Bands in the "Rockabilly/R&B/Rock'n'Roll" chapter of the 1980 new wave guide I just bought for $2 off a seemingly homeless guy set up on the sidewalk of St Marks Street

I remember them, the poor mans Showaddywaddy.

This brings back some memories, now totally written out of music history.

link wray fits in on a 1980 new wave/rockabilly list, i think.

That's what I like about new wave ca. 1979-80 - it was just open-minded enough to mean anything (ALMOST). If you loaned some young poseur a Stiff comnpilation, they'd probably go "hey, they ain't PUNK enuff, they sound like Bryan Adams!"

Not MEAN anything, I meant to say something like TAKE IN anything (so long as it wasn't Donna Summer or Foreigner). Like I said, hardly any of them artists up above would pass muster in punk/new wave/indie/alternative/whatever retrospectives today.

Still wondering about The Polecats.

and the "bogey" boys

Still wondering about The Polecats

Most of them are now in Morrisey's backing band.

Oh yeah. I knew that for about five minutes. Later-in-life parenthood is the art of pretend forgetfulness.

I remember playing the Kingbees record a bit on my U. of Maryland radio show back then

They had a big AOR hit -- at least in Detroit: "My Mistake", which went "my my my my my my my mistake." Right around the same time as the KINGS had a big AOR hit, so they were easy to confuse. "My Mistake" went to #81 in the U.S. in summer 1980; the album went to #160. Apparently they were from Los Angeles.

Rocky (son of Johnny) Burnette's 1980 rockabilly hit "Tired of Toein' The Line" was much bigger, though -- it went to #8! (Only two Stray Cats hits ever went higher than that, and he came two years before!) His album went to #53.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=yPBwbdRuKPc

Moon Martin is curiously not listed above, but his rockabilly hit "Rolene" went to #30 in 1979.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=VhdtbwxKCK4

Dave Edmunds' rockabilly "Girls Talk" went to #65 in 1979. (He had slightly bigger hits later and a much bigger hit earlier -- "I Hear You Knocking," #4 in 1970 -- but they weren't as new wave, so who cares!)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=IdO81OKATgE

I find myself wondering how the mid-80s psychobilly chaps (the Meteors and the Stingrays and that lot) felt about The Polecats and The Fab Thunderbirds, or the Rockpile lot - whether they thought of them fondly as fellow travellers halfway along the righteous path, or charlatan rockabilly traitors?

Well, one thing that's interesting is that neither the artsty-despite-themslves psychobilly bands (like the Cramps and Shockabilly say -- I don't know Meteors or Stingrays) nor most of the more popwise acts mentioned here really sound a whole lot like actual '50s rockabilly; they came from different directions, but in a way, neither came were purists.

But yeah, did they distrust each other, or did the Cramps think Stray Cats were sellouts? I have no idea.

This list reminds me of something Kim Wilson from the Fabulous Thunderbirds (a traditionalist blues band) once told Creem magazine...that when the first album came out (in '79), they were mistaken for a new wave band. Then a few years later, when the Stray Cats became big, they were confused for a rockabilly band.

Must have been the retro clothing, slicked back hair, and pluralized name that did it. There were several new wave and neo-rockabilly bands who had all three of those things back in 1979-83.