tell me things about The Cramps (RIP Lux Interior)

Loved them since hearing Bad Music for Bad People (what an awesome fucking title that is) in '86 or so, but didn't get to see them live until probably a decade later - the Flamejob tour. They fucking destroyed the place; one of the best shows I've ever seen, by anybody. Lux climbing the amps with his spandex pants creeping lower and lower, huffing and puffing into the mic he was deep-throating, while Ivy just cranked the riffs out impassively, never even bothering to check up on him. Wild as he was, she knew he knew exactly what he was doing. I still listen to them constantly. Everything through A Date with Elvis is essential, plus the live albums Smell of Female and Rockinnreelininaucklandnewzealand.

loved his intro to that clip at the mental hospital show pitchfork posted:

"Some people say you people are crazy...but I don't know about that. You seem alright to me."

<3

do you understand?

I'm going to tell you how / To get on board / You put one foot up / You put another foot up / Put another foot up / And you're on board ...

saw em (and his bare ass) once in the '80s. helluva spectacle.

shock.
saw them some years ago, Lux went wild over the mic and the speakers.
looked more like 40 than 60.
RIP. the cramps changed the way l listen to music while i was a teenage (werewolf).

I remember putting on "Human Fly" on the shared stereo in my highschool and another angry student turning it off and saying that it was "the worst music he'd ever heard". I remember being so puzzled by the solo in "TV Set" and the ghoulish way he would cackle into delay. What superheroes! Very sad . . .

RIP

I regret not being a total collector of the Cramps, because this was a great band for that. So many musicians, underground and overground, from all over the rock spectrum, especially throughout the 80s, nod immediately when The Cramps were brought as a life changing experience, from Ian MacKaye (in that Looking For A Thrill DVD) to Daniel Ash (in several Love & Rockets interviews.) to pretty much any rockabilly and/or punk band ever.

Ron Asheton + Lux R.I.P. within weeks is a really painful blow.

Not that many will care about the Looking For A Thrill DVD nor will this give anything away about it, but about a third of the bands mentioned The Cramps as their life-changing gateway in one form or another.

...and nick cave,iggy pop,jon spencer,calvin johnson,mark e. smith..(the list is endless)
xpost

Ivy just cranked the riffs out impassively, never even bothering to check up on him. Wild as he was, she knew he knew exactly what he was doing.

Man, how unusual was it to have a male/female partnership with the woman as instrumentalist and a male singer rather than the reverse? (esp 30 years ago?)

fuck, speechless

this is getting to me more than asheton's death... maybe cause the stooges always seemed like a previous generation's music (music they ignored, but still). this one hits close to home.

they don't make icons like lux anymore.

RIP zombie elvis

RIP. It's sad he went relatively early, but what a life he did lead.

Always thought one of the best pieces of Alex Chiltoniana was the story about him pistol whipping Lux during the sessions for Songs The Lord Taught Us, pointing the gun at Lux's head, telling him to "Sing it right!"

been reading other cramps threads and discovered I already said all I need to say

neither time nor experience can erase the bottomless sleazy splendor of the cramps and it is a beautiful mystery.

TS: The Cramps vs. Gun Club vs. X.............

Woah no way. Fuck's sakes.

one of my favorite recorded song intros ever: (to cover of Lonesome Town on the new zealand live album)
It's about love and death on a plane
under an open flame
igniting cocaine
it's not about dick and jane
it's about Ricky Nel-sane

I find it remarkable that even thirty years down the line, Lux and Ivy were *still* the short circuit to everything that was sleazy, perverted, and crazy fun about the kitsch eras. Dozens of Taschen books, 90s exotica revival records, and issues of Tiki News instantly made irrelevant by a single Cramps show. A great band, but insanely great conceptual artists.

Don't dream it - Be it. Indeed.

Buh buh buckee!

Edward III OTM, not quite sure why, more of my heroes have died (Ramones, asheton, john balance, david mccomb), but this, no, this manages to be more devastating and depressing somehow. It's like Fun and Awesome have failed or something.

Those muffled studio arguments on the Songs The Lord Taught Us bonus tracks are gold.

. . A great band, but insanely great conceptual artists.

