Songs The Lord Taught Us

It pains me to pan anything with Alex Chilton associated with it. But this isn't Big Star, and Chilton was probably downward spiraling at the time.

As a concept, a sort of gothic type of punk rock does sound pretty intriguing, but the overall idea is much better than the execution for me here. This whole album just felt like a mess of overly simple punk songs drowned in endless reverb with overly shrieky and oddly unsteady vocals (which I could barely understand with the reverb) Some of it was alright mind you, like the interesting surf rock feel Strychnine had would have been an interesting way to go.

Pretty good. Not as much a fan of the psychobilly aspect of it as I am the punk aspect of it though. Good to see Alex Chilton represented on the list, this time as a producer. 3 stars.

Where Psychobilly started. True classic album.

Great album, great band. Looking for this on vinyl.

Interesting

Унылое безликое

- IMMACULATE VIBES - Love the guitar and the weird vocals - Mildly surfy which is kinda cool - Feels like a Disney channel halloween movie in a good way

- meh - sounds like 70s rock - get a sorta spooky Halloween vibe from them

Un sonido sombrío que cumple pero que no destaca 6/10.

This should fit for me, but the album just didn't hit.

Fun enough

Cool, sexy. Too long.

Didn't give this one much time to be fair. Favourite tracks: TV set

Songs the Lord Taught Us is the debut album by the American rock band the Cramps. It's an early garage rock/punk album that was influential to the similar genres that followed. It was a fun album with both rock and punk songs. Not the most well-produced nor do the band take themselves too seriously. They just made music that they thought sounded good, and I respect that.

A fun and enjoyable garage rock/rockabilly album from 1980. I can also hear some The B-52's influences on this record.

Oh dear - one for the weird fetishists

The aesthetic and the vocals are fun but the music is just so derivative. The mixing fucking sucks as well, it’s so soaked in reverb that it loses any sense of immediacy that might make it sound like a punk album. There are a couple of standout tracks but it’s mainly just a wash of bland rock n roll

Dirty and vampiric songwriting with a rockabilly edge. Great to hear a band with the confidence to do their own thing.

Goth psychobilly is apparently my jam

I like the idea of spooky surf rock. They’re the best to ever do it, although I don’t believe they’ve been challenged. They sound like a band Herman Munster would enjoy. Each song is incredibly fun and feels totally original and unique to the band. Unfortunately, given this album is an hour of music, the songs all sound the same. Still though, I enjoyed the entire album so it only scores low for lack of range. 3/5

2.5

boffaff , c'étati très garage punk. Un peu rock, j'aime pas trop la voix et le style. Je trouve que le rockabilly est un peu dure a trouver. Juste un chanteur punk tout le long. et c'est quand meme long. 2.5

Decently fun rambling rock/punk. Not something I'd necessarily come back to but for a listen is was kinda cool. 5/10

Wack

Authentic sounding garage rock with plenty of reverb. Not bad.

Slightly camp tve horror show punk. Love it

More fun than I'd expected

Yeah. S'alright.

Weird, in a kitsch psychobilly surfer punk rock kinda way. At least I think I liked it, a bit, maybe.

This album grew on me while I was listening, from a below average album to a pretty good one. It’s nothing special, but it’s good. I like the energy, the style, it’s just enjoyable. Not essential (why I decided to give it a 3), but listen to it if you’re a punk fan.

Albums like this are the reason I listen to this list

It sounded good at the begining but there is not much variety. Some songs are almost indistinguishable. I wouldn't mind it as a background but despite not being very long it is not very interesting.

Nope, not for me. Psychobilly just ain't my sound. The cover of Fever was good though.

rock n roll baby!!!

I don't like punk, and I don't really like the whole rock 'n' roll/rockabilly thing, so this album was really boring for me. Felt like nothing was going on in the songs, and despite most song being only around 3 minutes, they felt so long. I can't say I expected a cover of Fever on here. But yeah, not great. I kind of like the album cover though. My favourite song was What's Behind The Mask.

It's a psychobilly freakout! I don't know if this is the same band as that song, but this is still rockabilly music which is an acquired taste that I haven't fully embraced yet. Some of the songs I liked but most sounded repetitive. Along with the album cover it just felt like hearing an early grunge band in a basement or dungeon.

Funky punky. I've definitely heard OF the Cramps, but haven't heard their music before today. Nice Halloween vibe in the subject matter. Some solid jams on here, but not much sonically to distinguish this group from lots of other punky rock of the era, at least in my opinion. I dug the cover of "Fever." Some cool songs, album is alright. Favorite tracks: Fever, I Was a Teenage Werewolf, I'm Cramped. Album art: Spooky family portrait spin on a band photo, I like that. Enough style to set this one apart from the countless other band photo covers out there. Really love their font choices. 3/5

The singers voice is awful, it sounds like a shitty impression of a Big Band singers voice from the 50’s. The music was also terrible.

Ok punk album. Didn’t get drawn in, but didn’t dislike it. Solid 3.

Some cool early noise elements here which I dig. The rockabilly aspects aren't my thing as much. Not my go to brand of punk but I can respect it.

The ur-text of psychobilly, and absolutely massive in goth clubs throughout the 80s. Still very enjoyable, though by the end their one trick is somewhat exposed by repetition. Their next would take it all to another level.

I really liked this album, a few of the songs I have listened to before, but never the album in its entirety.

3.5+/5

At first I was really averse to this - it sounded cold and distant, too much reverb on the guitars, whatever. But halfway through the album, something switched in my brain, and by the end of the album I was a fan. The hooky little rockabilly licks and the raw, emotional vocals spoke to me.

I think I'd rather listen to X, or The Misfits, or Pussy Galore, or Elvis for that matter...

Sorta grew on me as I listened. Definitely a band you'd love the more you drank. 3.5.

Very fun punk, almost like a less heavy Misfits. I loved the aesthetic here.

A fun cheesy sort of punk, I think it maybe missed a little of something to flip it over the edge.

Banger album, whole thing sounds like it was recorded in an echoey alleyway at night. Catchy, danceable, dark, and campy.

This album was pretty interesting, I really like the song "Fever", but altogether it was a fun album.

If there was ever a band's image that matches the sound of the group, it would be The Cramps. With the band name written in a "Tales From The Crypt"-like typeset, The Cramps primitive, lo-fi sound wouldn't be out of place as a band on the Flintstones, as they keep the beats simple and ghoulish. They are an acquired taste and not for everyone, but their sound is accessible and not unlike similar sounding goth bands that followed. I bought this on vinyl when I was a teen and glad I did, it still gets some plays even now and is a classic in it's own right.

