The Cramps were one of the greatest and strangest bands to emerge from the punk-rock generation — which is truly saying something. By fusing rockabilly with humor and imagery inspired by vintage horror movies, they helped to pioneer the sound sometimes called psychobilly — a gloriously twisted take on rockabilly’s trademark twang and groove with deranged vocals, in their case arguably best captured in the 1980 video for their song “Garbage Man.” They released a series of steamy albums throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s — arguably peaking with the early “Gravest Hits” EP and “Songs the Lord Taught Us” and “Psychedelic Jungle” albums — and staged some of the most ecstatically unhinged concerts rock fans could ever hope to experience.
Mine was at the Boston Metro on a hot July night many years ago: Suffice it to say that singer Lux Interior started the evening wearing a skin-tight leopard-patterned outfit and women’s pumps, and ended it wearing just a leopard-patterned thong. In addition to his slow strip-tease, over the course of the show, he drank red wine from a female audience member’s shoe and French-kissed a different female audience member while shoving the live microphone into their mouths (archivist’s note: the “Ooooooowwwwwwooofff” sound on Cramps live recordings is usually Lux placing a microphone inside his and/or another person’s mouth). One male audience member, apparently inspired by that performance, jumped onstage and tried to do the same with female bassist Candy del Mar, who shrieked and, losing balance on her spike heels, fell backward into a gong Lux had played earlier in the night, making for a dramatic sound effect while security dragged the would-be Romeo offstage in a headlock. Through it all, the band kept playing its driving, raucous din: Poison Ivy Rorschach’s sandstorm guitars, Nick Knox’s rocking beats and Lux’s inimitable vocals, which were basically an Iggy Pop-inspired combination of Elvis and Dracula. I’d started the evening near the front row and ended up on the stage, kneeling right in front of Lux.
