Keep Your Hands To Yourself – Georgia Satellites | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning

Chart Performance: Pop (#2); 1987

Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne

Well after Southern rock’s heyday, a catchy tune elbowed its way into America’s Top 10: a reminder that there was something to rock other than Bon Jovi and The Jets.

Keep Your Hands To Yourself was not writer Dan Baird’s conscious attempt to forge a new path. In fact, he’d written Hands years before

immortalizing it on record. Dan himself had started performing a decade before with Keith and The Satellites. Once “Keith” Christopher moved on, new members came on board, and the band changed its name to the Georgia Satellites.

GS played the bar circuit around Atlanta before breaking up. Oddly, their six song demo tape brought the Satellites to the attention of a British indie label which released it as an EP.

Back together again, the Satellites released Hands in the U.S. It rose to #2 and earned the band a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Performance by a Group.

This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.

Produced by:

  • Jeff Glixman

Lyrics Written by:

  • Dan Baird