The Meteors are an English

psychobilly Psychobilly (or punkabilly) is a rock music fusion genre that fuses elements of rockabilly and punk rock. It has been defined as "loud frantic rockabilly music", it has also been said that it "takes the traditional country rock, countrified rock ...

band formed in 1980. Originally from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England, they are one of the pioneers of the

sub

genre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...

— which fuses

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

with

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre, it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western musi ...

— its distinctive sound and style. "Starting in the neo-rockabilly scene, the Meteors were initially shunned for being too spooky and mean. Excuses for exclusion from rockabilly concerts varied from the band having too extreme of a sound to their drummer having green hair." The Meteors blended elements of punk rock, 1960s garage band surf music,

, and

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

themes in their music and are thought to be one of the first bands to use the label 'Psychobilly' to define a genre and musical style, though the term is used as a lyrical motif as part of the narrative in the

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...

and The Tennessee Three song, '' One Piece at a Time''.

Biography

The Meteors were formed in 1980 by P. Paul Fenech (

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

and

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

), Nigel Lewis ( upright bass/

electric bass The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an electric but with a longer neck and scale leng ...

and

), and Mark Robertson (

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

). Fenech and Lewis had played in

bands before, but left their former band, Raw Deal, in order to experiment with a new sound that mixed horror and

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

lyrics with a

crossover. The band made their first TV appearance on Thames TV afternoon show ''White Light'' in late 1980. The Meteors made a short film in late 1980 with comedian Keith Allen called ''Meteor Madness''. It was released as a double feature with

2 Tone Two-tone, two tone, or 2 tone, etc., may refer to: Audio and sound * Second-order intercept point#Two-tone analysis, Two-tone analysis, in nonlinear system measurement * Two-tone attention signal * Two-tone Warning chime, chime, such as the "ding ...

ska film ''

Dance Craze ''Dance Craze'' is a 1981 documentary film about the British Two-tone (music genre), 2 Tone music genre. The film was directed by Joe Massot, who originally wanted to do a film only about the band Madness (band), Madness, whom he met during th ...

'' in March 1981. The movie featured four songs, which made it onto the band's first vinyl single first issued on Ace Records and later on

Big Beat Big beat is an electronic music genre that usually uses heavy breakbeats and synthesizer-generated loops and patterns – common to acid house/techno. The term has been used by the British music industry to describe music by artists such as the ...

. The tracks were also issued as a rare 12" mini-album called ''The Meteors Meet Screaming Lord Sutch''. Soon after that, they issued the double A-side anthems "Radioactive Kid" and "Graveyard Stomp". A session was recorded for the John Peel

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

radio show in June 1981. Again, to date, these tracks have never been officially released. In August 1981, the band were signed to

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...

and recorded their first full-length album, ''The Case Of The Meteors In Heaven'', and 7" single, "The Crazed". The Meteors have gone through many line-up changes since, with Fenech being the only original member to date. Fenech has also released solo albums and played in side projects including The Legendary Raw Deal (rockabilly), The Surfing Dead (instrumental), and The Murder Brothers. Fenech also helped the young Austrian band Sir Psyko & His Monsters by mixtaping their album "Reaperstale" as well as in recording one of the live shows in 2012 in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

called "Welcome to Our Hell".

Discography

Source:

Albums

* 1981 ''In Heaven'' * 1983 ''Wreckin' Crew'' * 1984 ''Stampede!'' * 1985 ''Monkey's Breath'' * 1986 ''Sewertime Blues'' * 1987 ''Don't Touch the Bang Bang Fruit'' * 1988 ''Only the Meteors Are Pure Psychobilly'' * 1988 ''The Mutant Monkey and the Surfers from Zorch'' * 1989 ''Undead, Unfriendly and Unstoppable'' * 1991 ''Madman Roll'' * 1992 ''Demonopoly'' * 1994 ''No Surrender'' * 1995 ''Mental Instru Mentals'' * 1997 ''Bastard Sons of a Rock’n’Roll Devil'' * 1999 ''The Meteors vs. the World'' * 2001 ''Psycho Down!'' * 2003 ''Psychobilly'' * 2004 ''These Evil Things'' * 2004 ''The Lost Album'' * 2007 ''Hymns for the Hellbound'' * 2009 ''Hell Train Rollin * 2012 ''Doing the Lord's Work'' * 2016 ''The Power of 3'' * 2024 ''40 Days a Rotting''

