The Cramps: Songs the Lord Taught Us [ILLEGAL / HIP-O]

Why you'll love it

Songs the Lord Taught Us invented psychobilly: Lux Interior and Poison Ivy's twisted blend of rockabilly, garage punk and B-movie horror, produced by Big Star's Alex Chilton. Rolling Stone named it one of the 80 greatest albums of 1980.

This edition

• Illegal / Hip-O pressing
• Produced by Alex Chilton

About the album

The Cramps came out of the same CBGB scene as the Ramones and Blondie, but nobody sounded like them. Lux Interior yelped and howled like a possessed Elvis, Poison Ivy and Bryan Gregory played reverb-soaked, fuzzed-out guitar with no bass player, and Nick Knox kept a primitive stomp going underneath. The result was rockabilly dragged through a haunted house.

Recorded in Memphis with Alex Chilton producing (he also plays organ on "Fever"), their debut is a riot of trashy fun: "TV Set," "Garbage Man," "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" and "Zombie Dance" sound like the drive-in movie of your dreams, and their take on "Fever" is gloriously sleazy. Every psychobilly band since owes them rent.

Also at Kops: more The Cramps on vinyl · browse Punk

Tracklist

Listen

On Illegal / Hip-O, a reissue of the 1980 album.