Lux Interior 1948-2009: 96 Tears in 96 Eyes

Much digital ink is no doubt being spilled regarding today’s death of Lux Interior, frontman of The Cramps.  I heard about it today at the office but it wasn’t until an old friend posted a status update of “96 Tears in 96 Eyes” on Facebook this evening that it really hit home.  “Human Fly” was a bolt out of nowhere that unleashed an amazing musical force on an unsuspecting world.

 The key point about the Cramps was the gutpunch power, raw energy of their live shows – rock stripped down to its essentials and turned up to the breaking point.  A stinging lead guitar, relentless rhythm and backbeat, and this insane singer who seemed to embody all those pulp horror-film spirits in the flesh.   For several years I was right down in the front row for many shows – in Philly, New York, and New Orleans – and I’d always leave feeling like I couldn’t listen to any other music for days afterward.  For a time it seemed that nothing else could compare after such a visceral experience.  

You can see the chaos of their live shows in the back cover photo of their debut Gravest Hits EP.   This was early in their career but it’s already there – Bryan writhing on the floor, Ivy and Nick holding it steady, and Lux climbing over the seats, in the middle of an audience that has no idea what to make of what they’re seeing.  As Joe Sasfy put it in the liner notes of Gravest Hits, in a line I know by heart: “The Cramps don’t pummel and you won’t pogo.  They’ll ooze, you’ll throb.”