Stray Cats - Rock This Town

What this video is

Produced in early 1981 during the height of the UK rockabilly revival, this video captures the Stray Cats at the moment of their commercial breakthrough in Britain, before any US release. The band — three Americans who relocated to London in 1980 to exploit the Teddy Boy and 50s nostalgia revival — embodied a transatlantic cultural exchange: American 1950s Sun Records aesthetics re-filtered through British punk-era…

Why it matters

A foundational artifact of the 1980s neo-rockabilly genre and one of the earliest high-profile music videos to bring the rockabilly aesthetic into the nascent MTV-era promotional format. Directed by Julien Temple, a central figure in early British music video production, the clip set a visual…

The director

Born November 26, 1953 in London, England. British film, documentary, and music video director. Launched career with Sex Pistols short films in 1976, including The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle. By the early 1980s became one of the UK's most prominent music…