Psychobilly

Article by Alex 17 Jan 2012

Psychobilly is a mixture of rockabilly with other rock styles ranging from punk to surf to garage rock. Often using a stand up bass in the slap style just like 50s rockabilly, psychobilly was purposely apolitical in contrast to many other musical styles of the early 80s. Its fashions took influence from everything from scooterboys to skinheads whilst it was also the supposed origin of slam dancing.

The first use of the term was in the lyrics to Johnny Cash’s ‘One Piece At A Time’ when Cash sings about a “Psychobilly Cadilac’.

The punk rock band The Cramps then took the term from the Cash song to advertise their shows on flyers around mid 1970s New York. Although most definitely not ‘psychobilly’ in sound, The Cramps were an important precursor to the scene in their mix of punk rock with covers of rockabilly and even surf rock songs.

In London in the early 80s a band called The Meteors became the first actual psychobilly band.

Other London based bands such as Guana Batz eventually formed a scene around the Hammersmith club Klub Foot which lead to a series of compilations called Stompin At Klub Foot.

As the style became vaguely popular in early 80s London it eventually spread to continental Europe, most notably The Netherlands with bands such as Batmobile and finally onto America with bands like Reverend Horton Heat.

Tags: music