When The Cramps spun their favourite lesser-known tracks
It’s always fascinating to hear an artist open up in interviews and discuss their favourite records, especially when they’re clearly well-learned on the songs they’re talking about and are able to present themselves as historians of the scene. Hearing about the obscure music tastes and influences of an established act offers up a window into their soul and personal outlook on life that one may not always be able to retrieve from simply listening to their music.
Cult New York punk act The Cramps were truly historians of their scene, with a vast knowledge of not just punk but all of the genres and scenes that came before it, such as rockabilly and blues, and their wealth of knowledge when it comes to hidden gems from the past was second to none. Hearing both Lux Interior and Poison Ivy discuss at length the music that made them who they are is always engrossing and is sure to provide some sort of lesson to anyone willing to tune into their thoughts.
On a 1984 episode of Kid Jensen’s Collector’s Choice radio show, Lux and Ivy shared a gamut of their favourite musical artefacts from over the years, diving deep into some unusual proto-punk and blues cuts that even left the esteemed DJ lost for words. The broadcaster allowed the duo to select five lesser-known songs that had shaped their musical tastes, which were listened to and then dissected in meticulous detail.
While they bemoaned the state of rock and roll in the 1980s as a genre on the decline of popularity, their passion for the records of the genre’s past is palpable when they discuss how important it was to them and the wider music industry. After playing Marvin Rainwater’s ‘Hot and Cold’ – another track that had left Jensen stumped – Lux went on to explain how “there’s just something missing today […] everybody’s either out for their career, or something, making pop music, or making really involved musical things,” specifically referring to the loss of simplicity in making straightforward rock and roll.
The aforementioned song really does highlight how rock and roll could be simple on the surface of things, but its primitiveness was part of how it could be immediately arresting and grab the attention of the listener. Some of the other songs selected by the duo take this primitiveness to an even greater extreme, with Andre Williams’ ‘Pass the Biscuits Please’ taking the form of a slow twelve-bar blues track with a vocal that wails about breakfast options but still manages to be an arresting listen.
When Jensen further quizzed the band on whether rock and roll is disposable, Lux was quick to defend his beloved selections by arguing that those with that point of view are “disposable people” and that their opinion “doesn’t matter”. Further going on to fight his corner as a protector of true rock and roll, Lux stated that “these are magic items, these records.”
In the half hour episode, The Cramps took time to divulge some of their other favourite acts that they didn’t have time to play such as The Yardbirds and The Pretty Things, and discussed their most formative listening experiences with Jensen with the utmost passion.
The Cramps’ selection in full:
- Cannibal & the Headhunters – ‘Zulu King’ (3:10)
- Thee Midniters – ‘Jump, Jive, and Harmonize’ (9:24)
- Andre Williams – ‘Pass the Biscuits Please’ (14:23)
- Marvin Rainwater – ‘Hot and Cold’ (21:37)
- Starlites – ‘Valarie’ (26:59)
