Cat's Tale: A Fairy Tale Retold by Bettie Sharpe

It was almost like a fairy tale: three quintessential Americans from Long Island took their brand of rockabilly to England at the height of the synthesizer and eyeliner days of new wave. They did more than just stick out: the Stray Cats triggered a rockabilly revival on both sides of the pond. "Built For Speed", a North American release, is a repackaging of the best songs from the band's first two British albums and became their biggest hit. It peaked at number two on the Billboard album chart and yielded two huge singles: 'Rock This Town', their first US hit, went to number nine and 'Stray Cat Strut' peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1982.

It was almost like a fairy tale: three quintessential Americans from Long Island took their brand of rockabilly to England at the height of the synthesizer and eyeliner days of new wave. They did more than just stick out: the Stray Cats triggered a rockabilly revival on both sides of the pond. "Built For Speed", a North American release, is a repackaging of the best songs from the band's first two British albums and became their biggest hit. It peaked at number two on the Billboard album chart and yielded two huge singles: 'Rock This Town', their first US hit, went to number nine and 'Stray Cat Strut' peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1982.

It was almost like a fairy tale: three quintessential Americans from Long Island took their brand of rockabilly to England at the height of the synthesizer and eyeliner days of new wave. They did more than just stick out: the Stray Cats triggered a rockabilly revival on both sides of the pond. "Built For Speed", a North American release, is a repackaging of the best songs from the band's first two British albums and became their biggest hit. It peaked at number two on the Billboard album chart and yielded two huge singles: 'Rock This Town', their first US hit, went to number nine and 'Stray Cat Strut' peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1982.