Psychobilly / Horror Punk
Psychobilly / Horror Punk is punk's monster-movie and rockabilly afterlife: slap bass, twang guitar, speed, camp, gore, B-movie imagery, graveyard humor and leather-jacket melodrama. Psychobilly pulls rockabilly into punk aggression, while horror punk turns punk hooks toward Halloween, sci-fi, death and comic-book darkness. The family is theatrical by design, but its best bands make the costume serve the rhythm, hooks and atmosphere.
History
The Cramps created the swampy, trash-culture gateway, while The Meteors built psychobilly as a scene in early-1980s Britain. Misfits and Samhain made horror punk's melodic, macabre template, and bands such as 45 Grave, Christian Death, Nekromantix, Tiger Army, Demented Are Go, The Quakes and Calabrese carried the darkness into deathrock, gothabilly and modern punk scenes. The style survived because it gives punk a year-round mythology: cars, coffins, comics, horror films and romantic doom.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Psychobilly scene histories
- Misfits and Cramps biographies
- AllMusic psychobilly and horror punk overviews
- deathrock histories