The Cramps
Encyclopedia
The Cramps were an American rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 band, formed in 1976 and active until 2009. The band split after the death of lead singer Lux Interior. Their line-up rotated much over their existence, with the husband and wife duo of Interior and lead guitarist Poison Ivy the only permanent members. The addition of band members guitarist Bryan Gregory
Bryan Gregory
Bryan Gregory was an American rock musician, and founding member of and guitarist for The Cramps....

 and drummer Pam Ballam comprised the first complete lineup in April 1976.

They were part of the early CBGB punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 movement that had emerged in New York. The Cramps are noted as influencing a number of musical styles: not only are they one of the first garage punk
Garage punk
Garage punk is a fusion of garage rock and punk rock. It is fast-paced lo-fi music characterized by a dirty, choppy guitar sound—usually played by bands who are on independent record labels or who are unsigned...

 bands, they are also widely recognized as one of the prime innovators of psychobilly
Psychobilly
Psychobilly is a fusion genre of rock music that mixes elements of punk rock, rockabilly, and other genres. It is one of several subgenres of rockabilly which also include thrashabilly, trashabilly, punkabilly, surfabilly and gothabilly...

, and they inspired many of the early goth rock bands.

Style

Their music is mostly in rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...

 form, played at varying tempos, with a very minimal drumkit. An integral part of the early Cramps sound is dual guitars, without a bassist
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

. The focus of their songs' lyrical content and their image is camp humor, and retro
Retro
Retro is a culturally outdated or aged style, trend, mode, or fashion, from the overall postmodern past, that has since that time become functionally or superficially the norm once again. The use of "retro" style iconography and imagery interjected into post-modern art, advertising, mass media, etc...

 horror/sci-fi b-movie
B-movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....

 iconography.

Their sound was heavily influenced by early rockabilly, rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...

, and rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

 like Link Wray
Link Wray
Fred Lincoln "Link" Wray Jr was an American rock and roll guitarist, songwriter and occasional singer....

 and Hasil Adkins
Hasil Adkins
Hasil Adkins was an Appalachian country, rock and roll, and blues musician, though he was frequently considered rockabilly and sometimes primitive jazz...

, 1960s surf music
Surf music
Surf music is a genre of popular music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Orange County and other areas of Southern California. It was particularly popular between 1961 and 1965, has subsequently been revived and was highly influential on subsequent rock music...

 acts such as The Ventures
The Ventures
The Ventures is an American instrumental rock band formed in 1958 in Tacoma, Washington. Founded by Don Wilson and Bob Bogle, the group in its various incarnations has had an enduring impact on the development of music worldwide. With over 100 million records sold, the group is the best-selling...

 and Dick Dale
Dick Dale
Dick Dale is an American surf rock guitarist, known as The King of the Surf Guitar. He experimented with reverberation and made use of custom made Fender amplifiers, including the first-ever 100-watt guitar amplifier.-Early life:Dale was born in South Boston, Massachusetts and lived in nearby...

, 1960s garage rock
Garage rock
Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...

 artists like The Standells
The Standells
The Standells are a garage rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in the 1960s, who have been referred to as the "Godfathers of Punk Rock", and are best known for their 1966 hit "Dirty Water," now the anthem of several Boston sports teams.-The 1960s:...

, The Gants
The Gants
The Gants were an American garage rock band of the 1960s.- History :One of the few outfits of its kind to emerge from the Deep South, the group was originally known as The Kingsmen when the band got together in 1963 to play R&B covers and the kind of instrumentals popularized by The Ventures...

, The Trashmen
The Trashmen
The Trashmen are a rock and roll band formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1962. The group's original lineup was Tony Andreason on lead guitar and vocals, Dal Winslow on guitar and vocals, Steve Wahrer on drums and vocals, and Bob Reed on bass guitar...

, The Green Fuz and The Sonics
The Sonics
The Sonics are an American garage rock band from Tacoma, Washington, originating from the early and mid-1960s. Among The Sonics' contemporaries were The Kingsmen, The Wailers, The Dynamics, The Regents, and Paul Revere & the Raiders...

, as well as the post-glam
Glam rock
Glam rock is a style of rock and pop music that developed in the UK in the early 1970s, which was performed by singers and musicians who wore outrageous clothes, makeup and hairstyles, particularly platform-soled boots and glitter...

