…and as is often the case, life has happened since then. I think it’s time, though.

I’m sure I made it sound like I knew him, had a Cramps show story or ten to tell, or a lot of the usual stuff you hear out of me when I write these things, but the fact is, unfortunately, I don’t. Sometimes, I write things and it just sounds like I’m familiar. Usually, I am, but not in this case. The Cramps were an act that I almost saw play probably a dozen times, but never actually got to see. I never got to meet or know Lux, and I don’t know anyone else from the band. What I can tell you all, though, is that The Cramps were a terrific, greatly underappreciated band (even by me) who spawned a legion of imitators, and that Lux’s passing makes me deeply regret not spending more time with them, in person or otherwise.

After I heard of his passing, I got out all my Cramps records and put them on. I do this sometimes, but not all the time, when we lose an artist I liked. What struck me, and probably shouldn’t have, about what I heard is just how terrific of a band they really were. I mean, I always knew, I’d been hearing their stuff for over two decades, owned bunches of it, and almost saw them a ton of times, but what I really recommend that you do, if you can, is sit down one day and listen to a lot of Cramps records in a sitting. What you’ll find, as I did, is that they wrote and played really good songs, and performed the hell out of the ones that they borrowed from other artists. Maybe it’s not always easy to see underneath the camp and the kitsch that was one of their trademarks (and for a lot of people, one of their big selling points, but admittedly it was a distraction for me sometimes because of how much sp00ky I’ve had shoved down my throat in my life; overexposure has some very unfortunate side effects), but they really were one of the best rock n’ roll bands out there, and I feel poorer for not totally getting that before it was too late to see them. Thankfully, we do still have their records, which I’ll be spending a lot more time with, as should you all, and we do still have Ivy and their other surviving members, who I hope will keep making music, and who I offer my deepest condolences to once again.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 28th, 2009 at 8:25 pm and is filed under I write too many obituaries., My Big, Black Cock.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.