Dead Goo Goo Muck
One of the truly great bards of sleaze no longer walks among us. Lux Interior, the lead vocalist of those psychobilly pioneers known as the Cramps, died Feb. 4 at the tragically young age of 62. He had an existing heart condition.
In the mid-Seventies, Lux (born Erick Lee Purkhiser) and his wife, Kristy Wallace — better known as Poison Ivy — formed the Cramps, melding the seemingly disparate worlds of punk, rockabilly, glam, pop-culture kitsch, B-movies and good, old-fashioned stripper-pole and fishnet sleaziness. And it worked. As Pitchfork succinctly puts it, “The chemistry between Interior’s halting, insinuating growl and Ivy’s snakey surf-informed guitar lines remains one of the great iconic pairings in American underground rock.”
Indeed, the Cramps were no novelty act. The band produced some of the most blistering, butt-wiggling, plaster-shaking garage punk of their time, with enough double entendres (and not-so-double) to make Howard Stern look like Pat Boone.
Rest in peace, Lux. Somewhere a human fly is shedding 96 tears in his 96 eyes.
For the uninitiated, enjoy some Cramps:
“Human Fly”
“Ultra Twist”
“Like a Bad Girl Should”
“Goo Goo Muck” (crummy quality, but oh, well)
– Chase
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Comments
You’re right, M2 – my mistake. The earlier MTV report listed his age at 62. Last night (Wednesday), the Daily Swarm indicated his age was 57.
I guess what we can take away from the discrepancies is that, well, Lux was one for the ages.
I’m seeing 62 from Bloomberg (which is where I get all my music news, as well as the Beeb, NME, Reuters, but then there are scads of 60s, as well. This could go up for arbitration.
Since his birthday isn’t really listed anywhere, and heck, he was … old … You are right. Age is relative!
He was definitely one for the ages. And ageless. I think I expected him to live forever, so there’s no use in my nitpicking his age. LOL.
Thanks for your response, staticblog!
I remember talking to a superstitious local in “the valley” back in the 1980s who lived in their neighborhood and was afraid of them-thought they were vampires. If only…
This news pretty much ruins my day. $een the Cramps a few times and their unique Hasil Adkins styled brand of psychobilly is unbeatable. RIP Lux, make some party up there.