Line #56 Music/TheCramps


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/61656db378d762812789d01d25c059de.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:The "classic" lineup. Left to right: Poison Ivy Rorshach, Lux Interior, Bryan Gregory, and Nick Knox.]]
3
4	->''"I've got [[ShoutOut 96 tears]]''
5	->''and 96 eyes"''
6	-->--"Human Fly"
7
8	The Cramps were an American PunkRock band from Sacramento, UsefulNotes/{{California}}, who were one of the major innovators of garage punk and {{psychobilly}} music.
9
10	The band were formed in 1976 by the CreatorCouple of Lux Interior (aka Erick Purkheiser) and his wife Poison Ivy Rorshach (aka Kristy Wallace). They quickly entered the CBGB scene in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, dominated by bands like Music/TheRamones. Their first LP, ''Songs the Lord Taught Us'', is often considered their best release.
11
12	The Cramps are remembered for their energetic live shows and their melding of punk, GarageRock, and {{Rockabilly}} with their love of {{B Movie}}s, {{Exploitation Film}}s and UsefulNotes/LasVegas trash culture. They retired in 2006, but Purkheiser died of an aortic dissection (the same thing which killed Creator/JohnRitter) on February 4, 2009.
13
14	!!Studio albums:
15	* ''Songs the Lord Taught Us'' (1980)
16	* ''Psychedelic Jungle'' (1981)
17	* ''A Date with Elvis'' (1986)
18	* ''Stay Sick!'' (1990)
19	* ''Look Mom No Head!'' (1991)
20	* ''Flamejob'' (1994)
21	* ''Big Beat from Badsville'' (1997)
22	* ''Fiends of Dope Island'' (2003)
23
24	----
25	!!Tropes the Lord Taught Us:
26	* AdamAndEvePlot: "All Women Are Bad"
27	-->''Adam and Eve sitting in the wood\
28	Eve said "Man, I got something real good\
29	It's in that tree, you'll get smart fast!"\
30	Adam said "[[GenreSavvy Sure, Satan my ass]]"''
31	* AnswerSong: "Sheena's in a Goth Gang" was a follow-up to Music/TheRamones' "Sheena is a Punk Rocker".
32	* AutoErotica: "Bend Over I'll Drive" suggests you don't actually have to stop the car to engage in this.
33	-->''Is this the way Creator/JayneMansfield died...?''
34	* BadassBoast: "Garbageman", "Elvis Fucking Christ", "Creature From The Black Leather Lagoon", "God Monster"...
35	-->''You ain't no punk, you punk! You wanna talk about the real junk?\
36	(...) If you can't dig me you can't dig nuthin'! Do you want the real thing or are you just talkin'?''
37	* CardCarryingVillain: "Mean Machine"
38	* CarefulWithThatAxe: "Love Me", "She Said", "I Was A Teenage Werewolf".
39	* CoolShades[=/=]SunglassesAtNight: "Sunglasses After Dark" claims it's a way "to be cool in one easy lesson" - even if you [[DeconstructedTrope can't actually see a thing]].
40	-->"[[SpokenWordInMusic Uh... Where am I, by the way?]]"
41	* CoverVersion: ''Way'' too many to list. Some notable examples include including "Strychnine" (originally by The Sonics), "Surfin' Bird" (originally by The Trashmen), "The Crusher" (originally by the Novas), "Primitive" (originally by the Groupies), "Green Fuz" (originally by Green Fuz), and "Green Door" (originally by Jim Lowe).
42	** The bootleg compilation ''Songs The Cramps Taught Us'', collecting all the originals of their covers and [[SuspiciouslySimilarSong almost-covers]], runs ''7 volumes''.
43	* DanceSensation: "Alligator Stomp", "Cramp Stomp", "Zombie Dance", "Surfin' Dead", "Ultra Twist", "The Crusher"... Most of them don't exactly end well for the dancers.
44	* DrugsAreGood: "Drug Train", "Let's Get Fucked Up", "Bop Pills"
45	* EyesDoNotBelongThere: "Eyeball In My Martini"
46	-->''[The doctor] said, 'You ain't crazy'\
47	He said, 'You ain't insane'\
48	'It's just you got an eyeball in ze CENTER OF YOUR BRAIN!' ''
49	* GarageRock: A major influence on their music.
50	* GirlsWithGuns: "Bikini Girls With Machine Guns".