/early punk scene from which they emerged. They also were influenced to a degree by the Ramones
Ramones
The Ramones were an American rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first punk rock group...

 and Screamin' Jay Hawkins
Screamin' Jay Hawkins
Jalacy Hawkins , best known as Screamin' Jay Hawkins was an American musician, singer, and actor...

, who was an influence for their style of theatrical horror-blues.

In turn, The Cramps have influenced countless subsequent bands in the garage, punk and rockabilly revival subgenres, and helped create the psychobilly genre. "Psychobilly" was a term coined by The Cramps, although Lux Interior maintained that the term did not describe their own style.

1970s

Lux Interior (born Erick Lee Purkhiser) and Poison Ivy (born Kristy Marlana Wallace) met in Sacramento, California
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...

  in 1972. In light of their common artistic interests and shared devotion to record collecting, they decided to form The Cramps. Lux took his stage name
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...

 from a car ad, and Ivy claimed to have received hers in a dream (she was first Poison Ivy Rorschach, taking her last name from that of the inventor of the Rorschach test
Rorschach inkblot test
The Rorschach test is a psychological test in which subjects' perceptions of inkblots are recorded and then analyzed using psychological interpretation, complex algorithms, or both. Some psychologists use this test to examine a person's personality characteristics and emotional functioning...

). In 1973, they moved to Akron, Ohio
Akron, Ohio
Akron , is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Summit County. It is located in the Great Lakes region approximately south of Lake Erie along the Little Cuyahoga River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 199,110. The Akron Metropolitan...

, and then to New York in 1975, soon entering into CBGB's early punk scene with other emerging acts like the Ramones
Ramones
The Ramones were an American rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first punk rock group...

, Patti Smith
Patti Smith
Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses....

, Television
Television (band)
Television was an American rock band, formed in New York City in 1973. They are best known for the album Marquee Moon and widely regarded as one of the founders of "punk" and New Wave music. Television was part of the early 1970s New York underground rock scene, along with bands like the Patti...

, and Mink DeVille
Mink DeVille
Mink DeVille was a rock band known for its association with early punk rock bands at New York’s CBGB nightclub and for being a showcase for the music of Willy DeVille. The band recorded six albums in the years 1977 to 1985. Except for frontman Willy DeVille, the original members of the band played...

. The lineup in 1976 was Poison Ivy Rorschach, Lux Interior, Bryan Gregory
Bryan Gregory
Bryan Gregory was an American rock musician, and founding member of and guitarist for The Cramps....

 (guitar), and his sister Pam "Ballam" Gregory (drums).

In a short period of time, the Cramps changed drummers twice; Miriam Linna
Miriam Linna
Miriam Linna has run the Brooklyn-based independent record label Norton Records since 1986 with her husband—the producer and singer-songwriter Billy Miller...

 (later of Nervus Rex
Nervus Rex
Nervus Rex was a New Wave pop band whose roots were in the New York City independent music scene, its members frequenting clubs like CBGB's and Max's Kansas City...

, The Zantees, and The A-Bones
The A-Bones
The A-Bones is a garage rock band from Brooklyn, New York. Their name was derived from a song by The Trashmen. The band was formed in 1984 by vocalist Billy Miller and his wife, drummer Miriam Linna; the couple had previously been the editors of the pop culture journal Kicks and later launched...

 and co-owner of Norton Records
Norton Records
For the Canadian independent record label of the same name, see Matt Minglewood.Norton Records, a New York City based independent record label founded by musicians Miriam Linna and Billy Miller, maintains a focus on primitive, retro rock'n'roll, rockabilly, garage punk, garage rock, lounge music...

) replaced Pam Ballam, and Nick Knox
Nick Knox
Nick Knox was the drummer with the psychobilly band The Cramps. He replaced Miriam Linna in 1977 and left in 1991. Knox was with The Cramps during the peak of their worldwide popularity when they toured Europe extensively in 1986 with the "A Date with Elvis" tour...

 (formerly with the Electric Eels
Electric Eels (band)
The electric eels were a protopunk band active between 1972 and 1975. They formed in Cleveland, Ohio....

) replaced Linna in September 1977. In the late 1970s, the Cramps briefly shared a rehearsal space with The Fleshtones
The Fleshtones
The Fleshtones are an American garage rock band from Queens, New York formed in 1976.- 1976-1979 :The Fleshtones were formed in 1976 in Whitestone, New York by Keith Streng and Marek Pakulski The Fleshtones are an American garage rock band from Queens, New York formed in 1976.- 1976-1979 :The...

