Rockabilly revival
What was it? Rockabilly revived in the 1970s as a raw reaction against prog and disco – Shakin' Stevens and the Sunsets recorded Peel sessions and supported the Stones – but it never made the mainstream. In the early 1980s, however, a new generation of rockabilly groups made the charts.
Which bands? The Polecats, Matchbox, Whirlwind, the Rockats, and in the US, the Stray Cats and the Blasters
The biggest hit? Runaway Boys by the Stray Cats (No 9, 1980)
Our expert witness Martin "Boz" Boorer, guitarist with the Polecats:
"I saw Chuck Berry in 1976, but in 1977 I was also watching punk bands. We started playing a mix of Buzzcocks and rockabilly songs, but we thought we'd better go one way or the other. In 1978 I was selling our first handmade record in the sixth-form common room, but when the Stray Cats came over they got loads of press and it all blew up for us.
"Our music was wild, and the gigs were raucous. I remember one in Portsmouth where this bloke stood up and said, 'It's got to be possible for us all to get along together!' and he was hit on the head by a glass.
"But mostly I remember good times. Our first album went top 30, and I thought it was to go on for ever. I'd started playing guitar to T.Rex and glam records, and we had the idea of doing Jeepster and John I'm Only Dancing, stripped down. The covers got a mixed reception on the scene. People spat at us in nightclubs. We'd been playing all over Europe – but the gigs were drying up and the label stopped putting records out. It was fizzling out and everyone had latched on to something else. I was a bit depressed at the time. Then I got a call to play guitar with Morrissey. But there's still a big rockabilly thing around the world and the Polecats get back together every year."
