tell me things about The Cramps (RIP Lux Interior)

i would not have guessed he was closin in on 60 ...so goooooooooooooooooooddd....so wrong...i will sorely miss u luxxxxy...u were a great inspiration to me..even tho i canty play surfgoth i loved so much cramps..it hurts///oooo eeee oowww wahhhhh

I was thinking today that "Smell of Female" IS a really great title. maybe one day I'll actually listen to the band, also

this fucking sucks. rest ye well in rock god heaven, Lux.

:(

when people use that whole "sounds like music from another planet" trope, the first thing i think of is Bad Music For Bad People, which really did completely mindfuck me the first time i heard it. RIP you awesome weird dude.

one of my fondest adolescent purchases was a yellow-vinyl 7" of "i ain't nuthin but a gorehound" b/w "weekend on mars".

http://www.limbos.org/newrose/new/new33-or.jpg

I saw him get blown by 15-year old girl once. Even still, R.I.P.

I was all like-"Isn't dude married"?

Shit, didn't mean to quell the ass-kiss fest. Just sayin'.

hell, i would have blown him when i was 15. he was hottt. and a rock god.

i will see you in heaven/hell luxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He was definitely enjoying it. Still,that's some reverse NAMBLA shit.

Shut up.

Haha. Yeah buddy sure. Anything for you.

But like I was saying...Lux was getting sucked hardcore by an underage gal. Shoulda seen his face. Ecstasy.

man i love the "ban from thread" button.

I liked some of their songs. That Tear It Up video is funny for its use of crowd shots. Beyond that, I guess this is one you leave to the oldies: kitsch-shock-Elvis never meant shit to me. But the more retro-shock perversion, the better, I guess. I'm just wary of having to pay homage over the next 10 years to all the class of 78-85. We did the 60s rock-legacy things in the 90s, and this is no more fun.

haha I just asked esoj to ban from thread, thanks JJ.

this is such such such a bummer.

We did the 60s rock-legacy things in the 90s, and this is no more fun.

you'll get to pay homage to yr own heroes, give it time.

gonna crank this shit forthwith

good quote from Kurt/Yukki of The Repellents, Bullet Lavolta, Kustomized, etc:

He basically embodied everything Great about Rock & Roll: Amazing influences, taste, sense of humor, reverence, irreverence, strength, madness, mysticism, sexuality, wild abandon, excess, living after hours, horror, psychedelia, rockabilly, garage...I am truly a Child of The Cramps.

x-post. Yeah, sorry if that came across dickish. I guess since the '02 Strummer thing, I'm just saddened by how young some of these people are dying. Anyway, I'll lend this thread back to those who know the music 100000x better than I do.

I could have sworn the last time he played Chicago he got in trouble for biting someone.

Top Ten Desert Island Disc
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8q46RERUNGA/RlYShHa3IbI/AAAAAAAABlM/fpjLuobaJ8g/s400/%5BAllCDCovers%5D_cramps_songs_the_lord_taught_us_1998_retail_cd-front.jpg

RIP

Late to this but -- a damn shame. Another one I should have caught live at some point before it was too late. RIP.

Rest in peace, Lux.

RIP Lux. Glad I got to see you live, WOW.

I repeat...

The most beautiful and scary-looking man in all of rock 'n' roll! Ever!

― Arthur, Tuesday, 7 May 2002 00:00 (6 years ago)

Also a lovely person. I'm so sad. Poor Ivy.

some friends of mine went to see them at the Jockey Club in Ohio back in 1986 and the club RAN OUT OF BEER halfway through their set.

yeah woah. so bummed i never saw them. he and ivy were such a valuable resource at the time for turning people onto stuff - playing charlie jackson on the radio, digging up wild old doo wop etc. i love the cramps covers, like on how to make a monster. hearing him sing i can't hardly stand it, he actually sounds like he looks.

This is terrible. The Cramps show I saw at the Warner Theater in DC in '79 was amazing as were some later gigs I saw. Ian M. and Guy from Fugazi and countless others in the DC scene were all so blown away by their live show. They also did gigs with DC rockabilly cats Tex Rubinowitz and the Bad Boys that impressed some other folks who might not have been considered their prime audience.

from the mtv news obit by James Montgomery and Jem Aswad http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1604336/20090204/story.jhtml

Born Erick Lee Purkhiser, Interior started the Cramps in 1972 with guitarist Poison Ivy (born Kristy Wallace, later his wife) — whom, as legend has it, he picked up as a hitchhiker in California. By 1975, they had moved to New York, where they became an integral part of the burgeoning punk scene surrounding CBGBs.

