"Rumble in Brighton" by Stray Cats

Birthday wishes go out today to Slim Jim Phantom, drummer for the American neo-rockabilly act Stray Cats, whose 1981 song Rumble in Brighton was soon over-shadowed by the huge fame the band would garner the following year with such hits as Rock This Town and Stray Cat Strut - not to mention 1983's pervo classic (She's) Sexy + 17*.

Rumble in Brighton appeared on the band's self-titled debut album, re-released the following year in the US as Built for Speed; it refers to a period of civil unrest between mods and rockers beginning in 1964 and continuing well into the Thatcher Era, at which time the Iron Lady gave the two sides a common enemy. The conflict is best documented in the 1974 film Quadrophenia, which starred members of The Who and was based on the 1973 album of the same name.

Phantom briefly courted the tabloid limelight in 1984 when he married famed movie strumpet Britt Ekland; their marriage ended in 1992, having resulted in the 1988 birth of their son T. J.

*The title of which looks too much like an algebra equation for my liking...
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