Matchbox were the chosen band to back visiting American rockabillies to the UK such as Mac Curtis, shown here with Gordon Scott (guitar) and Fred Poke (upright bass)
PHOTOS COURTESY OF MATCHBOX UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED
As Rockabilly Rebel was the first authentic UK pop single hit of the rockabilly revival, it seems right that the song starts with a metallic guitar sound not a million miles from the rumbling of a motorbike about to scorch the Tarmac. With one short riff, a whole musical movement sparked into life. Except it wasn’t that simple. Rockabilly Rebel may have become one of the commercial anthems of the genre, with the LP Matchbox, released not long after, enjoying parallel breakthrough success on the album charts, but it had been a while coming.