Other bands would have their logos inspired by old horror movies. Early band logos were often in the style of a classic rockabilly band with blocky shaken letters. Every band also has a singer, who may be an additional member or play an instrument themselves. The second common line up was with a drummer and two guitarists. However, it was not uncommon for a band to exchange the upright bass for a bass guitar. They generally included drums, a guitar and an upright bass. Psychobilly bands tended to share common characteristics. Due to hostility from the rest of the neo-rockabilly movement, the mold was broken and the music genre psychobilly emerged ('The Birth of Psychobilly'). The neo-rockabilly sound was too mild, mainstream, and had such a strict guideline towards lyrics that it kept people from expressing themselves or pushing the limits. While traces of glam, metal, and punk can be found in psychobilly, at its core, psychobilly emerged from rockabilly, particularly the neo-rockabilly movement London during the late 1970's (Brackenridge, 2007, p 13-15).
On a sonic level, psychobilly stems from a variety of different genres of music. When the band Restless retired, their lead singer Mark Harman claimed that their music was too complex for psychos to actually understand ("Psychobilly Meltdown," 1988, p 12). However, there was some dissent from the code.
By combining the political climate and movie releases, a music genre which had songs with no deep meaning and campy lyrics came to be (Downey, 2004, p 77-78).
It is no coincidence that songs such as "Mutant Rock," "Ghost Train" and "Attack of the Zorchmen" appeared as these classless movies were appearing in theaters. Psychos gravitated towards these movies due to their lack of seriousness, mindless gore, and enjoyed the throwback to the original B-movies of the 1950's. These included noteworthy titles such as The Howling, The Shining, a remake of The Thing, Friday the 13th, and An American Werewolf in London ( All 80s Movies). During the psychobilly scene, countless classic horror movies were released. By establishing an unwritten rule that the music was to be apolitical, psychobilly music became a method of escape from the real world.Īt the same time, the revival of the B-movie, particularly the return of horror movies, occurred. Fans of psychobilly (known as psychos) wanted none of this, or at the very least a break from the stress created by the political world. On a political level, London was incredibly tense. A year later, there were five race riots within the London area (see Timeline below). Recently elected Margaret Thatcher's policies led to a drastic decline in employment, especially among the blue collared and youth (Kim, 2005). But it all started out in a few dive bars back in London, England.ġ980 was an important year for Britain. The degenerate monsters that started it all come from London, playing small time gigs, gradually moving up to the monstrous European movement of the mid to late '80's. 1980 to 1983 is considered the first wave of psychobilly. The result is an entirely new unique genre and culture. It takes bits and pieces from everything it can, mashes it all together and somehow it works. Psychobilly is one of the most unique music genres out there. It created an entirely new genre of music that would infect all of Europe, and eventually the world. That is what the first psychobilly scene was. Sometimes they are the start of entirely new genres that spread across the world. However, sometimes scenes are not just moments in time.
Scenes add new layers of rules to the music, and each scene will have its own variation of a sound.
The subcultures that focus on genres follow the typical rules of the genre and the context of the time. There is no doubt that scenes have a significant impact on music and its culture. King Kurt, photo from Wrecking Pit Wrecking London Perfect Sound Forever: Psychobilly THE DAWN OF PSYCHOBILLY