The 1980s garage scene was created and has to be understood as a complete immersion in American pop culture from the 1950s and pre-hippie 1960s. It wasn't about heavy fuzz guitars or tattoos, it wasn't about wearing leopard skin pants and proclaiming a "revolution". Everything like that just had to go. It wasn't a retro scene either, because nothing like this had ever existed in Scandinavia, where the teenage scenes had always been ruled by English fads, from Tommy Steele in 1961 to "Quadrophenia" in 1979. As anyone who was around will remember, walking down the street in 1985 wearing a bowl haircut and a Chocolate Watchband outfit (striped or checkered pants, paisley shirt or black polo, mod-style jacket, Chelsea boots, a 5-inch belt with a big buckle) would cause people's heads to turn just like they must have in San José back in 1966. Not even the local mods understood the angle the garage guys were coming from.
In this pure garage scene the Stomachmouths were undoubtedly kings. They were the best live band, they had been around the longest, they had the most developed sense for the right moves and attitude. A lot of this came from band leader and vocalist Stefan Kery, whose knowledge of the bizarre underbelly of American entertainment was encyclopedic even at this early stage. Additional input was received from the band's early mentor Gunnar Johansson, who as a fanzine and record dealer knew people in New York that would play a vital part in forming the frame of reference for the Stockholm bands - Tim Warren of Crypt/"Back From The Grave", Billy Miller of Kicks magazine, Mike Weldon of "Psychotronic" movies fame.
