Latest Release
- DEC 23, 2022
- 1 Song
- Psychedelic Jungle · 1981
- Off the Bone · 1989
- Songs the Lord Taught Us · 1980
- Off the Bone · 1989
- Off the Bone · 1989
- Off the Bone · 1989
- Off the Bone · 1989
- Off the Bone · 1989
- A Date With Elvis · 1986
- Stay Sick! · 1990
Essential Albums
- This fiery set collects tunes from The Cramps’ glory years (1978–83) and rocks hard with horror-flick surf guitars, swamp-voodoo rhythms, and singer Lux Interior’s trashy hiccups and howls. Vintage tunes by rockabilly heroes like Jack Scott, Hasil Adkins, and Sam Phillips get killer, camped-up makeovers, while several equally potent band originals (especially “Human Fly” and “Garbageman”) swerve wildly between ear-bending psych and freakout psychobilly. Even Big Star’s Alex Chilton provides some rapturously unhinged direction here, producing 10 of the album’s songs.
- Lux Interior and Ivy Rorschach relocated their operation from New York to Los Angeles, which would remain their home for the remainder of Lux’s life. Before recording Psychedelic Jungle, they enlisted the talents of a 21-year-old Mexican-American guitarist named Kid Congo Powers, who'd already proven his musical ingenuity in an early incarnation of the likeminded Gun Club. New blood and new environs reinvigorated The Cramps, and while Psychedelic Jungle is less insistent than Songs the Lord Taught Us, it's a more fun and imaginative outing. The effect of Los Angeles is immediately evident. A band once driven by the gritty misanthropy of Lower Manhattan is suddenly groovier, as if their low-budget basement rock was now geared for cruising Hollywood streets rather than the confines of CBGB. As usual, the band draws from a variety of obscure heroes of trashy rock 'n' roll. “Goo Goo Muck” was catchy enough to convert fans of new wave, but the album's soul lies in the lusty shuffle of “Cavemen,” “Can’t Find My Mind," and “Voodoo Idol.”
- The Cramps’ full-length debut established an aesthetic code that was taken for granted by thousands of aspiring garage acts in the decades that followed. To revive the reductionist nature of early rock 'n' roll records, they removed almost any trace of bass guitar or cymbal and let the songs ride on the primal stomp created between naked drums and wiry guitars. Most importantly, The Cramps built their own canon, reflected on Songs the Lord Taught Us. By uniting strands of '50s rockabilly, '60s garage rock, early striptease instrumentals, and the ferocious guitar sounds of surf music and Link Wray, The Cramps created their own sovereign country, overlapping but independent of other sectors of modern rock music. While critics tended to play up the band’s kitsch factor, Songs the Lord Taught Us is a highly personal work that grew out of Lux Interior and Ivy Rorschach’s formative experiences as teenage outcasts in Ohio and California. “I was a teenage werewolf,” howls Lux. “Braces on my fangs/A Midwest monster with the highest grades.”
Albums
- 1994
- 1991
- 1990
- 1989
- 1986
- 2013
- 2013
- 2013
- 2013
Artist Playlists
- These psychobilly icons put a sleazy spin on retro rock 'n' roll.
- Elements of rockabilly and garage rock meet wild tempos.
- More sucker-punching punk and collaborations with rock icons.
Singles & EPs
More To Hear
- Mark talks with legendary punk rocker Kid Congo Powers.
- D.V. DeVincentis talks New Year's resolutions and Fig Newtons.
- Spooky selections from The Cramps, The Misfits, and The Doors.
About The Cramps
As the creators of the punk/rockabilly fusion that came to be known as psychobilly, The Cramps became legends of the American indie underground. Led by the husband-and-wife team of singer Lux Interior and guitarist Poison Ivy, they got their start in 1976 on the New York punk scene; the original lineup included guitarist Bryan Gregory and Gregory’s sister Pam Balam on drums, but the personnel would shift many times, with Lux and Ivy the only constants. The Cramps combined B-movie kitsch with a deep knowledge of ’50s rock and a twisted, postmodern sensibility for a primal, spooky sound on creeped-out covers and originals laden with late-night horror-movie imagery. Their 1979 EP, Gravest Hits, and 1980 debut album, Songs the Lord Taught Us, helped set the stage for generations of dramatic alt-rockers like Nick Cave, Jon Spencer, and Jack White. Over the years, their reputation grew, and later albums like A Date With Elvis (which went to No. 1 on the UK indie charts) and Stay Sick! positioned them as elder statesmen to the rising alt-rock revolution.Their story came to a sad end with Lux’s death from a heart problem in 2009 at the age of 62.
- ORIGIN
- Sacramento, CA, United States
- FORMED
- 1976
- GENRE
- Rock