Formed in 1980, a lineup of Dan Baird (guitar, vocals) Rick Richards (guitar), Dave Hewitt (bass), and Randy Delay (drums) recorded a six-track demo at Axis Studios in their local Atlanta, Georgia. Jeff Glixman, who had produced the likes of Paul Stanley and Kansas, was enlisted to produce. Soon after the demo was recorded, the band broke up in the summer of 1984.

However, while the band felt they weren't making any progress on their musical path and had moved on, their English manager took the demo to a small Yorkshire record label, Making Waves, who liked the material and released the demos as the "Keep The Faith" EP in 1985 (Kerrang #113). The press response to the EP was positive and prompted the band to reform in the US. Baird had been playing with The Woodpeckers in NC, while Richards remained in Atlanta with The Hell Hounds, who included both Mauro Magellon (drums) and Rick Price (bass). With Baird essentially joining the Hell Hounds the Satellites were reborn and American record labels started taking notice of the band.

By 1986 only Elektra Records were willing to sign the band, who then reunited with Glixman to record their debut full-length album at Axis Sound Studios in Atlanta. Their album, Georgia Satellites, was their most successful album to date, featuring the track "Keep Your Hands To Yourself". That song went all the way to #2 on the Billboard chart, topped only by Bon Jovi's "Livin' On A Prayer". It went into extremely heavy MTV rotation at the time. Other hits included "Battleship Chains" (#86) and "Can't Stand The Pain".

In 1988, the band recorded a cover of The Swinging Blue Jean's 1964 hit, "Hippy Hippy Shake" to the Tom Cruise movie soundtrack Cocktail. Released as a single the song made it to #45 on the Billboard chart. During the year the band released their second album "Open All Night," which infamously included a cover of the Ringo Starr song "Don't Pass Me By," though the album wouldn'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. Baird left the band in 1990 for a solo career when the album failed to find any commercial success.