Their music differed from most of the scene's other acts in that it was heavily steeped in camp, with Interior's lyrics frequently drawing from schlocky B-movies, sexual kink and deceptively clever puns. (J.H. Sasfy's liner notes to their debut EP memorably noted: "The Cramps don't pummel and you won't pogo. They ooze; you'll throb.") Sonically, the band drew from blues and rockabilly, and a key element of their sound was the trashy, dueling guitars of Poison Ivy and Bryan Gregory (and later Kid Congo Powers), played with maximal scuzz and minimal drumming.

Because of that — not to mention Interior's deranged, Iggy Pop-inspired onstage antics and deep, sexualized singing voice (which one reviewer described as "the psychosexual werewolf/ Elvis hybrid from hell") — the Cramps are often cited as pioneers of "psychobilly" and "horror rock," and can count bands like the Black Lips, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, the Reverend Horton Heat, the Horrors and even the White Stripes as their musical progeny.

Everyone's already said it on this thread, but the Cramps were a band who transcended genre simply by opening so many doors. They were my first introduction to a lot of rockabilly, rare r&b etc. And they made everything their own, and in doing so let you know that if you wanted to check out the original, it would probably blow your little teenage mind.

The real fucking shit, the Cramps. Their original drummer, M1r1am, lives in my neighborhood, and I see her walking the dog sometimes. I know she left the band early on, but I can imagine how devasted someone who knew the man closely must be. If we casual fans can be so touched and upset, god only knows what magic the man wrought on his close friends. Not to over-romanticize what was undoubtedly a complicated and often painful life, but you know...

They did a lot of great covers -- great songs, great versions -- but originals like "What's Behind the Mask" and "Mystery Plane" deserve a lot of praise, too.

:(

Oh man. Another hero gone :-(

RIP

Ah, jeez fuck shit.

What a fun sweetheart. What a great.

RIP.

Maybe the best frontman I ever saw. RIP Lux.

RIP, Elvis Fuckin' Christ. "You gotta live it 'til you're dead . ." and Lux damn well did.

nooooooo

RIP

Really bummed at never having gotten to see 'em. RIP Garbageman.

Oh damn. Only ever saw them once when they played the Reading Festival (1990?). Didn't really quite work in the open air, but I do remember some sort of on-stage hijinks going on - didn't Lux eat his own vomit or something? Anyhow, the records really kick arse and I would gladly give my right nipple to have seen them play in some dank subterranean dungeon somewhere. RIP Lux.

the cramps changed my fucking life. so long lux. my thoughts are with ivy.

Jesus, not another one! RIP Lux, what a man, love to Ivy.

I don't think another band ever turned me on to so much other great stuff. The first time I saw them is still one of the 5 best live shows I ever saw... and it was at a House of Blues! R.I.P./Stay Sick!

I'll never forget the image of Lux scaling a wall of speakers while wearing bikini briefs and fishnet stockings. Even their roadie shook his head at the sight.
Last time I saw them was in October 2004 at the Avalon in Boston. Across the street, the Yankees were killing my Red Sox in Game 3 of the ALCS (but we know how that turned out - heh heh). They kicked off with "Mad Daddy," I believe. Incredible shows, all. RIP.

I've been listening to them loads over the last week or so and was pleased they were nearing the shortlist of invitees to May's UK ATP. Sad news. RIP Lux.

I remember first hearing Off The Bone when I was ~14. I confess my first reaction was "what in the fuck is this shit?" but it wasn't long before it was a mainstay on my turntable. I'll give it a wee play on the way home tonight.

Yes, I've still got the 3d specs!

I remember when the first cramps ep came in to the record store I was working in 1978. even in the wake of punk and no new york it was a shocker -- so crude and propulsive. like it was recorded by cavemen.

search: the re/search book on incredibly strange records, the interview w/lux & ivy nicely lays out their aesthetic. true believers in rock & roll.

RIP

Toronto was lucky enough to have a show at the time, The New Music (co-hosted by future Fox mannequin J.D. Roberts), that would play stuff like that. Hard to put into words the effect that seeing that had on me at 20.

We had a middle school trick or treater on Halloween dressed as Wednesday from the Adams Family. My wife put on Cramps "Goo Goo Muck" and the kid, unprompted, did the dance quite well.

crew needed a pale boy dressed in sweaty latex pants and net shirt and lee press-on dagger nails imo

Alas she didn’t have a crew and probably wasn’t aware of specifics re the song .

Lol nah yah that kid was def owning that role— i was just laffing at the idea of a kiddo on halloween as lux which would be like “i’m calling protective services”

Ha , yes .