Elvis OTFM

Exactly none of the 6 26 to 34 year old coworkers I went for a beer with tonight had ever heard of lux interior or the cramps. ***anomie****

You need some new coworkers

(I had at least one who talked about it with me)

the msm is starting to pick up on the story, for a while it was weird that nobody seemed particularly interested in reporting his passing

http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSTRE5140P920090205

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-me-lux-interior5-2009feb05,0,5401736.story

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=aW85p_9cPDmE&refer=muse

Some of the papers are having trouble worth their math, reporting Lux as being only 52 instead of 62. I did not even try to mention this to my co-workers. There's no way any of 'em have heard of Lux.

It's kinda hard to start explaining some of it to people who've never heard of them too, e.g. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-me-lux-interior-obit05-pg,0,362555.photogallery?index=3 :-)

a weak obit from the beeb

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7871971.stm

Morrissey gave a Lux shout-out last night during his performance on Kimmel.

I didn't find out about this til today...so fucking sad.
Best dream I ever had was when I dreamed I met Lux at a Cramps show. Gah.

Nice appreciation from Cleveland.com here:

http://www.cleveland.com/music/index.ssf/2009/02/appreciation_akronborn_garage.html#more

Includes comments from Ohio contemporaries like Michael Weldon, of Psychotronic Video.

http://www.wfmu.org/special.php/FP :

Lux and Ivy of the legendary Cramps drop by for some Orangeade and a round of platter chatter. From October 23, 2004.
Listen to the whole show. /
See the playlist.
download mp3

I was doing some record shopping on Wednesday when someone announced in the store that rumours of Lux's death were a hoax (which was the first I'd heard anything about it) and then they played Bad Music For Bad People over the shop speakers.

When we got back to where we were staying I was saying to my wife how I'd never seen the Cramps live (she has) but I'd definitely make sure I would go if they ever made it over to the UK again just in case he did die soon. Fuck.

Good obit @ AMG: http://blog.allmusic.com/2009/2/6/the-mad-daddy-lux-interior-rip/

Tear It Up (1990, Amsterdam) (up on the speakers, deepthroating the mic)

Rollins remembers Lux.

Great clip (x-post)..

I've got a video of a German concert where someone throws water/beer (presumably) at Lux during "Dames,Booze, Chains and Boots", there's a bit of Lux-crowd interaction, and some tremendously fat guy takes advantage of the confusion to do a brief lap of honour across the stage before being dragged off - and it's still only the first song of the concert.

Crap obit @ the Village Voice (read the comments too)
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/archives/2009/02/remembering_the_1.php

aw the rollins thing was very nice and the story about the lil' rollins and minor threat boys being all scared to give lux his jeans back was very cute and sweet.

Lindsay Hutton, who used to run the Legions of the Cramped, has a good round-up of obits, and some cool early backstage snapshots, at his nextbigthing blog. Also news of a tribute event at Mono in Glasgow tonight, which sadly I can't get to.

Crap obit @ the Village Voice
You're not kidding, it's a fucking mess.

Right now, the track "Can Your Pussy Do the Dog?" is the most popular Cramps ringtone on iTunes.

ringtones - wtf?

I wanna leave a happy memory when I go
I wanna leave something to let the whole world know
That the rock 'n roll daddy has a done passed on
But my bones will keep a rockin' long after I've gone

Roll on
Rock on
Raw Bones
Well I still got all the rhythm in these Rockin' Bones

Well when I die don't you bury me at all
Just nail my bones up on the wall
Beneath these bones let these words be seen
"This is the bloody gears of a boppin' machine"

Wait, is the 15-year old story true?

banbanbanbanbanbanban

What is that guitar effect used on "Don't Eat Stuff Off the Sidewalk"? Is it tremolo? I've been trying to get that sound for a while now but don't know much about guitar pedals.

Yep, tremelo.

Google cache of an interview with Poison Ivy about her sound & guitars & effects & stuff: http://74.125.77.132/search?q=cache:33PGD5laMwwJ:www.geocities.com/jackyardbackoff/ivyguitarinterview.html

Cool! Now I should do some research about how Brian Gregory got that gnarly wall of distortion that I love so much.