Artist of the Month: Stray Cats

The band that put Rockabilly music back on the records chart in the early eighties scored several hits on both sides of the Atlantic.
Like many bands that start off in other countries, the Stray Cats were no exception, starting out in London where Rockabilly music was just starting out in the early 80’s. Becoming popular right from the start they released their debut album in 1981.
Deciding to test their luck in America, they signed with EMI America and in 1982 released their U.S. debut album “Built for speed”, which compiled the highlights from their two British lp’s. Their biggest help came from MTV, when at the time it was “anything goes” new wave era. The band first appeared in the middle of 1979 performing under a number of names including “The Tom Cats”, The Teds, and Bryan and the Tom Cats, and since 1983 they have used only “Stray Cats” as their name. The Stray Cats became so popular that even members of the Rolling Stone and the Who and even members of Led Zeppelin were attending their concerts. And of course everybody knows that you have to start from somewhere, at the time when Brian was just getting started he was in high school. He was playing nights as a solo act in little neighborhood bars, remember this was at the time when Disco music was topping the music charts and Brian’s music seemed totally strange. So by the time they started to get a good following of fans The Stray Cats started playing around Long Island and by this time the had developed a repertoire of between 200 and 300 songs, now that is a lot music. I think the only other band that was rumored to know more songs was Rare Earth when it was said that that band knew over one thousand songs, but remember it’s just a rumor. With the Stray Cats album release in 1981 their debut British album,they scored three straight hits with “Runaway boys”, Rock this town”, and “Stray Cat Strut” all of this happened when they were still in Europe. By 1982 the Stray Cats came to America and the rest is history.
Learn more about the Stray Cats on KWMC’s 1490 AM “little Red Rooster Show’ as we feature the music and history of the “Stray Cats” as they become the Artist Of The Month.All stories and fun facts are by Wendy Johnson and all shows are produced by Javier Martinez.