The Screaming Blue Messiahs
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Screaming Blue Messiahs were a band formed in 1983 in London by Bill Carter (vocals and guitar), Chris Thompson (bass and vocals) and Kenny Harris (drums). Featuring a high-octane sound sometimes described as "rockabilly from hell" and an obsession with Americana, they initially released the mini-album Good and Gone before signing to WEA. Three full-length albums followed. The first, Gun Shy, produced the single "Wild Blue Yonder," which although a minor hit, would resurface in 2006 as the closing music of an episode of FX's Rescue Me. The second album, Bikini Red, provided their only hit in the form of I Wanna Be a Flintstone, which was later included on the soundtrack to the live-action Flintstones movie.
Despite supporting David Bowie on tour, they were dropped by their label after the third album and split shortly afterwards.
After the split Thompson and Harris went on to form The Killer B's while Carter dropped out of performing music. Harris later turned to writing.
In 1990, The Replacements released their album All Shook Down, not knowing that the Messiahs had released a single with the same title two years earlier. Upon learning this, Replacements frontman Paul Westerberg tried to delay the release of the record in order to change the title, but at that point it was too late.
In 2006 a MySpace page appeared under the name "Screaming Bill Carter" featuring three previously unreleased songs.
[edit] Discography
- Good and Gone mini-album (1984)
- Gun-Shy (1986)
- The Peel Sessions: The Screaming Blue Messiahs (1986)
- Bikini Red (1987)
- Totally Religious (1989)
- BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert (1992)
