The Cramps, in some ways, are the perfect rock 'n' roll band. The took everything that punk, 60s psyche, 50s rockabilly and the cartoon magnificence of sci fi/ horror/ comics offered and turned it into a thrilling, high octane, nerve shredding, electrifying blast of guitar, bass, drums and vocals. Lux and Ivy treated it as both the most important thing in the world and something that was always tongue in cheek- serious fun.
The Cramps formed in 1976 after Lux and Ivy met in Sacramento in 1972. There are two main bursts of recordings- the first in the late 70s and early 80s and a second in the mid 80s/ 1990 with three further albums in 1994, 1997 and 2003. Lux died in 2009 which brought the group to an end. The Cramps are the very essence of punk infused rock 'n' roll and every so often they are exactly what I want to hear.
- New Kind Of Kick
- Drug Train
- Bikini Girls With Machine Guns
- Love Me
- Bop Pills
- Mama Ooh Pow Pow
- Cornfed Dames (Peel Session)
- What's Inside A Girl?
- Journey To The Centre Of a Girl
- All Women Are Bad
- You Got Good Taste
- Her Love Rubbed Off
'Life is short/ Filled with stuff', Lux sings on New Kind Of Kick. Minimal guitars and drums thump away behind him. There's a surge of nasty, brutish and short energy and a pun about Judy and Dick. New Kind Of Kick was the B-side of The Crusher, a 1981 single.
Drug Train is from 1980, a 7" single. 'You put one foot up/ You put another foot up/ You put another foot up/ And you're on board the drug train'.
Bikini Girls With Machine Guns is from 1990's Stay Sick, my favourite Cramps album, the sound a full on rush of Ivy's guitars, thumping Nick Knox drums and Fur Dixon's bass playing. Lux was at his best, lyrics combining sex, 50s horror and rockabilly, black leather and high heels. It's a rush of high energy rock 'n' roll and laugh out loud funny at the same time. Mama Ooh Pow Pow (an ode to spanking), Journey To The Centre Of A Girl and All Women Are Bad are from the same album. Given Ivy played guitar, co- wrote the songs, produced and co- managed the band, we can take Lux's view that all women are bad with a pinch of salt. Bad meaning good I think. Bop Pills is a cover of a 1956 song by Macy Skip Skipper (released on Sun Records) and is the opening song from Stay Sick!, a manic appreciation of amphetamines and dancing. In Amsterdam a few years ago I found a Dutch copy of Stay Sick! with a slightly different cover photo and bought it on the spot.
Love Me is a cover of a song by The Phantom from 1960. The Cramps' version was the B-side to Drug Train, an artefact from 1980.
Cornfed Dames is from 1986's A Date With Elvis, the classic line up making a classic Cramps album. This version is from a Peel Session from the same year. In Cornfed Dames Lux finds sex on the farm, 'whip that cream til the butter comes' he sings, before concluding, 'I ain't no farmer'.
What's Inside A Girl? was a 1986 single and also from A Date With Elvis and contains some of the best lyrics of the 20th century- 'well you can say it by satellite but baby that's cheating/ The President called an emergency meeting/ The King of Siam sent a telegram/ It said 'a wop bop a loop bop a wop bam bam'.
You Got Good Taste is from the 1983 mini- album Smell of Female, a second hand record shop mainstay, recorded live at The Peppermint Lounge, New York in February 1983. Despite Lux introducing it as being about Gucci wearers, I think it's actually about cunnilingus.
Her Love Rubbed Off was originally by Carl Perkins in 1969, a bonus track for those who bought Stay Sick! on CD in 1990.