BIOGRAPHY – The Bates

Music and cinema share so many similarities it is not uncommon for the two to heavily influence each other. For instance, the 1986 classic The Hitcher took inspiration from the song Riders on the Storm by The Doors, whilst both Faster Pussycat and Tura Satana chose their monikers from the world of Russ Meyer. The now-defunct German punk pop group The Bates were named after the tortured antagonist of Alfred Hitchcock’s seminal masterpiece Psycho, Norman Bates. Having enjoyed minor success in 1996 with their cover of Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean (several years before Alien Ant Farm tried a similar tactic with Smooth Criminal), the music video for the track worked as a playful tribute to the classic thriller; shot in black-and-white with frontman Markus ‘Zimbl’ Zimmer re-enacting various scenes from the movie as Bates.

Formed in the late 1980s, The Bates would find the most success with a string of covers of pop songs, beginning with Billie Jean and later leading to versions of Shakespeare’s Sister‘s Hello (Turn the Radio On) and Scarlet‘s Independent Love Song, the latter of which would feature a video that referenced The Silence of the Lambs, this time with Agent Starling becoming aroused by Dr. Lector, once again played by Zimmer. The Bates eventually called it a day in 2000 but would reform for a tribute show after the death of Zimmer six years later.