Punk rock is a music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced short, fast-paced songs with hard-edged melodies and singing styles with stripped-down instrumentation. Lyricism in punk typically revolves around anti-establishment and anti-authoritarian themes. Punk embraces a DIY ethic; many bands self-produce recordings and distribute them through independent labels.
The Cramps were an American rock band formed in 1976 and active until 2009. Their lineup rotated frequently during their existence, with the husband-and-wife duo of singer Lux Interior and guitarist Poison Ivy the only ever-present members. The band are credited as progenitors of the psychobilly subgenre, fusing elements of punk rock with rockabilly.
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western musical styles such as country with that of rhythm and blues, leading to what is considered "classic" rock and roll. Some have also described it as a blend of bluegrass with rock and roll. The term "rockabilly" itself is a portmanteau of "rock" and "hillbilly", the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style. Other important influences on rockabilly include western swing, boogie-woogie, jump blues, and electric blues.
Psychobilly is a rock music fusion genre that fuses elements of rockabilly and punk rock. It's been defined as "loud frantic rockabilly music", it has also been said that it "takes the traditional countrified rock style known as rockabilly, ramp[ing] up its speed to a sweaty pace, and combin[ing] it with punk rock and imagery lifted from horror films and late-night sci-fi schlock,... [creating a] gritty honky tonk punk rock."
Jazz rap is a fusion of jazz and hip hop music, as well as an alternative hip hop subgenre, that developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s. AllMusic writes that the genre "was an attempt to fuse African-American music of the past with a newly dominant form of the present, paying tribute to and reinvigorating the former while expanding the horizons of the latter." The rhythm was rooted in hip hop over which were placed repetitive phrases of jazz instrumentation: trumpet, double bass, etc. Groups involved in the formation of jazz rap included A Tribe Called Quest, Digable Planets, De La Soul, Gang Starr, Jungle Brothers.
The Meteors are an English psychobilly band formed in 1980. Originally from London, England, they are one of the pioneers of the psychobilly subgenre — which fuses punk rock with rockabilly — its distinctive sound and style. "Starting in the neo-rockabilly scene, the Meteors were initially shunned for being too spooky and mean. Excuses for exclusion from rockabilly concerts varied from the band having too extreme of a sound to their drummer having green hair." The Meteors blended elements of punk rock, rockabilly, and horror film themes in their music and are thought to be one of the first bands to use the label 'Psychobilly' after bands The Misfits and The Cramps distanced themselves from the genre label due to the genre's rising popularity.
The Gun Club were an American post-punk band from Los Angeles that existed from 1979 to 1996. Created and led by singer-songwriter and guitarist Jeffrey Lee Pierce, they were notable as one of the first bands in the punk rock subculture to incorporate influences from blues, rockabilly, and country music. The Gun Club has been called a "tribal psychobilly blues" band, as well as initiators of the punk blues sound cowpunk – "He (Pierce) took Robert Johnson and pre-war acoustic blues and 'punkified' it. Up until then bands were drawing on Iggy & The Stooges and the New York Dolls but he took it back so much further for inspiration."
Horror punk is a music genre that mixes punk rock and 1950s-influenced doo-wop and rockabilly sounds with morbid and violent imagery and lyrics which are often influenced by horror films and science fiction B-movies. The genre was pioneered by the Misfits in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Subsequent bands formed in the Misfits' wake like Mourning Noise, the Undead and Samhain, solidifying horror punk's first wave. In the late 1990s and early 2000s the genre gained attention through the reunion of the Misfits and success of groups like AFI, Son of Sam and the Murderdolls. This popularity continued to the modern day with Blitzkid, Calabrese and Creeper.
The Blasters are an American rock band formed in 1979 in Downey, California, by brothers Phil Alvin and Dave Alvin (guitar), with bass guitarist John Bazz and drummer Bill Bateman. Their self-described "American Music" is a blend of rockabilly, early rock and roll, punk rock, mountain music, and rhythm and blues and country.
The Latino Rockabilly War was a band most notable for backing The Clash frontman Joe Strummer. The band, which played a fusion of Latin and rock music, was formed by Strummer with meeting Joey Altruda and Willie McNeil of jazz-punk group Tupelo Chain Sex, along with musician Zander Schloss.
The swing revival, also called retro swing and neo-swing, was a renewed interest in swing music and Lindy Hop dance, beginning around 1989 and reaching a peak from the early/mid to late 1990s. The music was generally rooted in the big bands of the swing era of the 1930s and 1940s, but it was also greatly influenced by rockabilly, boogie-woogie, the jump blues of artists such as Louis Prima and Louis Jordan, and the theatrics of Cab Calloway. Many neo-swing bands practiced contemporary fusions of swing, jazz, and jump blues with rock, punk rock, ska, and ska punk music or had roots in punk, ska, ska punk, and alternative rock music.
Don Francis Bowman "Sugarcane" Harris was an American blues and rock and roll violinist and guitarist. He is considered a pioneer in the amplification of the violin.
HorrorPops are a Danish punk band that formed in 1996. The band's sound is rooted in psychobilly, rockabilly, and punk rock.
Batmobile is a Dutch psychobilly band from Rotterdam and Breda, formed in 1983. They were the first band not from the United Kingdom to perform at the influential psychobilly club, Klub Foot and are considered the seminal Dutch psychobilly band.
The Grave Diggers were an American rockabilly, surf, jazz, punk band. They are notable due to their eclectic musical style, their early foreshadowing of subsequent music revival movements, and the musical careers of their members.
Time Tripping is an album released by the Fullerton College Jazz Band for the Discovery Records Trend AM-PM label, it became the Down Beat Magazine 1st Place Award Winner in the College Big Band Jazz category for 1983.
We're Back! is a 1986 album released by the California State University, Los Angeles Jazz Ensemble, it was the springboard for the Bob Curnow's arrangement of the Pat Metheny work The First Circle. The group proved to be one of the finest college jazz orchestras of that era with having placed in the finals of the Pacific Coast Collegiate Jazz Festival. The jazz band had numerous student musicians that have made a name for themselves as professionals to include Sharon Hirata, Luis Bonilla, Phil Feather, Jack Cooper, Charlie Richard, Eric "Bobo" Correa, Mark Gutierrez, Vince Dublino, and José Arellano.
Primarily Jazz is an album released by the Fullerton College Jazz Band for the Discovery Records Trend AM-PM label, it was the third release in as many years.
Levi and the Rockats are a British rockabilly revival band originally from Essex but currently based in New York City. They are recognised as one of the pioneering neo-rockabilly groups of the 1980s.
The Thirsty Crows are an American rock band from the South Bay area of Los Angeles, California. Thematically their songs tend to revolve around horror, binge drinking, and acts of revenge.
