psychobilly

created by Jack Black

(idea) by Jack Black (4.3 y) (print) ? (I like it!) Tue May 02 2000 at 16:06:30

This is a term used in America to describe rockabilly that has been influenced by punk and/or heavy metal. It is normally exemplified by The Reverend Horton Heat and The Cramps. The term is kinda loose and could mean other things depending on where ya are and who you are talking to.

Especially if you are talking to Europeans. They have some narrow definition of the term that seems to exclude every band that's not The Meteors. Those damn European Bastards

(thing) by too_fast_to_live (3 mon) (print) ? (I like it!) 1 C! Wed Mar 09 2005 at 18:19:46

Psychobilly is a genre of music that is generally described as a mix between British punk rock of the 1970's and American rockabilly of the 1950's. The bands music has a lot of influences from horror films, violence, sex, and other topics of that sort. Modern psychobilly often resembles horror punk.

The word "psychobilly" was first used by Johnny Cash when he used it in his top ten hit "One Piece at a Time," Where he described a "psychobilly Cadillac." A couple years later, the Cramps described their music as "psychobilly" and "voodoo rockabilly." Although bands like the Cramps rejected being part of the psychobilly scene, they are still an important band to the psychobilly scene, along with bands like Screamin' Jay Hawkins, the Stray Cats, and Motorhead.

The first actual psychobilly band was the Meteors who formed in south London in 1980. The Meteors also encouraged the concept of psychobilly being apolitical, and their shows being a "politics-free" zone in order to avoid fights between their fans, as politics were becoming extremely common in punk music. To this day, almost no psychobilly bands sing about politics.

In 1982, a nightclub opened in Hammersmith, West London called Klubfoot which became a home for the psychobilly scene. It was eventually demolished and became a bus station. Because the psychobilly scene has never become very popular, psychobilly fans often organize "Psychobilly Weekends" where many bands are featured on one bill to attract many people from all over. The first weekends were organized in the UK in the mid-80s.

Psychobilly fashion consists of a hairstyle called a quiff, which is a lot like a mohawk, but not quite. The clothing has a lot of punk influence, such as dyed hair, studded clothes and leather jackets, mixed with early rockabilly/50's fashion.

printable version
chaos

The Cramps	rockabilly	Reverend Horton Heat	klingon programmers
Flametrick Subs	25 cent plastic toy vending machines	Slap bass	Alien Sex Fiend
Quiff	Full Custom Gospel Sounds	The Blasters	Buck Naked and the Bare Bottom Boys
Screamin' Jay Hawkins	punkabilly	The Spectres	Batmobile
Angry Johnny and the Killbillies	Mad Sin	Johnny Thunders	Horehound
cowpunk	Smoke on the Water	924 Gilman	November 4, 2000

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