Spooky not for me

Buffy vibes, was in the bronze for a sec.

It's a fun rollercoaster as long as you don't take it too seriously. It's more like a novelty band really but I think it's the whole Psychobilly-thing plus they were around during the 1970s New York underground scene. Regardless of all that what it all comes down to are mumbled lyrics, muffled recording and basic guitar and drums. Worth a listen as an oddity.

Started off as a bad Elvis impersonation, but got better as it went on. More of a curiosity that something I truly enjoyed. Best track: Strychnine

Ok come on... enough with this early 80s CRAP. That chick's hairdo and makeup say it all: ugh. Band logo says "ha ha it's gonna be the punk monster mash!" Ok yeah, pretty much. But a bit weirder than expected. Lots of rockabilly, terrible production, nonsensical lyrics, and the worst solo ever in garbageman. 2/5.

Another album on the list of “why is this on here” Holy shit was this album hard to get through. the cramps, what a name, had such great songwriting ability they created a song called in cramped. And that’s all they say the whole song. That alone should tell you how good this album is. Felt like I was listening to a bunch of crack heads with mascara. This was bad. 2.6/10

4.5 - A joyfully whacked out punk reimagining reminiscent of the B-52's debut record, with a similarly campy-queer frontman-quasi-gameshow-host, Lux Interior. They've twisted a lot of "traditional" punk elements, adding horror-inspired flair to lyrics (see "TV Set") and over-amped buzzsaw guitar(see "Mystery Plane"). The thumping, urgent drums help keep things tethered.

I've heard TV Set before and like it for what it was, but I was a bit wary about going into a full album of that. It turned out to be pretty okay, though.

This sucks. The covers are the bright spots.

4/10. TV set was a good introduction to this album, the lyrical content matched the form of the music well. Made me think of the Telltale Heart. Sadly, that was not enough to make me actually enjoy the sound of the music.

Elvis punk. 5/10

This is pretty much how I expected this to sound

No 1/5

This was very rough. I had to be trapped on a plane to be motivated enough to finish. Every song sounded like “the bird, bird, bird, the bird is the word”. It made an hour feel like a day

Knasigt och härligt! Tycker mycket om!

Great album for a halloween party.

8/10 lots of fun! what’s not to love?

Really funky...seems like a bad that would be amazing live. Not sure I love the recorded sound though. 2.5/5

Great googley moogley!

I really liked this album! I've only heard a song or two by The Cramps so it was nice to listen to a full one that doesn't have their most popular song on it.

Great, not an everyday listen, but great

A perfectly good example of a perfectly good genre of music. Psychobilly by the masters. It's fun, it's got attitude and it's not overall my cup of tea but I'm not put off by it either.

This album was some solid Rockabilly/psychobilly tunes

Me pareció entretenido, nada espectacular pero no me aburrió y cuando terminó se me hizo que había durado poco, me gusta las melodías que parecen de película de surfers

"Songs The Lord Taught Us" is the debut album by America rock band The Cramps. Their genre styles are described as being garage rock, garage punk, pyschobilly and neo-rockabillly. Yep, it's all that. Some great descriptions of the band: "Campy, exaggerated and lewd" and "Pyschobilly way beyond the kitshiest moments of The Ramones and Blondie into a whole realm of garbage -trash novelty." The album was produced by Alex Chilton and recorded at Phillips Recording in Memphis. Some of the coolest band member names too: Lux Interior ( vocals), Poison Ivy Rorschach (guitar), Bryan Gregory (guitar) and Nick Knox drums). Loud guitar riffs and pounding drums open "TV Set." We get a fair bit of distorted guitar. Lux Interior's demented 50's style vocals stating "I see you on my tv set. I use your eyeballs for dials on my tv set." Their only single "Garbageman" has a grinding guitar and, oh my, a solid almost danceable beat. The guitar turns into more of a 50's rockabilly style. I think this about getting speed. As if this band needs more drugs. Lux whispers and howls on "I was a Teenage Werewolf." It's slower with a creepy guitar. The songs morphs into more a bluesy number. Jack White has to be a fan. "Zombie Dance" has a frantic pace with pounding drums and a sped up rockabilly guitar. Lux's vocals are muddled as he compares normal people in the world to zombies. The Cramps are known for doing interesting and campy cover versions. There's too really good ones here. They cover The Sonics' "Strychnine." Besides the rockabilly, you hear a lot of 60's garage rock in their music and no better song and band of that genre than this. This song was made for The zcramps and, yes, Lux would like the taste of "Strychnine." The album ends with the Little Willie John cover of "Fever." A slow, plodding, evil version. Lux talks, stumbles, whispers his way through deliriously. This album has a great pounding, driving sound. It's a mixture of 50's rockabilly, 60's garage rock and punk. Some creepy, oblique and unique guitar noises and solos. Not many albums cover topics of zombies, werewolves, eyeballs and poison. The production and lyrics are muddled; Alex Chilton wanted to re-record this but the band said no. Yeah, the last thing you want to do is over-produce something like this. The swampiness adds to its mystique.

Fun punk rockabilly. Sounds like a deranged Elvis.

The Cramps have always befuddled me, even though I can't say I have ever listened to them that much. Their reputation and image always makes me think they should be some terrifying psychobilly band going absolutely balls to the wall, yet what comes out is just some slightly above gentle rockabilly that would have your grandma reaching for the volume. It's alright, but I never felt like it really got going, gets downright cheesy in some places and really starts to drag towards the end. I really want to like this more, but I can't. 2.5 / 5 stars (will be rounding down to 2 stars on the generator site)

Annoying at times

I really enjoyed this album which kind of surprised me! Without the bonus tracks it’s a perfect length to enjoy the vibe without getting saturated.

when i saw the description i was worried about more bad 80s punk but this was quite good! very pleasantly surprised

Debuutalbum van "psychobilly gothabilly" band de Cramps. Mix met covers van rockabilly standards en originele nummers. Best grappige muziek, maar geen uitblinkers. leukste nummer: The Mad Daddy De band beschreef zichzelf als Psychobilly, een term dat origineert uit het door Johnny Cash opgenomen nummer "One Piece at a Time".

Great find. Rockabilly punk.

Slack-stringed, lethargic guitars + slurred, warbly vocals + post production mixing chunkier than Campbell's = a very strange rockabilly album indeed. Would be a perfect soundtrack to True Detective or similar shows. Certainly grew on me the more I listened.

The singer’s weird shrieky voice detracts from the original, cool sound

They did their thing very well.

