cramps
July 6, 2003 8:45 PM   Subscribe

the cramps. I don't know anything at all about this band, but I think their posters are pretty cool.
posted by crunchland (35 comments total)
 
yeah, well, they've been around awhile.
posted by oog at 8:50 PM on July 6, 2003


Yeah, my wife agrees with you. I'm completely out of touch.
posted by crunchland at 9:09 PM on July 6, 2003


A musician friend of mine, whose taste I have trusted implicitly for decades, recently went to see the Cramps play in Chicago, more than 20 years after he first saw them play at UBC in Vancouver. He reported that their strict regimen of drinking the blood of virgins has kept Lux and his cohort young and vibrant.

The show kicked butt, apparently.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 9:14 PM on July 6, 2003


Oh, you mean the Cramp Twins?
posted by wendell at 9:17 PM on July 6, 2003


Great posters.

I liked the Songs the Lord Taught Us) (1980) album pretty well, and the subsequent 3-4 full-lengths. By the mid/late 80s, though, their schtick wore pretty thin for me. Especially once a few hundred other young bands started doing the B-movie horror thing.
posted by dhoyt at 9:19 PM on July 6, 2003


Great posters...wonder who the artist is? I also like some of the photos and postcards on the main site.
posted by madamjujujive at 9:27 PM on July 6, 2003


I always confuse them with the Plasmatics for some reason--I was about ready to ask if Wendy O. Williams still does the topless-with-black-electrical-tape-pasties thing---but they do provide a nice concert poster: for DIY stuff, it's high end in concept and execution.
posted by y2karl at 9:33 PM on July 6, 2003


Well, if it is DIY stuff--madamejujive's comment has given me doubts.
posted by y2karl at 9:35 PM on July 6, 2003


What is Gothabilly?
Gothabilly comes from a blending of Gothic and Rockabilly.


When was the word first used?
The earliest use of the word Gothabilly was by The Cramps in the late 70s who used it to describe their own blend of somber, Rockabilly influenced punk. Since then the term has come to describe a fashion trend in the Gothic subculture.



Info from gothabilly.net, which has links to other bands such as Satan's Cheerleaders.
posted by sailormouth at 9:54 PM on July 6, 2003


Er correction. Satan's Cheerleaders apparently are not a band but dancers. They had/have a connection to Austin, TX psychobilly band the Flametrick Subs.
posted by sailormouth at 10:17 PM on July 6, 2003


I was about ready to ask if Wendy O. Williams still does the topless-with-black-electrical-tape-pasties thing

wendy killed herself in 1998

i can't believe the cramps are still around; ivy looks good but the rest of them are decaying something fierce.
posted by t r a c y at 10:19 PM on July 6, 2003


Made some nifty t-shirts too.
posted by Samizdata at 10:40 PM on July 6, 2003


Gothabilly? We always called it Shockabilly.

Obviously, one is just completely silly. If only I could figure out which.

But yeah, the Cramps in their glory days were badass.
posted by Kafkaesque at 9:35 AM on July 7, 2003


I bought "Bad Music for Bad People" in 1984, in Charlotte, NC, at the generic mall record store, right after I got back from the beach after high school graduation. "Human Fly" was one of the formative songs of my youth.
buzzzzzzzzzzz
posted by MrMoonPie at 9:41 AM on July 7, 2003


...and Bad Music for Bad People is one of the best album titles ever (and, I believe, was produced by Alex Chilton, which means there's probably a great dissipated rock-n-roll story in there somewhere waiting to be told).

The Cramps are, like The Misfits, one of those bands that to me was always better in theory than in practice, but I remember a time in the 80s when any self-respecting punk owned a couple of their t-shirts with which to accessorize their flannels.

"What's Inside A Girl?" is a truly creepy song.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 9:43 AM on July 7, 2003


Do they don redface and put on a Menstrual Show?
posted by Oriole Adams at 9:46 AM on July 7, 2003


Oooh, I have some nasty memories (the ones that weren't killed by alcohol poisoning) of seeing the Cramps perform at a really seedy club in Hamburg's infamous Reeperbahn district.

