As the bastard genre of rock 'n' roll and the
forgotten offspring of punk, a history of psychobilly is
long overdue. Despite being starved of the oxygen of
mainstream music press attention for more than 25 years,
psychobilly has thrived in the underground building a
network of fiercely loyal followers and producing a huge
number of bands who each peddle their own brand of the
genre. The book follows the scene from its initial boom
in the early 1980s, through the lean years of the late
1990s to the current psychobilly renaissance’ of the
21st century where the genre looks dangerously close to
crossing over into the mainstream alternative scene,
particularly in the U.S. The book explores the roots of
psychobilly, not only in rockabilly and punk but also in
1960s garage punk, glam rock, revival rock 'n' roll, and
heavy metal. It focuses on key pioneers of the scene
such as The Meteors, Guana Batz, King Kurt, The Krewmen,
Frenzy, and Demented Are Go then looks in detail at the
bands which followed in their wake all across the UK,
Ireland, and Western Europe. As followers of psychobilly
are intensely loyal and as much a part of the scene as
the bands, the book also includes testimonials from a
number of music fans detailing how they first became
hooked by the psychobilly bug. The book also focuses on
key record labels, promoters, fanzines, and websites.
This book covers the careers and key releases from
hundreds of psychobilly bands across the globe including
more far flung regions where the psychobilly disease has
spread such as Japan, Russia, Australia, Mexico, and
South America. It also details the fashion, haircuts,
and tattoos which give psychobilly its style and looks
at a variety of related music genres such as
neo-rockabilly, trash, garage punk, and speedrock. As a
scene criminally ignored in print for so long, this
history is the result of three years spent probing the
hazy memories of band members, poring over the sleeve
notes of long-deleted albums, and flicking through a sea
of dog-eared fanzines and flyers, piecing the whole
project together in a feat of psychobilly detective
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