Light 7/10

Actually amazing. It somewhat reminds me of like Elvis Presley’s self titled but for the garage rocks/gothabilly genre. It’s just a jam all around and I very much enjoy it. I think more specifically I’d give it a 9/10

Nope

Decent sound but not for me!

The lord did not teach you any of those you clearly made them up

Sounds like Bill Haley and the Comets singing circus music. What even is this? Don't think I'll listen again. At best musically uninspiring.

Whilst sounding quite heavy, it's overall rockabilly sound was something unexpected. It felt very "underground" in composition and very garage rock band. Overall, not too great but something that I wouldn't mind hearing again if it was on. Best: I Was A Teenage Werewolf Worst: The Mad Daddy

I hated this. Hated it. Hated it. Hated it. ...and I can't for the life of me see how anyone can appreciate this garbage, either. ...and believe me, I tried. I listed to the album twice on separate days and I can't wrap my brain around it. Every song sounds the same and it all drives me crazy. No more.

Honestly kinda good tunes but really garage rock sound to it which was hard to listen to.

The singing is awful. And so is various other factors in this album! First I thought it was just the singing that made this awful. But no. So much of it makes this album awful. And I normally find music from the 80s good to ok. But this is definitely below an O.K. album.

Haha, The Cramps!

Rare combinatie toch, rockabilly en punk. Ik kan me helemaal voorstellen dat hier een markt voor is (was?).

Voorbips met Doyenné du Comice. Ofwel: Kut met peren.

Punk and Surf, irreverence, swagger, tongue in cheek and actually good songs. It might not be a masterpiece but it feels like it was written right for me - rockabilly madness, a touch of horror and a complete album. A lot of the best songs from the Cramps aren’t here but as a record it’s perfect.

Great album cover. This album’s vibe in one word? Camp. I enjoyed it but it is certainly weird, I can imagine that it would be a favourite of the vamps in What We Do In The Shadows. Many of the songs sounded very similar. Fav tracks: I Was A Teenage Werewolf, The Mad Daddy, Fever (great cover) Least fav tracks: Rock on the Moon 3.5 rounded up.

This album gets better as it goes on.

For me rockabilly of this kind achieve at two things, making boring punk and making boring rock n roll simultaneously. Some fun bits here and there, but overall pretty uninspired, uninteresting and frankly quite bad. 5/10

Hate it.

Day 8 Hi. Don't mind me if I don't add comments to most of these songs. I'm in a rush and also this album just kind of sucks. TV Set - 5 - When I was looking up the band, the song Goo Goo Muck came up. I knew the name but I didn't know why. It's apparently a song from Wednesday. If you played these songs one after the other I could not tell you the difference. Rock On The Moon - 3 - hard listen. Garbageman - 4 - the guitar is so much louder and noticeable than the voice and it's playing like two strings for the whole song. I Was A Teenage Werewolf - 6 - less stupid sounding than the other songs but the vocalist just sucks. Sunglasses After Dark - 6 - the guitar is fine and the vocals are less bad than usual. The Mad Daddy - 4 - I like the screams at the beginning. The guitar isn't awful but it's a guitar line the album has shown like 5 times now. The guitar and lyrics get jumbled a lot. Mystery Plane - 5 Zombie Dance - 2 - Take every problem I've said about every one of the last songs and throw it into one song. Sucks cause Zombie Dance is a cool name. What's Behind The Mask - 4 - the same. exact. guitar line. Strychnine - 7 - a different guitar sequence for once! the voice also doesn't sound super awful here. I'm Cramped - 5 - it starts exceptionally dumb but then goes back to a slightly better version of the guitar mush we've been hearing. This is one of the better ones purely because we aren't hearing much voice. Tear It Up - 3 - fun fact: the Elvis album I reviewed previously was 24 years before this album came out. So not only is this poorly dated now, it was even poorly dated then. Fever - 5 - this is a slower, low tempo song which works to it's advantage because when this band does faster songs they sound like hillbillies. It's not really interesting though. Overall: idk I just kind of think this band sucks or at least that's my opinion from this album alone 59/130 or 45%

Not as heavy as expected. Listenable but all very samey

psycobilly

Psychobilly is fun, but it’s not an every day listen

fucking ass

Songs The Lord Taught Us has some good moments, most of it is a bit late-era glam rocky and not in a good way, but then I Was A Teenage Werewolf gets bluesy and I liked that, same for What's Behind The Mask. The glam rock/punk stuff is a poor effort, it's all about a 2/5 overall.

This was really fun, rough round the edges, good energy, but lacking a bit in anything to make it stand out (I Was A Teenage Werewolf seems to me to strip out a lot of the energy that makes the first part of the album more fun). Did quite enjoy the unexpected cover of Fever at the end of the album, very different sound. Another 3!

There is a superfluous M in the groups name. Also, the album full title should be... Songs The Lord Taught Us Never To Listen To.

Need to be in the mood for this one. Its the Ramones meets Rocky Horror Picture Show...

I'm not a big psychobilly guy. It always sounds borderline novelty to me -- like Halloween music. But there's no denying the Cramps do it right. This album is fun in its "twisted", silly way. Punky surf rock that doesn't outstay its welcome. I would probably give this 3.5 stars, really, but I'm going to round down because after this one, I don't really have any interest in checking out the rest of their discography.

I've never been a huge fan of the surf-rock, psychobilly sound that The Cramps are known for and have always preferred the horror punk of The Misfits. What I do enjoy is the kitschy, whimsical feel that their horror-laced lyrics evoke, much like classic monster movies. You know the ones - Frankenstein, Dracula, The Werewolf - the ones that aren't actually scary. The Cramps are creepy, silly, and satirical. If you can't appreciate the camp in horror, you probably won't enjoy The Cramps either. If you can, it's good fun. 3.5.

I love the Cramps and was excited to get an album that I actually wanted to listen to, although I’ve heard this album a million times, it never gets okd

Olihan tää nyt melkosta kuraa. Rokkibiliä säröllä tai ilman ei vaan toimi. Onko tämä ollut aikansa EMO-juttu?

Nyt on ihan tarpeeks kuultu näitä levyjä. Ei vaan putoo ja tätä suorastaan vitutti kuunnella.

The punk aesthetic is cooler than the music. Over and over again I am reminded of this. I'm a fan of everything. But this early punk just does not resonate. There's not enough for me to love.

I sometimes forget how good The Cramps were. THIS is how to do retro with a twist. Homage, covers and originals all in one seductive seditious package. And with a dash of humour to top it all off. Had to play Sunglasses and What's Behind the mask several times each, and they made me chuckle every time. This formula got a bit threadbare later on, but this is loud and lewd, without taking any of it all that seriously, and I LOVE it.