Trust me, you don't wanna mix drunken sailors and Lux Interior together.
posted by MrBaliHai at 9:49 AM on July 7, 2003


'I think their posters are pretty cool'

Weeeeeell, ya got good taste!
posted by asok at 9:50 AM on July 7, 2003


Oh, fun fact! Girls on top (RichardX) used 'here's one for all you Gucci bag carriers out there' as the intro to 'We Don't give a damn about our friends'.
posted by asok at 10:00 AM on July 7, 2003


...and Bad Music for Bad People is one of the best album titles ever

Right after 'Smell of Female', of course.
posted by lasm at 10:02 AM on July 7, 2003


Satan's Cheerleaders apparently are not a band but dancers.

Satan's Cheerleaders are also a surf band out of LA, not to mention the original movie of the same name.
posted by billder at 10:18 AM on July 7, 2003


I don't know anything at all about this band...

You know, there are some amazing resources available on the web that should help you out.
posted by spotmeter at 10:31 AM on July 7, 2003


I remember seeing them in Chicago in about '86 and thinking 'Holy god! Good thing there's rock and roll, otherwise that guy would be in an asylum!' Of course, I've seen them about 6 times since then, and loved it every time. I even got them to autograph a book of mine. They seemed very palsy to a big fan.
Some people get down on them because they've ripped off so many old songs it's not funny. However, they've also produced more albums than half the people in this business, so whatever. The albums vary wildly in quality, but never, ever miss a chance to see them live.
posted by lumpenprole at 10:52 AM on July 7, 2003


I just saw them in DC a few weeks ago. Amazing show, and Lux looks exactly the same as he did when I saw them 10 years ago.
posted by JoanArkham at 10:54 AM on July 7, 2003


GreatPosterFilter.
posted by zpousman at 11:14 AM on July 7, 2003


why, thank you.
posted by crunchland at 11:25 AM on July 7, 2003


Do they don redface and put on a Menstrual Show?

*rofls, gasps for breath, rofls more*
posted by quonsar at 11:48 AM on July 7, 2003


Lux Kix, uh, Ax!
posted by squirrel at 1:04 PM on July 7, 2003


thanks for the update, t r a c y--but Lord, what a sad story.
posted by y2karl at 1:26 PM on July 7, 2003


Bikini Girls with Machine Guns

They also play shows as "Creature From the Black Leather Lagoon".

Never a boring show. No one can deep-throat a microphone like Lux.
posted by whatever at 3:35 PM on July 7, 2003


Aw, you beat me to the Bikini Girls with Machine Guns. Damn. But you forgot Faster Pussycat and Naked Woman Falling Down the Stairs. Lux had a knack for catchy titles, that's for sure.

I remember buying Bad Music for Bad People on tape when I was in high school (circa 1985) just because the bright yellow cover had a cool looking death's head glaring and drinking a beer or something. I listened to that tape to drive my family crazy until it was worn thin. Then some f*cker copped it from me.

I hate my friends.
posted by sic at 4:06 PM on July 7, 2003


ObCrampsStory:

After seeing a Cramps show at CBGB's, my friends and me were taking the bus up 3rd avenue to hang out at their apartment. We go sit in the back, and shortly notice who's sittng in the very last seat: It's Lux, taking the bus home after a show. Turns out he and Ivy lived down the block from my friends.
posted by Ayn Marx at 6:38 PM on July 7, 2003


They put on a really good show. I'd love to see them again.
posted by adampsyche at 6:54 PM on July 7, 2003


Wow, I just bought a CD copy of Off The Bone in my local record shop last weekend - it didn't come with the 3D specs though, and unfortunately I lost the ones that came with the original album.
I hadn't thought about the Cramps for about 15 years until last Saturday, then they appear on MeFi.

SpookyFilter.
posted by Markb at 5:05 AM on July 8, 2003


BTW madamjujujive - that postcard is the sleeve for the single 'Can Your Pussy Do the Dog?' from 1985, also on the album 'A Date With Elvis'.

I feel so old.
posted by Markb at 5:09 AM on July 8, 2003


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