Hells Bent on Rockin'

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 formore than25 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 inthe 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 work"