This is pretty harmless, but hardly a classic. The Cramps were more of a lifestyle than a music band. The whole psychobilly thing was pretty cool at the time. This probably made more sense live than listening to via Spotify. The songs blended into one. It's a little music by dots with no great variation or surprises.

"they're like the evil B-52's" -some guy on the internet. The Cramps certainly invoke the surf-rock guitar tones and eccentric vocals of the B-52's, but it's their frankly bizarre songwriting that separates them (as if Rock Lobster wasn't weird enough). It's noisy and daring. Songs The Lord Taught Us is devilishly cool, in a way that only possessed freaks could love. It struts and strums to the beat in a way that few bands could. The production is flat and the pacing is disjointed, but that all adds to the ambience of this frankly cursed album.

A lot of good stuff on here

Probably more like a 2.5

This was a bad album.

A straightforward garage-rock LP that's about what you would expect from The Cramps. No surprises on this one, but that's not a bad thing – I personally enjoy this style of rough 'n ready, sleazy rock, so I found it a solid listen.

Meh

I can hear how this was influential on some other bands - bands that I enjoy listening to more than I did listening to the Cramps.

Interesting.

Perfectly fun psychobilly shock punk, nothing that's still super noteworthy for me but a pretty big bombshell for its time and if I had found it at 14 it would probably have been formative to the point of me being real fucking cringe about it

Good! Wouldn't listen to by myself but pretty neat listen.

Fun but is dated.

I really enjoyed this album. Never heard of this band, and I don't think I've heard any of their songs prior to this listen, but this record was totally my speed. Dirty nasty punk rock infused with the energy of The Stooges and the catchy rockabilly structure of The B-52's. Really solid, will have to listen to this again soon

Stephen Stills and Dave Mustaine should be tied to chairs and made to listen to this record to understand that rock and roll is fun. Kick arse fun, hard fun, weird fun, but fun! I've not listened to The Cramps in years and I'd completely forgotten that I went to see them circa 85/86, pissed out of my head, at Selinas Coogee. It blew me away to such an extent that I forgot about it, well there you go. I love a great three piece with a singer. The Who, Rage Against (not U2..) ,three pieces with a great guitarist who creates the whole vibe. Poison Ivy is the star of this band, her sound, the way she creates those 50's riffs around those Gretsch chords, rock and roll heaven. This record rolls, Lux does his thing and the whole things swings. I love Garbageman, the way Poison builds up Sunglasses After Dark, Strychnine is a brilliant Sonics tribute and of course their take on Fever is simply the greatest. Final comment, Tear It Up is the soundtrack to what would have played in Elvis's worst nightmare, and I love it. And I love knowing how much Stephen Stills would hate this record, schadenfreude.

So apparently this band I'd never heard of invented a sub-genre I'd never heard of, but they reject the label despite having put it on their posters. Do I care? Not really. Is the music any good? Some tracks better than others, and I'd have to be in a rare mood to want to put it on. (That said, I think their live gigs would have been a hoot). I might add the Zombie Dance track and perhaps one or two others to my Halloween playlist. I'm wavering between 2.5 and 3 stars, but will give the benefit of the doubt as I may just have been in the wrong mood when I listened - only had time for once through, and not quite all the tracks at that.

I discovered The Cramps in 1982, courtesy of dear friend & inner-city raconteur Stephen Niblett. It was when I first heard the term “psychobilly”. The Cramps were a lot about attitude. They were a blessed relief in the 80’s from the serious young insect bands. The concert I saw them give at Selinas at the Coogee Bay Hotel in 1986 was extraordinary. It was the only time I’ve ever been caught in a crowd surge where I had absolutely no control over what was happening. I think Lux ended up in his jocks, climbing a speaker stack. There are some classics on this record, produced by the legendary Alex Chilton - I Was A Teenage Werewolf is great and all of the covers - Strychnine, Tear It Up, Fever & Sunglasses After Dark - are really terrific. Nobody sounded like them.

I was a teenager, sitting up late one night watching Rage, the (Australian) ABC's late night music video show. I got a lot of my musical education sitting up into the wee small hours watching music videos, which often delved deeper into the esoteric and alternative as the night wore on. And it was probably about 2am when I saw this live footage of the Cramps performing 'Can your pussy do the dog?' (https://youtu.be/Bta9s0hONRo?t=413), and I immediately sat up and recognized this as the real deal. It was cool and sexy and dangerous and raw. The Cramps always had that. Over their career, you can see the way they refined their aesthetic (and Poison Ivy's guitar playing had certainly improved by 1986), but this debut album is such a great example of what rock and roll is. To loosely paraphrase Charles Shaar Murray, if rock and roll was about technique, then Emerson Lake and Palmer would be the greatest rock band of all time (hock, spit). But ELP are not even nearly the greatest rock band of all time. This album sounds like it was recorded in a tin shed with one microphone (Phillips Recording, in Memphis), and I'll eat my hat if this took more than a day to record. No overdubs and not a lot of re-takes, this is a warts and all blast of rock and roll, taking the blueprint of rockabilly, and hyping it up into something even bigger. It's fast and loud and dangerous and sexy and cool and wild and raw, and all the things that make rock and roll really great. to try and confine this to a pigeonhole of 'psychobilly' protects us from the frightening implication that _this_ is what true rock sounds like, and not something new and niche. The originals fit in seamlessly with the covers, showing that this is not an aberration, but part of the continuum of rock history. I have been listening to this record obsessively for the past few days. It is, in many ways, an objectively terrible record -- poorly recorded, badly played, juvenile in spirit, obnoxious and wild -- and for all those things, I love it. It is a tonic to my soul after enduring so many pretentious, overproduced, too refined albums (Stephen Stills, I'm looking at you). It is a great regret in my life that I never saw the Cramps live. Mea maxima culpa.

boring

Lauantai-aamun siivousmusaa. Ihan tosi söpöä kyllä, Halloween-bileiden klassikkokamaa.

eh, it was ok. pretty repetitive. maybe a 5/10 i didn’t love it even tho it had some tarantino songs

Sounds like the cramps in a non mind blowing fashion but it’s fun enough

Bit too hectic for me

Good

Weird but good

Very cool sound. Love the rockabilly-infused punk/glam mix. If they weren't so good at it, it would be very easy to dismiss as just some folks taking the piss out of pop music, and that's probably an ingredient but they really do perform very well.