, and performed regularly in New York at clubs such as CBGB's and Max's Kansas City
Max's Kansas City
Max's Kansas City was a nightclub and restaurant at 213 Park Avenue South, in New York City, which was a gathering spot for musicians, poets, artists and politicians in the 1960s and 1970s.-Origin of name:...

, releasing two independent singles produced by Alex Chilton
Alex Chilton
William Alexander "Alex" Chilton was an American songwriter, guitarist, singer and producer, best known as the lead singer of the Box Tops and Big Star...

 at Ardent Studios
Ardent Studios
Ardent Studios is a recording studio located in Memphis, Tennessee. Ardent Records/Ardent Music is the in-house label.- History :Ardent Studios was founded by John Fry and was initially a studio in his family's garage, where he recorded his first Ardent Records 45's. In 1966 the operation moved...

 in Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....

 in 1977 before being signed by Miles Copeland to the young I.R.S. Records label.

In June 1978 they gave a landmark free concert for patients at the California State Mental Hospital in Napa, recorded on a Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....

 Portapak
Portapak
A Portapak is a battery powered self-contained video tape analog recording system that can be carried by one person. Earlier television cameras were large and relatively immovable, but the Portapak made it possible to record television images while moving around...

 video camera
Video camera
A video camera is a camera used for electronic motion picture acquisition, initially developed by the television industry but now common in other applications as well. The earliest video cameras were those of John Logie Baird, based on the electromechanical Nipkow disk and used by the BBC in...

 by the San Francisco collective Target Video
Target Video
Target Video is a San Francisco-based studio, founded by artist Joe Rees, who collaborating with Jackie Sharp, Jill Hoffman, Sam Edwards and others, archived early art performance, punk and hardcore bands on video and film. Performers and artists as diverse as the Sex Pistols, the Dead Kennedys,...

 and later released as Live at Napa State Mental Hospital. They released the two singles again on their 1979 Gravest Hits
Gravest Hits
Gravest Hits is the debut 12" EP by the American garage punk band The Cramps. It was released in July 1979 on Illegal Records and I.R.S. Records. It was produced by Alex Chilton and recorded at Ardent Studios in Memphis in 1977. It featured liner notes by "Dr. J.H...

 EP, before Chilton brought them back that year to Memphis to record their first full length album, Songs The Lord Taught Us
Songs the Lord Taught Us
Songs the Lord Taught Us is the debut studio album by the American garage punk band The Cramps. It was released in 1980 on Illegal Records.-Track listing:-Personnel:*Lux Interior - vocals*Poison Ivy Rorschach - guitar*Bryan Gregory - guitar...

, at Phillips Recording
Phillips Recording
Phillips Recording is the short name widely used to refer to the Sam C. Phillips Recording Studio opened at 639 Madison Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee by Sam Phillips in 1960...

, operated by former Sun Records
Sun Records
Sun Records is a record label founded in Memphis, Tennessee, starting operations on March 27, 1952.Founded by Sam Phillips, Sun Records was known for giving notable musicians such as Elvis Presley , Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Johnny Cash...

 label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

 owner Sam Phillips
Sam Phillips
Samuel Cornelius Phillips , better known as Sam Phillips, was an American businessman, record executive, record producer and DJ who played an important role in the emergence of rock and roll as the major form of popular music in the 1950s...

.

1980s

The Cramps relocated to Los Angeles in 1980 and hired guitarist Kid Congo Powers
Kid Congo Powers
Kid Congo Powers is the stage name of Brian Tristan , an American rock guitarist and singer, best known as a member of The Gun Club, The Cramps and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.-Biography:...

 of The Gun Club. While recording their second LP, Psychedelic Jungle, the band and Miles Copeland began to dispute royalties and creative rights. The ensuing court case prevented them from releasing anything until 1983, when they recorded Smell of Female
Smell of Female
Smell of Female is the first live album by the American garage punk band The Cramps. It was recorded at The Peppermint Lounge on February 25–26, 1983 and released on I.R.S. Records the same year. The album was also released as a 3 7-inch box set...

live at New York's Peppermint Lounge
Peppermint Lounge
The Peppermint Lounge was a popular discotheque located at 128 West 45th Street in New York City that was open from 1958 to 1965. It was the launchpad for the global Twist craze in the early 1960s, and also where Go-Go dancing originated....

; Kid Congo Powers subsequently departed. Mike Metoff of The Pagans
The Pagans
The Pagans were an early American punk rock band from Cleveland, Ohio that was originally active from 1977 to 1979 before briefly reforming in 1982 and disbanding the following year...

