh, of AIDS.

He was actually one of the kind of earlier AIDS victims, and he was really the backbone of the B-52s in their early days even though, like, he kind of recedes in the background in a lot of the art.

Yeah, it's great.

Well, Todd says, I think this proves that Ricky Wilson was one of the most underrated guitarists ever.

I love all the weirdos dancing in the front row.

We did notice how the mustache on the one guy is coming back.

The confrontation resulted in seven spectators being stabbed by a fellow concertgoer before order was restored.

In 1985, Ricky Wilson, the founding guitarist of the new wave group, the B-52s, passed away at the age of 32 from AIDS-related complications in New York City.

And this was just after the band had completed recording their album, Bouncing Off the Satellites.

In 1994, former Led Zeppelin bandmates Jimmy Page and Robert Plant reunited for a highly anticipated 90-minute MTV special called No Quarter Unleaded.

My2Real, you've got clips from...

Gosh, Arthur Russell, Ricky Wilson of the B-52s, of course, Lee Bowery, Peter Allen, Freddie Mercury, Willy Ninja, Keith Haring, Patrick Cowley.

The list goes on.

Tell me about that kernel of an idea and how it turned into that exhibit.