Would put it 2.5 if half stars existed

Alright album. Don’t really care for the singer that much, but I love the blues influence. Most of the songs went through one ear and out the other. 4/10 Fav song: fever Least fav: mad daddy, rock on the moon

Garage Trash, about right. I feel like I could multi-track this together in the shed over a long weekend. You know when your dog is barking, and your wife is in your ear about some thing inane, and your toddler has broken your good glasses so your wearing a pair too small and they pinch the bridge of your nose, and you go to see what your album of the day is… I’d probably give this a 2 for the poor adherence to rhythmic conventions but we’ll knock another star off for the logo being on Primark T-Shirts.

Fever is great, the rest seemed a bit anonymous.

Guess you had to be there

I really like the style and vibe, and I'm sure it's been said before, but I really miss the bass guitar. Feels a bit hollow without it. Also, the production on the remastered version of this is... not great. Favorite tracks: "Garbageman", "Mystery Plane"

Enjoyed it while I listened to it. However, it has really stuck with me.

Yeah nah. Gimmick music.

I can't say I was ever a fan of the Psychobilly craze. The Cramps pretty much invented it, and so I was surprised that I enjoyed some of this.

I have always liked The Cramps but probably not for the right reasons, Their artwork, weirdness and sense of humour...music comes fourth which is probably not the greatest compliment. But I enjoyed this album, Loved I Was a Teenage Werewolf and the cover of Fever both of which made my playlist and the rest of the album was a pretty solid listen through if just running a tad too long, a few less tracks could have made this a pretty stand out album...but 3.5 stars!

Slightly patchy but still articulate and deep pop electronic influenced melancholy

Weird but interesting mix of rockabilly, surf, punk. Guitars are out of tune. Kinda cool, not great, but I respect the creativity.

They're just stealing shit from poor white culture. But extra star for going bass-less.

Same problem most of the stuff from this era has...the music is played by incompetent people and is supremely uninteresting. Band has to then rely on a compelling vocalist to pass the "I won't throw these people off a bridge" test. The Cramps don't have that. Lux Interior...please. track 4 was fair. Combining an overall bad genre of music (surf) with a mediocre genre of music (punk) is not a fantastic idea. Some of it sounds like a bad version of Sha-Na-Na

The Garbageman can take this away

What's not to like? and psychobilly is such a good name for a genre.

If history has taught us anything, it's that stuffing a turkey with barbed wire and wrapped up parcels of your own dried up semen and serving it for thanksgiving, is not the best way of introducing yourself to your inlaws. We all make mistakes and here, The Cramps have made the mistake of thinking that I'm not going to listen to their record and not choke myself to orgasm.

Gave me period pains

Ces gars-là peuvent se targuer d'être les nouvelles pétasses du générateur.

Inutile de commenter cet album je pense. D'autant plus que je reviens tout juste de vacances et que j'ai du pain sur la planche avec la génération contre toute attente de Stevie Wonder.

meia boca, não muito do meu agrado, repetitivo talvez

There were some decent songs on this album. Sunglasses after dark and I'm cramped were pretty good songs. Other than those I didn't really like any of the others. The singer screams and gets pretty crazy which sometimes is good, but I'm not a fan of it here. If they calmed down a bit, I think this would be better. CHILLAX 3/10

Thought it was a little strange and not super interesting. The songs were outdated and not super enjoyable. Too dramatic

Heard it before?: No Enjoy it?: Yes, it’s got a nice and familiar feel. Very fitting for it’s time and easy to digest Favourite song: Track 17 - I’m Cramped

Listening to all these albums on this list helps me understand music history better (at least the US/English-centered music history), which is very interesting. Examples like "Songs The Lord Taught Us" are fascinating, even though they are not the best songs or record production. The mixture of punk and rockabilly-inspired music here is an incredible resource for understanding the 80s and 90s musical movements and how we reach the 2000s with so much nostalgia in our minds. The future is not shining anymore, and the past is always a place to be comfortable, so the change/remix/(des)organize the past is an excellent tool to enjoy the present while waiting for the possible worst future.

Listened to on 10/24/22 3.5/5 Favorite song: zombie dance BIG HALLOWEEN ENERGY

Songs is pretty slow for *billy; That and the spacy recording gives it a funereal/reclaimed church feel. Everything is charming, but nothing leaps to the fore as especially notable. I found myself disinclined to check out the bonus material.

Not creative, mundane musically, vocal range appears to be 3 notes.

I'm really picky with punk and this doesn't really do it for me. There's some cool songs though.

Terrible corny rock album

Loved this, campy fun horror rock

Oye, esto no está nada de mal.

Rating: 6/10

To like this you'll need to like rockabilly style and it's offshoots. I don't particularly. Also I think the vocalist will be a polarizing point for your liking of this band. I mostly think he's kinda awful and annoying, but I can see why some people would like his vocals. The only thing that saves this album from a 1 is the occasionally fun punk beats provided by the drummer.

Sounds sort of new wave, reminds me of the B-52s

Good, solid garage rock

Interesting but so much not for me

I listen too it, not my kind Of music

CD

High energy, fun album. Good rock and roll music. A little roackabillty, a little punk, garage rock. Enjoyed this quite a bit.

Favorite songs: Strychnine, Fever (I remember this one from Queen's Gambit) Otherwise, not interesting to me.

Rough, in a cool way. Not the best one by the Cramps, but pretty good

first listen meh

Dog shit

On another day I may have given this a 3.

The Craps lol

Not my jam. It is a bit of a weird mish-mash of styles. It’s got some weird punk, rockabillly, surf band vibes. I feel like if you threw Billy Idol, Brian Setzer, the Ramones, and the B-52’s in a blender, this is what would get spit out.

On paper, this should have been a win for me. Rockabilly-tinged garage punk? Sign me up. Sadly, it just doesn't work. The Cramps took all the bad parts of rockabilly and all the no-skill thrashing of punk, tossed 'em at the wall, put the stuff that wouldn't stick onto an album, and called it "something new." And I guess it was new? This was the first psychobilly band, after all. They might have been first but others did it better. Even they did it better later on. And then there's the lyrics to take into account. When they're not just stupid, they're offensive in that manufactured, artificial way that one expects from shock jocks and kids whose dads wouldn't hug them. Just lame. Points for starting a thing, I guess, but it wasn't an enjoyable listening experience.

Det här var väl helt okej.

Speciaal. Wel een goede plaat

Listened while working. Fun to have on in the background.

Definitely 80’s vibe. Listened to most of the songs. It was okay.

Didn't like it at all. The whole time I was listening to it I was waiting for it to end.

Screamy Rockabilly.

The Songs the Lord Taught Us frequently felt like a mix of The B-52s and The Stray Cats, and something from Iggy Pop. Perhaps on a different week, this album might get 3 stars, but I kept looking to see how long before the album was over. The Cramps are a new band for me and the album was new music. I never felt like the album made it to a full "okay".

