FEBRUARY 1981
Blasting into the charts like they’d been in deep freeze since 1957, the Stray Cats brought the fi ery, hip-thrusting spirit of old-time rock’n’roll into the 1980s with a blistering set of instant rockabilly classics. Formed in New York City in 1979 by guitarist and vocalist Brian Setzer, double bassist Lee Rocker and sticksman Slim Jim Phantom, the Teddy Boy trio would fi nd their biggest success in the UK. Their eponymous debut LP, which was produced by pub rock maestro Dave Edmunds, would peak at No.6 over here and spawn three Top 20 hits in Runaway Boys (No.9), Rock This Town (No.9) and Stray Cat Strut (No.11). The band would split in 1984 (the same year Slim Jim Phantom married Bond girl Britt Ekland), before reuniting in 1986, before splitting in 1993, before reuniting in 2004, before splitting in 2009. Their latest reunion came in 2018 and they released 40 in May 2019, their fi rst studio album since Original Cool in 1993. And yes, even in their fi fties and sixties, the Stray Cats are still the bequiffed kings of good-time, bad boy rockabilly.