Cramps Singer Lux Interior Dead At 62

mtv.com ^ | 2-4-2009 | James Montgomery and Jem Aswad

[a fool in paradise]

Rock and Roll PING!

[a fool in paradise]

...the Cramps are often cited as pioneers of "psychobilly" ...

A term they got from Johnny Cash (in On Piece At A Time a song by Wayne Kemp, where he mentions "This is the Cotton-Mouth in the psychobilly Cadillac...")

From recording their debut album at Sun Studios (with Alex Chilton on the knobs) to imbedded references to their vast record and movie collection, Lux and Ivy lived the life.

[a fool in paradise]

If ever a couple were soul mates, these fit the description. At least they weren’t bank robbers or thrill killers like some couples...

[a fool in paradise]

[Sam's Army]

The concert vid of them playing in a mental ward in the 70's is surreal.

RIP

[Mase]

Wow. Saw them at CBGB’s in the 70’s and again at the Whisky in 80’s. Always a great show with an interesting audience. I had no idea he was that old. Time does fly. RIP Goo Goo Muck.

[GSWarrior]

Bummer....I must have seen the Cramps 6 or 7 times over the years. Always put on a great show.

[Revolting cat!]

Goo goo muck forever!

[fieldmarshaldj]

RIP.

[Dead Corpse]

"Don't eat stuff off the sidewalk. No matter how good it looks..."

I always liked the double entandre of that line...

[Revolting cat!]

Pure in your face rock’n’roll without silly artistic or political pretensions, with nonsense lyrics and stinging rockabilly guitars, what more do you want?! They don’t make them like that any more (or if they do, I’d like to hear the sounds.)

Lux was a collector of rare rock’n’s roll 45s, and he was the one who discovered (or at least popularized) for the world the great Hasil Adkins (also deceased.)

[Revolting cat!]

[GSWarrior]

I was at Urgh! show at the Santa Monica Civic Center. Discovered some great bands I still listen to today...Pere Ubu, Magazine, among others. Those were the days, indeed.

[a fool in paradise]

I didn’t know they were a string trio with someone playing an empty bottle.

[a fool in paradise]

Still waiting for URGH to come out on DVD (with extra band footage that was shot).

IRS is owned by one of the big corporations now. They have just announced that they will FINALLY be reissuing some long out of print albums (by the Fleshtones, among others) as mp3s.

The Cramps managed to own everything else they ever did (including the artwork) and eventually reissued all that they could on their own label and worked up an large “unreleased” package but had to omit all of the IRS tracks they wanted to use.

The Urgh concerts looked interesting.

The Cramps were on one of my favorite concert lineups I’ve seen listed (I did not go to the show, it was before my time) “The Cramps, Bo Diddley, and The Clash”.

[a fool in paradise]

Fool’s Paradise with Rex

Lux and Ivy of the legendary Cramps drop by for some Orangeade and a round of platter chatter. From October 23, 2004.

Listen to the whole show: http://www.wfmu.org/listen.ram?show=12963

[windcliff]

ping

[a fool in paradise]

Pure in your face rock’n’roll without silly artistic or political pretensions, with nonsense lyrics and stinging rockabilly guitars, what more do you want?! They don’t make them like that any more (or if they do, I’d like to hear the sounds.)

These guys come close (and they toured with the Cramps)

http://www.livemusiccapitol.com/2008/11/drinking-with-wolves/

[B-Chan]

Woo hoo! Seiji and Guitar Wolf in Wild Zero!

[philled]

A friend of mine put Urgh! on DVD for me as we watched it repeatedly in high school. Unfortunately, it was just a copy of an aging VHS cassette that was showing its age. Still, it was a lot of fun to watch again after something like a quarter of a century!!.

My favorite Cramps tune: The Crusher...