Interesting retro style. Cool but not enough to listen to a whole album.

All the rockabilly punk you never knew you wanted but need.

Not content with merely subverting the conventions of punk music to incorporate obscure relics of low-brow white trash culture, The Cramps proceed to beat you over the head with their new concoction named Psychobilly. Leaving aside my prior adoration of this group’s catalogue, I expected this album to draw criticism for a lack of variation in their style of musical attack. But such trifles simply don’t enter my thinking while Lux Interior breathlessly splutters and yelps over Poison Ivy’s spidery guitar lines - her sensually twangy solo in the midst of the absurd chaos of “Garbageman” is the precise moment I fell in love with this group. Whatever you think about this genre of music, its importance is absolutely irrefutable. The Cramps took one look at the pristine image of middle class America in 1980 and instead embraced its concealed obverse, its Mr Hyde, contorting the authentic fantasy of rockabilly USA. Whatever their formula lacks in subtlety, it matters. Profoundly.

A rockin' party album. The Cramps best, I think, with classics like Garbage man, Strychnin and of course their classi rendition of Fever. My affection for this album is romanticized because I was lucky enough to see them and was mesmorized by Lux Interior as well as Poison Ivy. Top 5 shows I ever saw. 4 🌟

  I know the name and some people who like them but really didn’t know what to expect. This album is a lot of fun. Rolling Stone’s description of their music as Phsychobilly fits perfectly. The lead guitar is simple but is played on a guitar that is a beast and played to sound hollow. To be sure, this is a compliment.

I think that the raunchy rockabilly garage sound would be more entertaining if they wrote catchy tunes, but their originals get tired quickly. The album ends with Fever and their next album was 50% covers. The live videos I've seen certainly catch your attention but that doesn't translate well to an album. Between a 5/10 for me.

Today I learned about the psychobilly genre. Today I also learned that I don’t like psychobilly.

Pretty average production. Nice riffs, rockabilly / garage dirty rock sound. Singings pretty bad/average. No standout wow songs. Shame to review it like this as some bands which show inspiration from The Cramps I love.

I mean, I've nothing to say against it.

J'ai un peu plus apprécié mon écoute cette fois-ci. Je sais que c'est voulu, mais un bassiste ne serait pas de trop. J’aime le tone des guitares et les solos. Leur version de Strychnine des Sonics se démarque du lot et est pas mal ma préférée de l'album.

I have tight feeling in my stomach. Tighter than the band..

A bit scruffy and scrappy, not quite what I was after today

Psychobilly…

One of those albums Iv never heard of, looked at the album cover and read the bio and was expecting to give this a 2. Couldn’t be more wrong such a fun garage rock/ punk album really enjoyed this. One I’ll list to again.

Rockabilly with theatrical punk energy and vocal. Not as good as Ramones

It's growing on me. I know this is an influence for a lot of music I do love.

What a wonderful piece of weirdness.

Punk and hilbilly??? Hmm. Not into it.

Un dels discos fundacionals del psychobilly. El títol i la portada són molt engrescants, les lletres i l'esperit de tot plegat encara més. Simplement és que la banda mai va tenir temes que sobresortissin. I el seu so és descarnat, en el seu pitjor sentit, i sense gaire substància

Raw, weird and pioneering - liked it

This is as if Elvis had ideas of reference, some homicidal ideation sand delusions of grandeur thrown in for good measure.

Pure trash in all the right ways.

I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did. Some tracks were great, others not so much. A very punky vibe which I would usually dismiss out of hand. Another high 3*

Thought I'd like this more than I did considering the Misfits are one of my favourite bands of all time.

Pretty good

Swamp monster music, primordial, gloopy, and rough as arseholes. They freak but don't get freaky enough.

It wasn't bad, I actually kinda liked this album. I think the best songs are near the back, that's for sure. Some of them are difficult to listen to but it seems like an album that gets better the more you listen to it.

I think if I was in the right mood I'd enjoy this. It has some fairly entertaining moments but I don't really like it musically. Probably an incredible live show.

How can I not like this album? Raucous, primal, swampy punk produced by Alex Chilton no less. My only regret is that the Cramps never really hit my ears and loins until way past my teens when they would have been so potent. I can't fault this album. I will admit that it is maybe not for everyone but isn't that the case for all great bands

Nah.

Loud and punky. Can hear influence in Jesus & Mary Chain etc. Would have been great to see live in it's day.

I was a teenager staying up late one Saturday night watching rage when the Cramps came on, performing Can Your Pussy Do The Dog? on the Tube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfvCDyVlVIw) It was one of those moments that changes everything; it was the first time I had heard or seen the Cramps, and it totally blew my mind. Lux Interior writhing around on the floor barking like a dog and almost fellating the microphone was one of the most rock and roll things I had ever seen. The sound was tough, and more than a little rough around the edges. Poison Ivy Rorschach's guitar technique wasn't as polished or flashy as (say) Joe Satriani, but it rocked like hell. The Cramps are one of the bands that showed me that I really love loose, gritty, tough rock and roll. I don't care if it is badly recorded, sloppily performed (even better, sometimes), or almost stupidly simple, but it needs to rock. The Cramps are dangerous and sexy and they rock. And this album is where it all started. I love that Alex Hilton knew not to polish the edges off them. One of my great regrets is that I never saw them live, although that performance on the Tube is burned in my psyche, and has informed everything I look for in rock and roll ever since. God bless you, the Cramps, you changed me forever.

"garage-trash novelty" -- ok, a good fun listen. Fave: What's Behind The Mask. I Was A Teenage Werefolf

A low 3 for me. Filled with gothy r&r takes never quite goes beyond appearing like a bit of a novelty act for me.

Very generic, balnd, and forgettable. Not the best representant of a genre I'm not too fond of honestly. Not much to say here, it just did not impress me much.

Aggressive, violent punk. Not my forte.

Coś tam pobrzękali, ja dobrze nie pamiętam.