 (cousin of Nick Knox) was the final second guitarist – albeit only live – of the Cramps' pre-bass era. He accompanied them on an extensive European tour in 1984 (that had been cancelled twice because they couldn't find a suitable guitarist) which included four sold out nights at the legendary Hammersmith Palais. They also recorded performances of "Thee Most Exalted Potentate of Love" and "You Got Good Taste" which were broadcast on the acclaimed UK music show The Tube (the mid-summer night special).

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 (Jennifer 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 pre-dominating 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
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

 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
Satan's Cheerleaders
Satan's Cheerleaders is a 1977 comedy-horror movie starring John Ireland, Yvonne De Carlo, and John Carradine.-Plot:Benedict High School's cheerleaders aren't shy and sweet. The football team knows them well - and Billy, the school's disturbed janitor, would like to. In the locker room, the girls...

), who made her recorded debut on the raw live album RockinnReelininAucklandNewZealandxxx
Rockin n Reelin in Auckland New Zealand
Rockin n Reelin in Auckland New Zealand XXX is the eighth album and second live album by the American garage punk band The Cramps. It was released on The Cramps own Vengeance Records. It was mixed by Greg Heiter and recorded live on August 30 1986 at the Galaxy in Auckland, New Zealand...

, which was followed by the studio album Stay Sick
Stay Sick
-Personnel:*Lux Interior - vocals*Poison Ivy Rorschach - guitar*Candy Del Mar - bass guitar*Nick Knox - drums...

in 1990.

1990s

Knox
Nick Knox
Nick Knox was the drummer with the psychobilly band The Cramps. He replaced Miriam Linna in 1977 and left in 1991. Knox was with The Cramps during the peak of their worldwide popularity when they toured Europe extensively in 1986 with the "A Date with Elvis" tour...

 left in 1991. The Cramps hit the top 40 singles chart in the UK for the first and only time with "Bikini Girls with Machine Guns"; Ivy posed as such both on the cover of the single and in the promotional video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 for the song. The Cramps went on to record more albums and singles through the 1990s and 2000s, for various labels. When the band signed to The Medicine Label, a Warner Brothers imprint, in 1994 - the label made the announcement via a limited edition (500 copies) 12" live album of The Cramps' first two Max's Kansas City shows, given away to all ticket holders as they exited a secret CBGB's show in early January of that year.

In 1994, The Cramps made their national US television debut on Conan O'Brien performing 'Ultra Twist'.

In 1995 The Cramps appeared on the TV-series Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210 is an American drama series that originally aired from October 4, 1990 to May 17, 2000 on Fox and was produced by Spelling Television in the United States, and subsequently on various networks around the world. It is the first series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise...

in the Halloween episode "Gypsies, Cramps and Fleas." They played 2 songs in show: "Mean Machine" and "Strange Love." Lux started the song by saying "Hey boys and ghouls, are you ready to raise the dead?".

In honor of the excess of The Cramps, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...

 has on display a shattered bass drum head that Lux's head went through during a live show.

2000s

On January 10, 2001, Bryan Gregory died at Anaheim Memorial Medical Center of complications following a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...

. He was 47.

In 2002, The Cramps released their final album, "Fiends of Dope Island" on their own label, Vengeance Records.

On February 4, 2009 at 4:40 AM PST, Lux Interior died at the Glendale Memorial Hospital after suffering an aortic dissection
Aortic dissection
Aortic dissection occurs when a tear in the inner wall of the aorta causes blood to flow between the layers of the wall of the aorta and force the layers apart. The dissection typically extends anterograde, but can extend retrograde from the site of the intimal tear. Aortic dissection is a medical...

 which, contrary to initial reports about a pre-existing condition, was "sudden, shocking and unexpected".

Final line-up

  • Lux Interior (Erick Purkhiser
    Erick Purkhiser
    Erick Lee Purkhiser , better known as Lux Interior, was an American singer and a founding member of the garage punk band The Cramps from 1976 until his sudden death in February 2009 aged 62....

    ) – vocals
    Singing
    Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...

    , March 1973 to February 2009
  • Poison Ivy (Kristy Wallace
    Kristy Wallace
    Kristy Wallace , became famous using the stage name of Poison Ivy , as a founding member of the American garage punk band The Cramps....

    ) – lead guitar
    Guitar
    The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

    , March 1973 to February 2009
  • Harry Drumdini – drums
    Drum kit
    A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

    , February 1993 – July 2003 and August 2006 to February 2009

Former members

  • Bryan Gregory
    Bryan Gregory
    Bryan Gregory was an American rock musician, and founding member of and guitarist for The Cramps....

