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The Cramps were an American rock music band formed in 1976 and active until 2009. Their lineup rotated frequently during their existence, with the husband-and-wife duo of singer Lux Interior and guitarist Poison Ivy the only ever-present members. The band are credited as progenitors of the psychobilly subgenre, fusing elements of punk rock with rockabilly. The addition of guitarist Bryan Gregory and drummer Pam Balam resulted in the first complete lineup in April 1976. They released their debut album Songs the Lord Taught Us in 1980. The band split after the death of lead singer Interior in 2009. The Wild Wild World of The Cramps: Ian Johnston, Omnibus Press, 1990
In a short period of time, the Cramps changed drummers twice; Miriam Linna (later of Nervus Rex, the Zantees, and the A-Bones and co-owner of Norton Records) replaced Pam Balam, and Nick Knox (formerly with the Electric Eels) replaced Linna in September 1977. In the late 1970s, the Cramps briefly shared a rehearsal space with the Fleshtones, and performed regularly in New York at clubs such as CBGB and Max's Kansas City, releasing two independent singles produced by Alex Chilton at Ardent Studios in Memphis in 1977 before being signed by Miles Copeland III to the young I.R.S. Records label. Their first tour of Great Britain was as supporting act to the Police on that band's first UK tour promoting Outlandos d'Amour.
In June 1978, they gave a landmark free concert for patients at the California State Mental Hospital in Napa, recorded on a Sony Portapak video camera by the San Francisco collective Target Video and later released as Live at Napa State Mental Hospital. Once back to the east coast, they played the revamped 1940s Swing music club "The Meadowbrook" in New Jersey, which had a huge stage and dance floor. Next they recorded two singles in New York City, which were later re-released on their 1979 Gravest Hits EP, before Chilton brought them back that year to Memphis to record their first full-length album, Songs the Lord Taught Us, at Phillips Recording, operated by former Sun Records label owner Sam Phillips.
The band appears in the 1982 film Urgh! A Music War.
In 1985 the Cramps recorded a one-off track for the horror movie The Return of the Living Dead called "Surfin' Dead", on which Ivy played bass as well as guitar. With the release of 1986's A Date With Elvis, the Cramps permanently added a bass guitar to the mix, but had trouble finding a suitable player, so Ivy temporarily filled in as the band's bassist. Fur Dixon joined them on the world tour to promote the album. Their popularity in the UK was at its peak as evidenced by the six nights at Hammersmith in London, three at the Odeon (as well as many other sell out dates throughout the UK) and then three at the Palais when they returned from the continent. Each night of the tour opened with the band coming on one at a time each: Knox, Fur, Ivy and then Lux before launching into their take on Elvis' "Heartbreak Hotel". The album featured what was to become a predominating theme of their work from here on: a move away from the B-movie horror focus to an increased emphasis on sexual double entendre. The album met with differing fates on either side of the Atlantic: in Europe, it sold over 250,000 copies, while in the U.S. the band had difficulty finding a record company prepared to release it until 1990. It also included their first UK Singles Chart hit: "Can Your Pussy Do the Dog?"
It was not until 1986 that the Cramps found a suitable permanent bass player: Candy del Mar (of Satan's Cheerleaders), who made her recorded debut on the raw live album RockinnReelininAucklandNewZealandxxx. This was followed by the studio album Stay Sick! in 1990, which spent one week at No. 62 in the UK Albums Chart in February of that year.
In 1994, the Cramps made their national US television debut on Late Night with Conan O'Brien performing "Ultra Twist".
In 1995 the Cramps appeared on the TV-series Beverly Hills, 90210 in the Halloween episode "Gypsies, Cramps and Fleas". They played two songs in the episode: "Mean Machine" and "Strange Love". Lux Interior started the song by saying "Hey boys and ghouls, are you ready to raise the dead?".
In honor of the success of the Cramps, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has on display a shattered bass drum head that Lux's head went through during a live show.
In 2002, the Cramps released their final album, Fiends of Dope Island, on their own label, Vengeance Records. That same year, Lux Interior did a voiceover for the lead singer character of the band The Bird Brains on the animated TV show SpongeBob SquarePants singing 'Underwater Sun.' The song was written and composed by Stephen Hillenburg and Peter Strauss.
The Cramps played their final shows in Europe in the summer of 2006 and their last live show was on November 4, 2006, at the Marquee Theater in Tempe, Arizona.
On February 4, 2009, Lux Interior died at the Glendale Memorial Hospital after suffering an aortic dissection which, contrary to initial reports about a pre-existing condition, was "sudden, shocking and unexpected".
The band used the phrases gothabilly, psychobilly and "rockabilly voodoo" to market their music. The term "psychobilly" was first used in the lyrics to the country music song "One Piece at a Time", written by Wayne Kemp for Johnny Cash, which was a Top 10 hit in the United States in 1976. The lyrics describe the construction of a "psychobilly Cadillac using stolen auto parts." The Cramps have since rejected the idea of being a part of a psychobilly subculture, noting that "We weren't even describing the music when we put 'psychobilly' on our old fliers; we were just using carny terms to drum up business. It wasn't meant as a style of music." Nevertheless, The Cramps, along with artists such as Screamin' Jay Hawkins, are considered important precursors to psychobilly. Critics and journalists classified the Cramps' sound as psychobilly, gothabilly, garage punk, rockabilly, horror punk, garage rock, punk rock and surf.
The Cramps have been cited as an influence by musicians including 45 Grave, the Nomads,[1] Zombina and the Skeletones, Inca Babies,Strong, Martin C. (1999) "The Great Alternative & Indie Discography", Canongate, Creeper, the Black Keys, the White Stripes, the Sisters of Mercy,
My Bloody Valentine, (2025). 9780826415486, Continuum. ISBN 9780826415486 Faith No More and Southern Culture on the Skids.
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