You heard it all the time. Georgia Satellites’ debut album featured the song “Keep Your Hands to Yourself,” and the tune peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 as it drew in both rock and country fans. The band recorded a cover of the 1964 hit, “Hippy Hippy Shake” for the Tom Cruise movie Cocktail and hit the charts again. Songs like “Battleship Chains,” “Open All Night,” and “All but the Cryin’” made the band from Atlanta what Rolling Stone called “The preeminent bar band.”
Georgia Satellites’ 2022 release of Lightnin’ in a Bottle: The Official Live Album, reminded fans of what these Southern rockers could do. An 18-song set recorded at the Cleveland club Peabody’s in 1988, it has everything from the Ramones’ “I Want to be Sedated,” to George Jones’ “White Lightnin’,’” to Chuck Berry’s “Run Rudolph Run.” Of course, “Keep Your Hands to Yourself,” “Battleship Chains,” and “Hippy Hippy Shake” also make appearances.
Today, Georgia Satellites is led by founding lead guitarist and vocalist Rick Richards and includes Fred McNeal on vocals and rhythm guitar, Bruce Smith on bass and vocals, and Todd Johnston on drums. Richards also plays in former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Izzy Stradlin’s band.
In a 2022 interview with Ultimate Classic Rock, Richards explained how unprepared the band was for the success of “Keep Your Hands to Yourself.” It wasn’t British, it wasn’t pop, and it wasn’t trendy.
“Even country at the time, really wasn’t what it was,” he said. “It was us and Jason and the Scorchers who were the only people I knew that were actually doing that, taking country songs and bastardizing the hell out of ‘em to turn them into a Ramones song, that kind of thing. It was amazing.”
Perhaps it was lightning in a bottle. It was magic.