Singles and EPs

* 1981 "The Crazed" / "Attack of the Zorch Men" * 1981 "Meteor Madness" * 1981 "Radioactive Kid" * 1981 "The Meteors Meet Screaming Lord Sutch" * 1982 "Mutant Rock" * 1983 " Johnny Remember Me" * 1984 "I'm Just a Dog" * 1985 "Hogs & Cuties" * 1985 "Fire, Fire" * 1985 "Stampede" * 1985 " Bad Moon Rising" * 1986 "Surf City" * 1986 "Archive4" * 1987 "Don't Touch the Bang Bang Fruit" * 1987 " Go Buddy Go" * 1988 " Somebody Put Something in My Drink" * 1988 " Rawhide" / "Surfin' on the Planet Zorch" * 1988 " Please Don't Touch (song)" * 1991 "Encores" * 1991 "Chainsaw Boogie" * 1992 "Who Do You Love" * 1994 "Hell Ain't Hot Enough for Me" * 1994 "The Meteors" * 1997 "Slow Down You Grave Robbing Bastard" * 2005 "25th Anniversary" * 2007 "Disneyland" / " Surf City" * 2009 "Psychobilly Number One" * 2012 "The Psychomania Syndrome (Welcome)" * 2016 "Psycho (Wrecked Forever)"

Live albums

* 1983 ''The Meteors Live'' * 1986 ''Live II'' * 1987 ''Live and Loud!!'' * 1987 ''Night of the Werewolf'' * 1990 ''Live Styles of the Sick and Shameless (Live III)'' * 1991 ''Encores'' * 1992 ''Live 4 ... International Wreckers'' * 1996 ''Welcome to the Wreckin’ Pit'' * 1996 ''International Wreckers 2 (The Lost Tapes of Zorch)'' * 1999 ''Psychobilly Revolution'' * 2002 ''The Final Conflict'' * 2003 ''From Beyond'' (recording from a 1981 gig, to date the only official 'live' recording of the original line-up) * 2004 ''Hell in the Pacific'' * 2012 ''Maniac Rockers from Hell'' * 2020 ''Best of Life'' (vinyl)

Compilations

* 1980 ''Home Grown Rockabilly'' (Alligator records) various artists compilation featuring 3 songs by The Meteors * 1985 ''The Curse of the Mutants'' * 1986 ''Teenagers from Outer Space'' (all the tracks of the original line-up including a few rare unreleased tracks) * 1987 ''Don't Touch the Bang Bang Fruit'' * 1989 ''Stampede & Monkey's Breath'' * 1989 ''Undead, Unfriendly and Unstoppable Plus the Mutant Monkey and the Surfers from Zorch'' * 1991 ''Bad Moon Rising'' * 1991 ''The Meteors Live & the Meteors Live II'' * 1993 ''The Best Of'' * 1995 ''Corpse Grinder (The Best Of)'' * 1995 ''Graveyard Stomp, the Best of the Meteors 1981–1988'' * 1995 ''Sewertime Blues / Don't Touch the Bang Bang Fruit'' * 1995 ''Live, Leary and Fucking Loud!'' * 1996 ''John Peel Sessions (1983–1985)'' * 1997 ''From Zorch with Love: The Very Best of the Meteors 1981–1987'' * 2001 ''Anagram Singles Collection'' * 2002 ''Wreckin' Live'' * 2005 ''Meteor Club – The Best Of'' * 2008 ''Kings of Psychobilly'' * 2012 ''30th Anniversary Box'' * 2013 ''Psychobilly Rules! The Collection''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meteors, The British psychobilly musical groups Musical groups established in 1980 Musical groups from London