Jak odkryłem, że końcówka płyty to już powtórzone utwory, to odetchnąłem z ulgą. Straszliwa kakofonia dla mnie, teoretycznie lubię takie klimaty, praktycznie tego się słuchać nie dało

Didn't really get on with it

Oh, these twisted, wonderful weirdos. Rockabilly always had a dark and dangerous side, but by the 1970s, it was fast headed into the territory of "oldies but goodies." Along come Lux/Ivy and the Cramps, who had a vision. They took the music of the 1950s (with a strong assist from 60s surf and garage rock) and flipped it over so you could see all the little nasties and creepy crawlies hiding underneath. The result was the genesis of psychobilly, punk meets rockabilly and pulp horror. It's dark, grinding, noisy, kitschy, trashy, hilarious. Above all, Songs The Lord Taught Us totally rocks. Great noisy guitars, pounding drums, high energy, attitude for miles. What a blast. Fave Songs: I Was a Teenage Werewolf, I'm Cramped, Mystery Plane, Sunglasses After Dark, TV Set, The Mad Daddy, Fever, Strychnine

A fun rockabilly influenced album

Punk

Cool! Good balance of noise rock and prog rock, IMHO. Some cool songs with great beats and instrumentals

I appreciate the concept and execution, though as with the B-52s at album length it starts to wear thin for me. The jangly, rockabilly-esque music, the oddly inflected (and rather affected) vocals. Perfect to fit a niche interval in a mix tape, not my cup of tea to sit down and listen to for the better part of an hour.

4/13/22

This album is what would happen if the fifties were resurrected as zombies and given instruments. This mix of rockabilly, surf, goth rock, and punk is really fascinating though it doesn’t particularly appeal to me personally. Fifties rock and punk don’t seem at first glance like they would compliment each other, but due to the simplistic chord structures, they are natural compliments.

Very 70s feel - Didn't think I'd like it but it grew on me. quirky.

Fred Armison did a sketch on SNL where he played an 80s punk singer reuniting at his daughters wedding. This sounds like that... Also - the album sounds like it was recorded on a potato

I can appreciate how this was influential, but I do not enjoy it at all.

I get why this album matters. But not much to me.

I've never really listened to The Cramps, but this is pretty fun. Doesn't outstay its welcome and really knows what it's got going for it. I'd listen again.

I own this album already - not my favourite, definitely a bit of a curio, but the Cramps managed to extract the gothic potential from rockabilly. A novel, creative and quite original enterprise, even though I'm not wholly in love with the results

Loved how it started, but within the first ten seconds of song #2 I knew what the rest of the album was going to sound like. I wished they had lyrically embraced the macabre even more; the content of “TV Set” is gruesome and fun and I really wanted much more of that. Instead, the rockabilly creep got pretty old pretty quick to my ears. Still, “Mystery Plane” pulled me back in and that’s a track I would return to. At the end of the day though, I’d rather just listen to The Misfits. And speaking of, I’m so curious how it came to be that several punk bands gravitated towards these forms of early pop rock. Cramps, Misfits, Ramones - it’s like they all watched Grease and decided to form their own gangs at the same high school. I don’t understand how that happened, as opposed to, say, mimicking the Sex Pistols. I’m sure there’s an essay somewhere…

Any one of these would be a fine contribution to a playlist, good lord they all sound the fucking same back-to-back on an album.

Fínasta psychobilly. Hefði sómt sér vel í hvaða Reykvískum bílskúr sem er in the 80s.

My grandmother, Cookie, and I used to sit up late on Saturday nights in her Galveston beach house and watch the local ABC affiliate’s weekly broadcast of 'WEIRD,' mc-ed by a campy host in a black cape who introduced whatever horror movies they were running that evening. This was in the 1960s mind you, so the horror flicks were mostly things like ‘Day of the Triffids,’ and ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers,’ stuff like that. And, of course, the classic unholy trinity of ‘Frankenstein,’ ‘Dracula,’ and ‘The Werewolf.’ I was always scared, yet not really. It was different than the time a neighbor’s dog chased me down the block on my Schwinn nipping at my heels, or the time I ran home fast because a perv in a van (honest to God) offered me candy for a ride. That was legitimate, real life fear. The monster movies were only pretend fear, and served the purpose of a cathartic release, a confrontation of terror with the goal of a purification at the end. You may not buy this, finding no value whatsoever in the horror genre of literature and film, but for those of you who do, who have had a similar positive experience to mine, you will love The Cramps’ 'Songs The Lord Taught Us.' (Incidentally, the significance of the title of this record is lost on me. I would’ve gone with the more obvious 'Rock Around the Shock,' or something of that nature, but anyway…) It would come as no surprise to me that many folks will hate this record with the kind of distaste one feels immediately upon realizing that they’ve stepped in dog shit. So, allow me to address that group. Forget all the horror imagery and think of this record, instead, as satire. I believe that’s the real and greater intent of The Cramps than to simply terrorize us. Satire, as I understand it, involves the use of exaggeration, often in humorous ways, to expose and critique things in the general culture. Listen to some of these lyrics, ignoring the horror, and concentrate on what the lyricist might be trying to satirize: ‘I was a teenage werewolf, braces on my fangs… You know, I have puberty rights, and I have puberty wrongs (‘I Was a Teenage Werewolf’).’ ‘I been seeing you for months coming to this place. Now what I wanna know is, honey, when can I see your face?... Ooh, let me have a look in here… Eeeeeek! Well, curiosity killed this cat, sorry I ever asked. What I don’t know can’t hurt me as much as what’s behind the mask (‘What’s Behind the Mask’).’ ‘Mystery Plane,’ about a woman impregnated by an alien: ‘Now I just can’t identify with this world so I don’t try. Square pegs don’t fit into round holes, and I can’t fit into these clothes. My daddy’ unidentified. My mom says I just appeared inside. Looks like a case of hit and run, but off the record it’s no fun.’ Or my personal favorite, ‘Sunglasses After Dark’: ‘I got something to say to you and you better listen. I’m’a tell ya how to be cool in one easy lesson. Sunglasses after dark… Went out last Saturday night. Got myself in a knife fight. Everybody got cut includin’ me, ‘cause not one of us cats could see!’ Musically, The Cramps have arched completely over the swing set bar, a full 360 degrees, and turned inside out as a result; meaning, that they’re so bad they’re good. Oh, how they need a standup bass, though. That would really give their thrillbilly sound a good bottom. And I could play it, I know I could, even with no prior experience. I’d need about a weekend’s practice, and then I’d be good to go. Nick Knox is appropriately pounding away on this toms signaling the zombies to rise from the dead and shuffle on down to the dance hall. Bryan Gregory and Poison Ivy Rorschach on guitars take everything wonderful about the interplay between Keith Richards and Mick Taylor’s guitar work in the Rolling Stones’ glory years, and toss it out the window to it’s death. At times, many times, Poison Ivy’s lead guitar seems to be purposefully playing in a different key entirely to the one in which Gregory’s playing. But, in a good way, strange as that may sound. And it does. And Lux Interior’s vocals are kind of like Elvis on meth, while still chewing on a peanut butter & ‘nanner sandwich. In fact, the entire band sounds like a cross between Bill Hailey & the Comets, and The Munsters, on a Red Bull bender. It’s one rollicking mess. I mean, when you begin an LP with tribal drums, followed by pure garage guitar with heavy echo (and the uniquely squeaky sound of a hand on the fret board changing chords), and then lyrics like: ‘Oh baby I see you on my TV set… I cut your head off and put it on my TV set. I use your eyeballs for dial on my TV set. I watch TV since I put you on my TV set,’ you pretty much know you’re traveling off the beaten path. This ain’t Toto by a long shot. Oh, and when the next verse describes his baby’s other parts dripping all down the radio, I think they were actually turning a radio dial randomly back and forth for a solo! A radio dial solo! This is a first for me in listening history. When they play ‘Tear It Up,’ they don’t mean it figuratively, like most rockabilly bands. They really mean tear it up, accentuated by Poison Ivy’s screaming in the background for the entire song. I imagine all of these songs were all one-takers in the studio, and the whole thing from recording to release might have occurred on a Saturday, with time left over to do the live gig that evening. And that’s a good thing. The Cramps would suffer from too much practice, too much studio polish. They’ve got the attitude. Just turn the amps up and let ‘em rock n’ roil. Great fun. True originals. A band that might even twist a chuckle out of the otherwise dour belly of Leonard Cohen. They sure showed me a good time. And isn’t that one of the reasons why we love to rock anyway? 5/5 (for entirely different reasons than the 5/5 I gave the Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers)

