What all middle class americans around that time aspired to do filling thier suburban homes with funky libraries of records or cds, coffee table books, antiques, eclectica from the mall... That times over, most people cant afford the space anyway, nows the time to just binge watch on your phone instead... and escape into "your own world" of curated digital junk.. (nostalgic 20th century media on youtube, instagram or whatever you like) Ha sometimes I feel compelled to comment on youtube like maybe someone will read this and think seriously about consumerism... time to log off..
Billy Zoom from X says that they were totally normal straight people and the stage persona was all an act. He said they were nice people and he used to repair Ivy’s amps at his house
They had a massive vinyl collection. They started collecting together for years before they even formed the band. They were scholars who absorbed so much.
Same! I often think about her and wonder how she is doing. I hope she is behind all those live recordings that keep appearing and that she is making money out of them!
I have so much respect and love for them. I still have Lux's harmonica from his last show at the Showbox in Seattle. I keep it in a doctor's biohazard plastic bag. 💋💋💋
I remember in a video that Lux was “playing” the harmonica, really just sucking and blowing it, and Ivy was laughing about it... Rare to see he break character on stage.
I remember playing a Cramps record one time, I think it was She Said. My dad (he was about 60 then) came into the room and just started laughing. He would have been around 30 when Elvis hit, so Rock and Roll wasn't really his thing, but he recognized a goofy good time when he heard one. One of my favorite memories of him. That, and his jaw about hitting the ground when I was playing the Knitters' first album.
It probably will not happen, but I hope she writes an honest book that may shed some light into their lives. Not for an expose, but because they were so interesting in a sorry conformist society.
The Cramps ruled. I was lucky to see them early in their musical careers when they had Bryan Gregory in the band. I saw them when I first started going to CBGB’s around 78 also saw them play at the MUD club around that time and when they opened up for the Clash when they first came to NYC and those shows were stuff of legend. I always made a point of seeing them when they played. Love you always Lux and Ivy ❤
I got to see them twice in the early 80s with Bryan Gregory at The Channel in Boston - holy. fucking. shit!!! Caught them again at the Palladium in Hollywood, the police shut the show down cause Lux went full naked and had the crowd in an absolute frenzy. THE BEST EVER, NO QUESTION!
I always loved The Cramps and, like most here, miss them a lot. This was the first time I heard or seen Ivy as 'herself' and she seems surprisingly nice here which I was glad to see. I guess her stage persona (or whatever ya wanna call it) gave me the impression she was always, uh, kinda unfriendly. I'm happy to have been wrong bout that.
Yeah, I used to think they were both pretty terrifying. 😆 I was lucky enough to meet them once (briefly) and they were the nicest sweetest people you could ever imagine, really friendly, funny and in good spirits. I think they were very different people on stage because they just let go of their inhibitions up there. Lux could go completely out of control and Ivy was almost the opposite, maybe it was the one place where she did feel powerful and in control and was 'allowed' to be like that. I dunno it's interesting but they were 100% for real up there, they just let that other side of their personality out is how it felt to me anyway.
I got a 9 hour overnight bus from Scotland to London and slept on a park bench to see The Cramps. Then went back home at 6am the next day. What other band would you do that for? That's how good they were.
I was very interested to see this pop up in my feed. I never met Erick but in the late 1990s and early 2000s I had many dealings with him on an internet auction site, in a collecting area unrelated to music. We’d email back and forth about casual things and he always came across as a regular, personable Midwest guy. For example he knew I was in Wisconsin so he’d often bring up the Packers and Bret Favre, that kind of thing. An interesting thing he once said to me was that if he had not gone into music he would have become a museum curator. Quite a contrast from ending up as frontman for the Cramps!
It wasn't until i was in my 30s that i came across The Cramps, but I've loved them since the first day i saw them. It was a clip of them playing on The Tube (UK TV Programme) and that sound they put out along with the energy embodied the true spirit of Rock n Roll. So real and unpolished. That garage sound mixed with the punk attitude and killer rockabilly/ surf rock guitar thrown into the mix really worked. They killed it and always did it their own way.
Hey mike, that was the moment I fell in love with them too. If you look through my other videos you'll find a high quality recording of that Tube appearance...... with some extra footage at the end you might not have seen.
One of the greatest bands I ever saw live. I remember at a gig in Hammersmith, London in the 80s, when Lux climbed up onto the stack of speakers and started tearing the ceiling down.
I love rockabilly, but the psychobilly scene opened up a bit more. I bought 'Off The Bone' 3D cover when it came here as a 16-year-old. The Cramps opened the door for me to explore more music Bo Diddly, Blues, Surf & beyond & not to be so rigid in my musical mindset.
If I'm correct, this is the record store that was across the street from where Muchmusic once was at the corner of Queen and John, but on the north west cornee and 1 store back. Wonder if its still there. And why that one? If they wanted 45s then they should have went to a better store in the area.
This is one of the closests couples that I have seen that sort of resembled real life Gomez and Morticia! And I'm not only saying that because the Wednesday show used a song by The Cramps, as I have liked The Cramps long before that show ever existed and I've never even watched the show. When I say that Lux and Ivy were like Gomez and Morticia I mean that just like the fictional couple... they always seemed to support each other and they were both being their weird selves and they seemed to love each other for being themselves! They just seemed like such a weird but wholesome couple! I hope I am right in my statement. Only Ivy knows for sure now. May you forever Rest In Weirdness, Lux!
Who needs Sid & Nancy when there's Ivy & Lux. They imbue a genuine affection for each other. Someone write a screenplay about their relationship and film it. I just don't have the time and I'm sure it would be interesting.
We all need love and encouragement. I have their smello yellow vinyl. …I hold it close, and played it in appropriate scenes. (..like Wastelands Australia)
The Cramps/Peppermint Lounge/NYC/1984...............................................................................................&me@21yo!!! *Criminal!
Not sure that's true. CDs didn't really replace vinyl until maybe the mid 90's so I'd say at least the first half of the 90s vinyl was still prominent.
