Artist: The Cramps (Lux Interior, he/him; Poison Ivy, she/her)
Why?
For Halloween, I decided to do something a bit different. The artists today never identified as trans as far as I know, but were so campy in queering gender and aggressively gender non-conforming that they embody the wider meaning of transgressing the gender binary.
Today, I am going to give you a crash course in THE CRAMPS!
The lead singer, Lux Interior (he/him), and lead guitar, Poison Ivy (she/her), fell in love over their shared passion as record collectors of classic blues and rock-n-roll, as well as a love for B-movie horror films. This led them to get married and form a band that basically created the genre of "psychobilly," also cementing other subgenres like "punkabilly." I think it's also fair to credit them with inspiring the aesthetics of later goth and emo scenes, as well.
My first encounter with the Cramps was the music video for "Garbageman." While this is a cover, it was an invitation into music that coins the idea of "punkabilly" and if Lux's extreme vocals and Ivy's groundbreaking guitar don't put a spell on you, I don't know what will.
"Ultratwist" will give you a taste of how they developed their style and sound with one of their later ablums. It also features all the wonderful campy horror vibes in the music video that define their aesthetic.
To truly understand the magic that these two brought into the world, you gotta watch them live. Have you ever wondered what the acoustics of a man singing while fellating a microphone sound like? Well, you will find out as Lux gyrates and lurches in uncanny and animalistic fashion across the stage with leather pants so low you can see his pubic hair while performing "I Was a Teenage Werewolf"
You can also get a taste for their kinky queerness in "Creature from the Black Leather Lagoon," as Lux performs in leather thong and high heels. CW: music video starts with a scene depicting a bloody demonic birth of a grown man
Thing is, Lux and Ivy were brilliant and unapologetically transgressive, while also deeply loving art. One of my favorite examples of this is one of the only songs I know about a Dada/Cubist painting. "Naked Girl Falling Down the Stairs" is about encountering Marcel Duchamp's "Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nude_Descending_a_Staircase,_No._2) in a museum. The music video also highlights once more Lux's amazing ability to perform in stiletto heels and a latex jumpsuit:
The Cramps infamously also decided to build on Johnny Cash's recording of performances at prisons by playing the Napa Valley Mental Hospital in 1978. Mental Hospitals were still pretty rough back then, but this is clearly a welcome bit of fun and liveliness for the patients, as they dance and even join onstage, and Lux and Ivy seem to be having a blast with them all. I think things like this endeared them to outsiders, weirdos, and folks living with mental illnesses like myself.
Lastly, I also want to suggest people check out a video essay about the Cramps by A Grrrl's Two Sound Cents. It really highlights what was amazing about this band, how absolutely brilliant and hypnotizing Poison Ivy's guitar virtuosity is, and the abosolute unrestrained play of Lux Interior on stage.
I think it's interesting the way their journey maps onto so many queer people's stories. Lux was from Ohio but escaped to California for college where he met his brilliant and beautiful wife and bandmate, Ivy. They brought their musical circus to New York in the late 70s and were a core part of the emerging punk scene, blowing open the possibilities of what punk could be. They later settled in West Hollywood, where Lux started wearing heels and breaking gender.
Also, on a side note, I don't think I gave enough love to Poison Ivy since I was emphasizing Lux's gender non-conformity. Ivy's approach to guitar basically set the foundation for punk-style guitar and you can find her influence all over other punk bands, as the video essay above explains. But also, like, her style and silent but menacing stage presence are just amazing and I am in love with her. Like, if I ever meet her, expect unintelligible gay noises to erupt from me. 😍
@JoscelynTransient omg wow this is really sweet ❤️ around 8:30 there's a couple in the audience sharing a kiss and having a good time. And there's that one person who keeps coming on stage and borrowing or sharing the mic to yell into it with Lux and he just rolls with it. So wholesome!
@JoscelynTransient wow, the way Lux looks at Ivy and kisses her guitar after about 1:20 seemed to me so loving and intimate. But also wow, Ivy's got it 😳
@interrupthandler Yeah, describing Lux's physicality is hard because it's both this graceful/acrobatic feat and completely unhinged, stumbling, and feral. Even in his later years, he still tried to bring as much of that as he could to the stage, though you could tell it must have been harder in his 50s and 60s 😅🤩
@JoscelynTransient love The Cramps, got into them as a little kid because I liked the monsters and skulls on the sleeves and posters and it ended up bejng a gateway into lots of weird shit… never really looked back
@REEL I think that's exactly how encountering the Cramps should go, seducing you into the weird! 😈
I fell in love with their music in high school and yeah...needless to say rockabilly, punkabilly, psychobilly, gothabilly, and all the other variations there on became woven into my soul. They are definitely one of those bands that I love to share with anyone who I think might dig them because I love them endlessly. 💖
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