     (Greg Beckerleg) – guitar, April 1976 – May 1980
  • Julien Grindsnatch – guitar, July 1980 – September 1980
  • Kid Congo Powers
    Kid Congo Powers
    Kid Congo Powers is the stage name of Brian Tristan , an American rock guitarist and singer, best known as a member of The Gun Club, The Cramps and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.-Biography:...

     (Brian Tristan) – guitar, December 1980 – September 1983
  • Mike Metoff (as Ike Knox) – guitar, October 1983 – November 1983; January 1984 – July 1984
  • Click Mort – guitar, December 1983
  • Scott "Chopper" Franklin – bass & guitar, January 2002 – September 2006

  • Sean Yseult
    Sean Yseult
    Sean Yseult is an American rock musician. She has played various instruments with different bands over the years, most notably her bass work with the band White Zombie. Her father, Michael S. Reynolds, was a noted biographer of Ernest Hemingway...

     (Shauna Reynolds, of White Zombie
    White Zombie
    White Zombie was a Grammy Award-nominated American heavy metal band. Based in New York City, White Zombie was originally a noise rock band. White Zombie are better-known for their later heavy metal-oriented sound...

    ) – bass
    Bass guitar
    The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

    , October/November 2006
  • Touch Hazard (Tim Maag of The Mechanics
    The Mechanics
    The Mechanics are considered to be the first punk band to come out of Fullerton, California.The Mechanics were a fusion of two bands, the L.A. Brats and Head Over Heels' songwriter and guitarist, Tim Racca...

     & D.I.) – bass, 1985
  • Fur (Jennifer Dixon) – bass, March 1986 – May 1986
  • Candy del Mar – bass, July 1986 – January 1991
  • Slim Chance – bass, March 1991-August 1998
  • Doran Shelley – bass, 1998–1999
  • SugarPie Jones (aka Tim Ferris) – bass, 2000

  • Pam Ballam (Pam Beckerleg) – drums, April 1976 – September 1976
  • Miriam Linna
    Miriam Linna
    Miriam Linna has run the Brooklyn-based independent record label Norton Records since 1986 with her husband—the producer and singer-songwriter Billy Miller...

     – drums, October 1976 – June 1977
  • Nick Knox
    Nick Knox
    Nick Knox was the drummer with the psychobilly band The Cramps. He replaced Miriam Linna in 1977 and left in 1991. Knox was with The Cramps during the peak of their worldwide popularity when they toured Europe extensively in 1986 with the "A Date with Elvis" tour...

     – drums, July 1977 – January 1991
  • Jim Sclavunos
    Jim Sclavunos
    Jim Sclavunos is an American rock music drummer, percussionist and producer.Sclavunos, a half-Greek and half-Italian from Brooklyn, New York , is well-known for his exceptional height at 6'7". Sclavunos has performed with Sonic Youth, Tav Falco's Panther Burns, Lydia Lunch and was a member of 8...

     – drums, 1991
  • Nickey Alexander – drums, June 1991 – January 1993
  • Bill "Buster" Bateman – drums, June 2004 – August 2006
  • Jen Hanrahan – castanets June 2000 – August 2000.
  • "Jungle" Jim Chandler – "Laid down the primal beat" for the European tour 2004

Studio albums

  • Songs the Lord Taught Us
    Songs the Lord Taught Us
    Songs the Lord Taught Us is the debut studio album by the American garage punk band The Cramps. It was released in 1980 on Illegal Records.-Track listing:-Personnel:*Lux Interior - vocals*Poison Ivy Rorschach - guitar*Bryan Gregory - guitar...

    (1980, Illegal
    Illegal Records
    Illegal Records is a record label founded by Miles Copeland III with his younger brother Stewart Copeland and the manager of The Police, Paul Mulligan in 1977. The label released The Police's debut single, Fall Out....

    )
  • Psychedelic Jungle
    Psychedelic Jungle
    Psychedelic Jungle! is the second LP by the American garage punk band The Cramps. It was released on IRS Records. It was engineered by Paul McKenna and recorded at in January 1981 at A&M Studios. It was self-produced by The Cramps...

    (1981, I.R.S.
    I.R.S. Records
    I.R.S. Records was a record label, started in the United States in 1979 by Miles Copeland III along with Jay Boberg and Carl Grasso. Miles was also the manager of Wishbone Ash, The Police, and later, Sting, as well as other bands. I.R.S. was the sister label of Copeland's Illegal Records .I.R.S...

