Westworld (British band) should not be confused with Westworld (American band).
| Westworld | |
| Background: | group_or_band |
| Genre: | Pop rock, rockabilly |
| Years Active: | 1986 - 1994 |
| Label: | RCA Records |
| Past Members: | Bob "Derwood" Andrews Elizabeth Westwood Gary "Gaz" Young Tracey "T.J." O'Conner Nick Burton |
| Associated Acts: | Generation X, Empire, Moondogg, Speedtwinn |
Westworld was a British pop rock/rockabilly band of the late 1980s, best known for its 1987 UK Top 20 hit single, "Sonic Boom Boy".
Named after the sci-fi film Westworld, it was formed in 1986 by former Generation X guitarist Bob "Derwood" Andrews and American vocalist Elizabeth Westwood.[1] The line up was completed by drummer Nick Burton.[1] Before the recording and release of their third and final album, Burton left the band and was replaced by Gary "Gaz" Young and Tracey "T.J." O'Conner, making them a quartet.
Visually the band were styled in a way reminiscent of comic book art and musically they were a blend of classic 1950s rock and roll, glam and punk, updated with beatboxes and sequencer. They had an early success with their debut single "Sonic Boom Boy", which reached #11 in the UK Singles Chart in February 1987,[2] and was used in Sony's advertisements.[1] They had one more Top 40 hit, "Ba-Na-Na-Bam-Boo" which reached #37 in May the same year.[1] They released three albums before moving to the Arizona desert in the US in 1992 to form the band Moondogg.
Although not successful in the US, their song "Painkiller" reached #17 on the San Francisco modern rock station Live-105's (KITS) "Top 105.3 Songs of 1988".
The JAMs' "Whitney Joins the JAMs", a house mash-up single, was built around samples of Whitney Houston, Isaac Hayes, Lalo Schifrin's Mission: Impossible theme tune, and (according to later sleevenotes), Westworld.[3]
Westworld's track, "Ba-Na-Na-Bam-Boo", appeared on the soundtrack to the 1987 film, Planes, Trains & Automobiles; whilst another of their songs, "So Long Cowboy", was on the soundtrack to the 1991 movie Point Break.
A retrospective LP, entitled Sick Cool, containing material from the band recorded in the period 1992-1994 period was commercially released in 2018 in the United States.[4]
Title | Release | Soundtrack | |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Ba-Na-Na-Bam-Boo" | 1987 | Planes, Trains and Automobiles | |
| "So Long Cowboy" | 1991 | Point Break |
. David Kent (historian). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. illustrated. Australian Chart Book. St Ives, N.S.W.. 1993. 0-646-11917-6. 335.