The 1996 film Swingers started the craze. Then an advert by the clothing chain, Gap, using a track by 1950s swing star Louis Prima, caused a sensation. Swing expert and swing dance promoter, Robert Austin, says that in the United States the swing craze is phenomenal. A whole scene has now developed in the States called neo-swing. It has its own bands, swing publications, record labels, swing Websites, dance steps and conventions.
Teenagers even form their own swing-oriented rock bands.
But this is 1990s swing, which means doing it with electric guitars. The youth scene The leader of the movement is Brian Setzer, the former leader of the rockabilly band the Stray Cats. He has now formed his own 17-piece swing orchestra and such is his success in the US that he even has his own TV show. Little towns I had never been to were completely sold out. But some, like the music journalist James McNair, believe that swing's success in the US has come as a reaction to big business rock and pop music.