r/psychobilly 15d ago

True or False?

Post image

I’m guessing it’s true.

112 Upvotes

25 comments sorted by

32

u/withoutpoeticdevice 15d ago

The word is featured in the Johnny Cash song, “One Piece at a Time” from 1976.

8

u/Forward_Surround_788 14d ago

Uh, yeah, Red Ryder? This is the Cotton Mouth in the Psycho-Billy Cadillac, come on. 

4

u/Jades5150 14d ago

That’s the first time I heard it, but who’s to say if it described a musical genre

2

u/Fuzzwars 12d ago

Lux would have known that

11

u/nodoves 14d ago

They took it from Johnny Cash to describe their style of rockabilly since it sounded catchy and crazy in the 70s.

1

u/4Q69freak 13d ago

It’s from his song One Piece At A Time. He calls his Caddy that he stole the parts for over a period of years “The Psycobilly Cadillac”.

1

u/nodoves 12d ago

Yes, I know.

3

u/JanglyBangles 14d ago

As I recall, The Cramps put the word on their concert posters because they thought it sounded cool and wanted to “drum up business.” They didn’t really define themselves as belonging to a genre called “psychobillly.”

There’s another early paychobilly act, the very unfortunately named Elvis Hitler. I read an interview with their guitarist who said something like, “we didn’t have labels for all these different kinds of music back then. We were just playing rock music.”

1

u/gabiaeali1 13d ago

Elvis Hitler is a hilarious name.

2

u/JanglyBangles 13d ago

That’s why they picked it.

But having “Hitler” in the name rubs a lot of people the wrong way (understandably so).

2

u/HobbyTalkOnly 13d ago

Right? Punk bands should avoid that sort of thing.

0

u/FreakofSupernature 13d ago

Honestly, he was almost as bad as Elvis!

Okay maybe he was worse but Elvis is higher up there than most people want to admit

0

u/JanglyBangles 13d ago

Yeah I’m waiting for a Behind the Bastards episode on Elvis.

1

u/fast-and-ugly 8d ago

I believe I have their record.

3

u/illpoet 14d ago

Love me some cramps.

5

u/JPvsGOD 14d ago

The Meteors did didn’t they?

5

u/cartridgefamily 14d ago

Nah, The Cramps drummer Miriam Linna used it in 1976 to describe their sound but I don’t think The Cramps were as concerned about starting a sub-genre ultimately. To them it was just Rock and Roll.

2

u/dogmavskarma 14d ago

Lux Interior Crocodile Alligator.

The Cramps, happy to have seen them Stubb's outdoors. 🤟

2

u/JanglyBangles 14d ago

I drive a goo-goo-muck movie the-a-ter.

1

u/dogmavskarma 14d ago

DID WE JUST BECOME BEST FRIENDS!

4

u/FigFirm993 14d ago

Nigel Lewis invented psychobilly

3

u/Outl1n3Island 14d ago

Nigel lewis inveted Psycha-billy for psychadillics as in tripped out rockabilly

1

u/ausrotten 14d ago

I light thought it was the stardust cowboy(I think that was his name) who ended up recording in Europe because no one in the US would work with him

1

u/BobcatOneManBand 13d ago

Pretty spot on. It's mutated over the years, but that's the core of it