The Georgia Satellites spun out of members of a few bands in 1980 when Dan Baird, Rick Richards, Dave Hewitt (Bass), and drummer Randy Delay recorded a six-track demo at Axis Studios in Atlanta. After getting little response, the band split until their English manager took the demo to a small Yorkshire record label, Making Waves, who liked the material and released the demos as the - now collectable - Keep The Faith EP in 1985. The press response to the EP was positive and prompted the band to regroup in the United States. In 1986 Elektra Records signed the band and released the self titled album - "Georgia Satellites", featuring the singles "Keep Your Hands To Yourself" & "Battleship Chains". The album and the singles were released in a number of territories to tempt the collector and whilst few are very rare, there are a couple of nice sleeve variations.

In 1988, the band recorded a cover of The Swinging Blue Jean's 1964 hit "Hippy Hippy Shake" for the movie Cocktail which was released as a single. Also during the year the band released their second album, Open All Night, which included a cover of the Ringo Starr sung Beatles song "Don't Pass Me By," though the album didn't build on the success of the debut. A single, "Open All Night" backed with "Dunk 'N' Dine," failed to chart. A third studio album, "In The Land Of Salvation And Sin," was released in 1989, which included re-recordings of "Six Years Gone" and "Crazy" from the 1985 EP. Again, international variations of all of the above are available, together with the normal collection of promotional issues. Baird left the band in 1990 for a solo career.

The band's 1993 compilation Let It Rock: The Best of the Georgia Satellites included a selection of the best tracks from the three studio albums and bonus material that had been released on the Another Chance EP (1989): "Saddle Up," "That Woman" and "I'm Waiting For The Man." Also included was a live version of Chuck Berry's "Let It Rock". The 1997 album Shaken Not Stirred didn't include Baird or Magellan who were replaced by drummer Billy Pitts and keyboardist Joey Huffman, with the two "Ricks" handling lead vocal duties. The album was a mix of re-recordings of their earlier material and eight new songs: "Running Out," "Let It Rock (Bye Bye Johnny)," "Deep In The Heart Of Dixie," "Anna Lee," "My Fault," "Shaken Not Stirred," "She Fades Away," and "Rain".

Dan Baird continues to release "solo" albums under various names - "Dan Baird", "The Sofa Kings", "Homemade Sin" and as a member of "The Yahoos" and "The Bluefields". Often these are on sale at his concerts and if you're lucky enough to meet Dan after the show, he will usually be happy to sign them for you which makes a nice collectors item. 2017 saw the release of Dan's "Solow" album - the first under his own name alone for a while. There are also a host of recent "Homemade Sin" items - many only available via the band website or at their shows with exclusive content.

Probably the pick of the Satellites collectables are those from Japan - many come with nice OBI strips.