A Cramps appreciation thread

[saoirse]

I just happened to discover Bad Music for Bad People on my hard drive, and got to thinking about the last time they were in town, about two years ago. They ended their regualr set with "New Kind of Kick," and as soon as the drum came in on the second verse, 500 people started moving as one. Ivy, I noticed, is finally prettier than Lux. She spit on me during the encore.

[pravnik]

Spit on? Heavenly! I've always wanted to see the video of the show they did at the Napa State Mental Hospital. Someday I'll get around to it.

[vl_mungo]

Life is short
filled with stuff
don't know what for
can't get enough


BTW, if you don't already have it, see if you can get yerself a copy of Psychedelic Jungle... you won't regret it. Or if you want to see something really cool, they've recently released The Cramps Live At The Napa State Mental Hospital (1978) on DVD. That, as they say, is the shit.

[jackelope]

The Cramps' covers of "Can't Hardly Stand It" and "She Said" are two examples of that oh-so-rare musical phenomenon, the cover that's better than the original. The originals of both are really, really good... but the Cramps' covers can blister paint off the walls.

Glad you started this, saoirse.

[UnwrittenNocturne]

Nice to see a thread in appreciation of my favourite psychobillies.

In other news I was once spat on by Johnny Rotten!

Seriously, I have always loved the Cramps though. Thanks for starting this

[China Guy]

I saw the Cramps around 1982 in Sacto. Bumped into someone's teeth and split open the skin above my eye and it was quite a gusher. Lux then asked what we wanted for an encore, I kept shouting the Crusher until he looked down at my bleeding face, smiled and then they launched into the Crusher.

Poisen Ivy has always been hot! And she's always so totally indifferent on stage.

[Khampelf]

I saw the Cramps in Club Rio in Tempe, about 1990 or so. No bodily fluids were exchanged. I wondered how Lux could perch on the side of the Amplifier stack like a gargoyle, until I realized it was the microdot I took kicking in.

<I>I'm seeing things I should never see.
Spiders in my eyelids, and ghosts in the cheese.
and I can't get back to ....... reality...reality real...i....ty.<I>

[Khampelf]

Not only messed up the coding, I forgot about the Vampire Lezbos that are after me.

[Johnny L.A.]

I dig The Cramps. Friends of mine have a large poster -- must be five feet tall -- of Ivy wearing a gold bikini (covered with these little god discs -- I don't know what that's called), a pair of dark shades, and wielding a machine gun.

I want that poster!

I'm so jealous.

[Tenzin]

Thanks for this thread, brought back some good memories of concerts past...have always Loved the Cramps, but have gone off that listening. Didn't even realise they still were playing.

Getting older has changed, no? Now, hitting forty, I've got good memories of Cramps concerts past. Never got spit on by Miss P Ivy, but have been thus graced by Iggy Pop and Johnny Rotten, back in the day.

Nowadays, don't go to the front of the crowd, and being spit on wouldn't be such a thrill. Prolly would at least wipe it off right after.

I'll just toddle off to my retirement cabana now, and mull over "Gravest Hits".

[Tenzin]

So Saoirse, now , thanks to you, I've put on my old Cramps, ha, LPs, as in records, cause that's what I've got. Surely, great..., but reminds me too about some other musical compatriot friends.

Listen to: Hasil Adkins, great rockabilly madman from W. Virginia who the Cramps love too. Also: Dexter Romweber/Flat Duo Jets, and Southern Culture On The Skids. The last two were greatly influenced by the Cramps, and worth a listen.

How the hell am I gonna get to sleep and work tomorrow, now, after being whupped up by the Cramps???

[Biffy the Elephant Shrew]

Originally Posted by Tenzin

So Saoirse, now , thanks to you, I've put on my old Cramps, ha, LPs, as in records, cause that's what I've got.

The only Cramps album I own is Smell of Female, in the form of a boxed set of four 7" singles, each on a different color of vinyl. I always thought that was ultra-cool.

[saoirse]

I should have been following this thread right along, but I have that crappy virus that's going around and I sat down in a comfy chair and just woke up.

Tenzin, my old roommate had a Hasil LP. He was going to tape it for me, but his junkie girlfriend hocked it. "TV Set" certainly reminds me of "We Got a Date." I think it's the chopped off head motif.

[BMax]

I discovered the Cramps in 86. They were my introduction to the psychobilly sound that I have been in love with ever since. I saw them with Flat Duo Jets opening in Salt Lake City in 1990. I had been awake for 3 nights at the time. It was a show I'll never forget, but somehow can't quite remember.

[Chimpy]

Originally Posted by UnwrittenNocturne

Nice to see a thread in appreciation of my favourite psychobillies.

In other news I was once spat on by Johnny Rotten!

Seriously, I have always loved the Cramps though. Thanks for starting this

My step-mum got spat on by the Clash. Three times. I'm so damn jealous! I don't know the Cramps but I'm now going to be looking them up methinks...

[betenoir]

Thank you...haven't thought about the Cramps in ages and about time I did..


my particular memory...the last time I saw them live (errr...87 maybe?) and Lux did the whole show in nothing but stockings and high heels. Which (the stocking that is) he shredded by the end on the show. And did the last song naked with just the high heels over his genitals. Pure poetry


I have to say I've never been spat on by anyone (I knew there was a reason my life seemed so empty). But I have beeen close enough to get some Iggy Pop sweat on me .