2009-02-07

R.I.P. Lux Interior of "The Cramps" - A Picture A Day # 23

Psychedelic Jungle/Gravest Hits, Bad Music for Bad People, Smell of Female (Red Rose), Smell of Female (Enigma), A Date with Elvis, Stay Sick, Creature from the Black Leather Lagoon (CD single), Look Mom No Head!, Flamejob, Big Beat from Badsville, Fiends of Dope Island, How to Make a Monster
[Not shown: The Purple Knif Show, and Live at Napa State Mental Hospital (DVD)]


A Picture A Day 023 - My collection of CD's by "The Cramps".

The first five CD's shown here might be called "Music to Haunt By" because nearly every song on each became something of an anthem from late August through October 31st every year for a select group of friends who were all in the Jaycees together, building and operating Haunted Houses for fund-raising.

There aren't many people in the world who would praise "The Cramps" for anything outside the musical realm, but they were truly a driving force for us while we worked, helping us do good deeds in a strange and frightening manner. It should be noted that our Haunted Houses were indeed award winning and all due credit goes to the inspiration we derived from the music of The Cramps.

When you get right down to it, Lux Interior was a musician paying homage to some great music and, with Poison Ivy Rorschach and The Cramps, doing his damnedest to remind us what it is to be true to your individuality. Few of us have the guts to do it, but some of us can still appreciate it. Thanks Lux.

Parental Advisory - Don't Give Your Kids "The Cramps"
Let them learn about it in the streets,
where they learned everything else that matters.

Best tracks for a scary good time:
Goo Goo Muck, Rockin' Bones, Voodoo Idol, Primitive, Don't Eat Stuff Off the Sidewalk, Can't Find My Mind, Human Fly, Surfin' Bird, Garbageman, Love Me, She Said, Save It, TV Set, Uranium Rock, You Got Good Taste, I Ain't Nuthin' But A Gorehound, Weekend On Mars, Psychotic Reaction, Surfin' Dead, and Aloha From Hell.

Other stuff your momma warned you about:
The Crusher, Green Door, The Way I Walk, New Kind of Kick, I Can't Hardly Stand It, Thee Most Exaulted Potentate of Love, Call of the Wighat, Faster Pussycat, The Hot Pearl Snatch, People Ain't No Good, What's Inside A Girl?, Kizmiaz, Cornfed Dames, (Hot Pool of) Womanneed, It's Just That Song, Bikini Girls with Machine Guns, The Creature from the Black Leather Lagoon, Shortnin' Bread, Mama oo Pow Pow, Saddle Up A Buzz Buzz, Muleskinner Blues, Jailhouse Rock, Beat Out My Love, Dames Booze Chains and Boots, Hardworkin' Man, Miniskirt Blues, Don't Get Funny with Me, Eyeball in My Martini, Hipsville 29 B.C., Wilder Wilder Faster Faster, Ultra Twist, How Come You Do Me?, Nest of the Cuckoo Bird, I'm Customized, Inside Out and Upside Down (with You), Sinners, Route 66 (Get Your Kicks on), Cramp Stomp, Like A Bad Girl Should, Super Goo, Hypno Sex Ray, Big Black Witchcraft Rock, Oowee Baby, Mojo Man from Mars, Wrong Way Ticket, and many, many more...

3 comments:

said...

I wonder if "Stay Sick" was inspired by Ghoulardi?

Stay on groovin' safari,
Tor

BonK! said...

Hello Tor,

I've never known much about Ghoulardi but certainly knew of him. I will hazard a guess (based on your comment) that his sign off was "Stay sick!"

Never one to dig too deeply into the personal lives of my favorite performers, only upon finding news of his passing did I learn that 'Lux' was from Stow, OH (just outside of Cleveland - home of Ghoulardi).

My Sherlock Holmes sense doesn't need to tingle. I suspect you're spot on the mark ( moreso since checking the Ghoulardi article on Wikipedia and finding specific mention of The Cramps album "Stay Sick").

Good sniffer ya got there above the lip warmer! :-)

Thank you for visiting my humble online collection of stuff.

Madame Enfer said...

The Cramps also dedicated "Big Beat" to Ghoulardi, as it says on the back. As a nipper in Ohio, Lux was obsessed with Ghoulardi... he mentions his merchandise like milkshakes and shoes which he took full advantage of. I've seen him in a Ghoulardi shirt even

"Stay sick, turn blue!"