Southern Culture on the Skids

Stylistically, SCOTS gravitate towards the rockabilly, surf rock, country and R&B genres, with a punk edge and outrageous humor thrown in:[1]

Guitarist/singer Rick Miller, drummer Dave Hartman and bassist/singer/heartbreaker Mary Huff, play a greasy mix of surf, rockabilly, R&B and country-fried garage with a side of psych, all the while driving fans into ecstatic, sweat-drenched paroxysms of joy. It’s a musical gumbo Miller calls, “Americana from the wrong side of the tracks.“ The band has been prolific and ubiquitous for over thirty years, touring everywhere from the North Carolina prison system to Mount Fuji, Japan, and delivering what Rolling Stone calls “a hell raising rock and roll party.“[1]

SCOTS's music is generally very upbeat, as they usually write and perform songs about dancing, sex, and fried chicken,[2] which are main themes in songs such as "Cheap Motels," "Soul City," and "Eight Piece Box." They are also known for their live shows, which often include throwing fried chicken and banana pudding into the audience, and audience members invited to dance onstage.[3] As a general rule, they are not hostile toward non-commercial taping of their shows.[4]

The band appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in 1995, performing "Camel Walk" from their album Dirt Track Date,[2] where Jay Leno jokingly said Drew Carey performed on drums. They also appeared numerous times on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.[2] The song "Soul City" was heard in the 1996 film Happy Gilmore, as well as the 2005 Dukes Of Hazzard movie. The song "White Trash" is featured in the soundtrack for the 1996 film Beavis and Butt-head Do America. The song "Camel Walk" is used in the 1996 movie Flirting with Disaster, the 1997 movie Perdita Durango, and the 2009 movie Schwerkraft. It also was used on the first season of the TV show Psych in the episode "Weekend Warriors." "My Baby's Got the Strangest Ways" appears on the soundtrack to the 1997 slasher film I Know What You Did Last Summer. The band can also be seen performing the song on a beach party in the movie. Four of their songs, "King of the Mountain", "Pass the Hatchet", "Cheap Motels" and "The Corn Rocket" appeared on the soundtrack to the 2001 film Super Troopers. The song "Smiley Yeah Yeah Yeah" appears on the soundtrack to the 2004 Major League Baseball video game MLB 2005. The track "40 Miles to Vegas" appeared on the EA Sports video game NASCAR 07. The song "White Trash" appears in the trailer for the 2011 movie Goon. Rick Miller appeared on episode 174 of the Americana Music Show [5] and described their 2013 release, Dig This! as being inspired by having to dig ditches around his Kudzu Ranch recording studio to fix its septic tank. "Weird Al" Yankovic featured a style parody of Southern Culture on the Skids entitled "Lame Claim to Fame" on his 14th studio album, Mandatory Fun.

On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Southern Culture on the Skids among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.[6]

• Official Website
• Southern Culture on the Skids at AllMusic
• "69 El Camino" from the TV Show Corporate Country Sucks.
• Southern Culture on the Skids collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive
• Rick Miller Interview and music from the CD Zombiefied