    )
  • Smell of Female
    Smell of Female
    Smell of Female is the first live album by the American garage punk band The Cramps. It was recorded at The Peppermint Lounge on February 25–26, 1983 and released on I.R.S. Records the same year. The album was also released as a 3 7-inch box set...

    – (live at the Peppermint Lounge) 6-track mini album (1983, Big Beat
    Big Beat Records (Ace subsidiary)
    Big Beat Records is a British record label and import distributor owned by Ace Records, specialising in garage rock.-Roster:Releases include:*Big Star*Dean Carter*The Chocolate Watchband*Count Five*The Cramps*The Flaming Stars*Frumious Bandersnatch...

    )
  • A Date with Elvis
    A Date with Elvis (The Cramps album)
    A Date with Elvis is the seventh album by the American garage punk band The Cramps. It was released on Big Beat Records. It was recorded in the fall of 1985 and engineered by Steve McMillan and Mark Ettel at Ocean Way Studios Hollywood, CA...

    (1986, Big Beat
    Big Beat Records (Ace subsidiary)
    Big Beat Records is a British record label and import distributor owned by Ace Records, specialising in garage rock.-Roster:Releases include:*Big Star*Dean Carter*The Chocolate Watchband*Count Five*The Cramps*The Flaming Stars*Frumious Bandersnatch...

    )
  • Stay Sick
    Stay Sick
    -Personnel:*Lux Interior - vocals*Poison Ivy Rorschach - guitar*Candy Del Mar - bass guitar*Nick Knox - drums...

    (1990, Enigma
    Enigma Records
    Enigma Records was a popular rock and alternative American record label in the 1980s. It was initially a division of Greenworld Distribution, an independent music importer/distributor, which it split-off from in 1985 to become its own company...

    )
  • Look Mom No Head!
    Look Mom No Head!
    Look Mom No Head! is the tenth album by the American garage punk band The Cramps. It was released on Restless/Enigma Records, and licensed to Ace Records under Big Beat in the UK. It was recorded and mixed by Steve McMillan at Ocean Way, Hollywood between June 21-July 14, 1991. It was...

    (1991, Enigma)
  • Flamejob
    Flamejob
    Flamejob is the eleventh album by the American garage punk band The Cramps. It was released on Creation Records. It was recorded and mixed at the engineer Earle Mankey's Psychedelic Shack in Thousand Oaks, California. It was self-produced by Poison Ivy and Lux Interior...

    (1994, The Medicine Label)
  • Big Beat from Badsville
    Big Beat from Badsville
    Big Beat from Badsville is the twelfth album by the American garage punk band The Cramps. It was released on Epitaph Records. It was recorded and mixed at the engineer Earle Mankey's house in Thousand Oaks, California in May 1997...

    (1997, Epitaph
    Epitaph Records
    Epitaph Records is a Hollywood, California based independent record label owned by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz. The label was originally "just a logo and a P.O. box" created in the 1980s for the purpose of selling Bad Religion records, but has evolved into a large independent record...

    )
  • Fiends of Dope Island
    Fiends of Dope Island
    Fiends of Dope Island is the thirteenth and final album by the American garage punk band The Cramps. The Cramps resurrected their own record label Vengeance Records to release the album. It was recorded in Hollywood, CA in August 2002. It was self-produced by Poison Ivy and Lux Interior...

    (2002, Vengeance)

Compilations

  • Off the Bone
    Off the Bone
    ...Off the Bone is the first compilation of previously released material by American garage punk band The Cramps. It was released in 1983 in the United Kingdom on Illegal Records...

    (1983, Illegal)
  • Bad Music for Bad People
    Bad Music for Bad People
    Bad Music for Bad People is the second compilation of previously released material by the American garage punk band The Cramps. It was released on I.R.S. Records and was seen by most fans as a cynical cash-in by the record label following the departure of the band...

    (1984, I.R.S.)
  • How to Make a Monster
    How to Make a Monster (The Cramps album)
    How To Make A Monster is the third compilation by the American garage punk band The Cramps. Comprising rare, previously-unreleased tracks, the release is a 2-CD set that includes a 28-page book with extensive liner notes by Lux Interior and Poison Ivy, as well as rare and unseen photos and flyers...

    (2004, Vengeance)
  • The Secret Life of the Cramps (2006)

Further reading


External links

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