51	* GothRock: It's debatable whether they ever really were part of the goth scene, but they are beloved by goths and were a huge influence on deathrock.
52	* HappilyMarried: Lux and Ivy, until Lux died in 2009.
53	* HellBentForLeather[=/=]DressedAllInRubber: Lux's stage outfits tended to be this.
54	* HormoneAddledTeenager: "Goo Goo Muck".
55	* {{Horror}}
56	* IntercourseWithYou: Too many songs to count.
57	* KidsRock: "People Ain't No Good."
58	* LastSecondWordSwap: "Surfin' Dead"
59	-->''Your carburetor don't carb, gotta hammer down this\
60	Your generator gens but your pistons don't... [[SubvertedRhymeEveryOccasion work]]''
61	* ALoveToDismember: "TV Set:"
62	-->''Oh baby, I see you in my TV set\
63	Oh baby, I see you in my TV set\
64	I cut your head off and put it in my TV set\
65	I use your eyeballs for dials on my TV set.''
66	* MetaphorIsMyMiddleName: From "Mean Machine:"
67	-->''You wanna go to the devil but you don't like the flames\
68	"Blood On Satan's Claw" is my middle name''
69	* NobodyLovesTheBassist: For the first ten years of their existence they didn't even ''have'' a bass player. Starting in the mid-80s, they went through eight bassists in 20 years.
70	* ObligatoryBondageSong: "Queen of Pain," which just happens to be a [[SillyLoveSongs sweet love song]] as well.
71	* OdeToIntoxication: "Drug Train", "Let's Get Fucked Up", "New Kind of Kick:"
72	-->''Energine! Barcol! Draino hot shot! Whack attack! Helium! Nitrous oxide! Formaldehyde! Some new kind of kick!''
73	* PubertySuperpower: "I Was a Teenage Werewolf:"
74	-->''You know, I had puberty rites\
75	...And I had puberty WROOONGS!''
76	* RevolvingDoorBand: Lux and Ivy were the only consistent members.
77	* RottenRockAndRoll: Embraced with aplomb.
78	-->I dig that goddamn rock and roll\
79	The kinda stuff that '''don't''' save souls\
80	Ain't nuthin' good about it that I know!
81	* SesameStreetCred: Lux Interior did a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvI64lIaQDc singing cameo]] in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' as the frontman of a parrot puppet band.
82	* ShoutOut: ''Very'' frequent, in both lyrics and promo shots.
83	* SpellingSong: "[[DrugsAreGood Bop Pills]]"
84	-->''B-O-P, bop, P-I-L-L-S - BOP PILLS!''
85	* {{Spoonerism}}: "Backyard Jackoff" contains several examples, including the title.
86	* StaircaseTumble: "Naked Girl Falling Down the Stairs." And yes, it's intended as a ShoutOut to Marcel Duchamp's "Nude Descending A Staircase #2."
87	* StepUpToTheMicrophone: Ivy sings co-lead in two songs: "Get Off the Road" and "Kizmiaz."
88	* {{Stripperiffic}}: Ivy's stage outfits, occasionally. Lux's much more frequently.
89	* StudioChatter: One CD reissue of ''Songs the Lord Taught Us'' includes an alternate take of "I Was a Teenage Werewolf," where the intro of the song abruptly stops as Lux Interior has a lengthy argument with someone across the room. Lux's half of the argument is much easier to make out, as he's still in front of the microphone, but apparently this other person disrupted the recording in some way, greatly angering Lux:
90	-->'''Lux:''' Man, nobody fuckin' stops the tape on The Cramps in the fuckin' studio! Now get outta here... This is costing me 80 bucks an hour, please LEAVE!
91	* TheyCalledMeMad: "The Most Exalted Potentate of Love:"
92	-->''Mad! You call me mad?! I who have the secret of eternal love? You call me mad?!!''
93	* TheUnreveal: The end of "What's Behind the Mask". The audience never learns the answer, but the narrator does... [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor and he wishes he hadn't]].
94	* WhenImGoneSong: "Rockin' Bones"
95	-->''Well, when I die don't you bury me at all\
96	Just nail my bones up on the wall\
97	Beneath these bones let these words be seen\
98	"This is the bloody gears of a boppin' machine"''
99	* YourHeadASplode: "Blow Up Your Mind."

Context Music / TheCramps