Without the rise of punk rock, Johnny Moped almost certainly wouldn't have enjoyed their brief fling with success. While they started making noise in 1974, it was the explosion of U.K. punk that gave them a logical context and attracted an audience. Their rough-hewn, R&B-tinged rock was traditionalist by punk standards, but Moped's passionate barking vocals and the eccentric bent of his lyrics were punk personified, like a fan who crashed the stage to reveal his oddball genius. The band's day in the sun didn't last long; 1978's Cycledelic was their definitive statement as well as the only album they made during their initial run. (A second album, 1990's The Search for Xerxes, featured unrecorded songs from the '80s with home-brewed synthesizer-heavy production.) Johnny Moped made a comeback with 2017's It's a Real Cool Baby and 2019's Lurrigate Your Mind, revealing their style had changed remarkably little after four decades.