Good dose of punk, but really fairly monotonous.

What punk rock was supposed to be

Too much rockabilly

Ça manque de bass😆 Je connaissais le nom the cramps C'est garage, ça sonne la bouette mais le son n'est pas l'idée ici j'imagine Sûrement que live au CBGB ça devait être cool en 1979... Que dire de fever... c'est croche, c'est faux, je suis pu capable d'entendre cette toune mais j'ai préféré à plusieurs versions proprette d'aujourd'hui Subversif pour l'époque et naissance du psycobilly mais je penses pas m'infliger ça souvent

J’était tanné après 2 tounes.

C’est sûrement voulu, mais ça manque de basse. J’aime le tone des guitares et le solo dans TV Set qui rappelle instantanément le genre de solos de Tom Morello, mais c’est à peu près tout. Il y a Strychnine qui se démarque du lot au début et qui a probablement incluencée The Hives (du moins c’est ma référence instantanée en entendant les premières mesures).

Probably decent live, but didn't get any energy from this at all

Their work, Lux once said, was “a rallying point for certain kinds of people to come together and for certain kinds of people to stay out.” The Cramps' singer take on what they do is as clear as it can get, and *Songs The Lord Taught Us* probably exemplifies this philosophy the best. With this first LP, they established the 'psychobilly' genre: an outré, deranged take on rockabilly attracting misfits, outcasts and other weirdoes gathering around tales of teenage werewolves, zombies and alien daddies abandoning their traumatized offspring on earth. Punk twisted those old 50s references into a pure carnival. And it's one many rock fans might be inclined to return to for years to come. Musically, you can't expect anything more than barebones touches to honor the lyrical program: Poison Ivy's simple yet evocative guitar lines are earworms ready to suck on your brain like so many extraterrestrial leeches, Lux Interior's demented screeches and howls can have a mesmerizing effect on what's left of it, and the overall sound is just a messy mudpit. Is it *good* or interesting music? Maybe not. But sometimes atmosphere and moods are more important than compositions (and a lot of covers are here anyway, with "Fever" once again attracting most of the spotlight). As for the lyrics, they are outrageously funny. Just imagine that "Zombie Dance" mocking the so-called "normality" of self-righteous people, and you'll get the idea of how Ivy and Interior consider the rest of society at large. Maybe through their tales of the undead and other monsters, The Cramps just wanted to point out they were more alive than most people around them. If that's the case, it's a job well-done. 3 or 3.5 for the music. 5 for the lyrics and the overall artistic intent. Which rounds up to a 4 and an album you must probably listen to at least once in your life, even if you won't come back to it later one. Number of albums left to review or just listen to: 965 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 15 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 8 (including this one) Albums from the list I will *not* include in mine (as I think many others are more important): 11 Albums I might not be able to judge (some might end up on my final list but it's because I recognize how culturally important they are): 2

Esperava mais

Overall not bad, there were parts I really liked and other that I didn’t at all

Give me an instrumental album

Yeah was alright 6/10

4.5

They felt far away. I got through it but didnt enjoy

2/5 nothing much.

A sign of things to come in Crampsville. Love this album!

Nope. Not for me.

Before they were a ubiquitous band tee, The Cramps were a punkabilly band, combining the manic energy of punk with bluesy basslines and twangy rockabilly guitar. Top it off with the goth aesthetic of Misfits, and you have a recipe for a thrashy, lo-fi punk hoedown. Songs The Lord Taught Us was close to an hour long, and even with the remastering, the production was just passable enough for one to make out the walking blues bass lines and jangly guitar solos on tracks like Rock On The Moon. The band also covered Fever, a typically jazz (?) number that sounded more Bauhaus and less Billie Holiday. The Cramps succeeded in carving a little niche for themselves as a goth psychobilly group, paving the way for future acts like the Nekromantiks, Tiger Army and the Horrorpops. While that in itself is a noteworthy feat, what impresses this writer is the ability for a forebear of what is a pretty niche subgenre to have such dynamic range within a single record. Apart from the aforementioned Fever reinterpretation and straight up rockabilly anthem, songs like I Was A Teenage Werewolf sees the band exercise a bluesy swagger that ZZ Top would approve of. Overall, we really see the band push the boundaries of their rockabilly influences by ripping off boogie-woogie, blues and country, all while keeping true to the punk spirit of simplicity.

Great rock/punk/rockabilly

Appreciate the level of chaos, but most of it just seemed a bit samey. The mix is not the best either, making some bits hard to work out.

A very similar sound to the Stray Cats, rooted in blues and bluegrass riffs and chord progressions, with the punk attitude and rhythms of the late 70s. A fun live experience I imagine for sure.

A punk album that is rather on the side side of the spectrum. Tolerable and listenable, without any real heights or lows

I understand the place that Punk is coming from (kind of) but this feels so sloppy and not in a good way. The lyrics are just random as hell (other than the werewolf theme from the whole album?) and I didn't love any of the musicians.

3.4 - solid punk/psychobilly album with short, fun tracks. Cover of “Fever” and “I was a teenage werewolf” stood out most to me.

Fun early horror punk

Noisy not great for calm Saturday morning

Good, hard driving punk sound, with the rockabilly influence too.

3.5/5. This is very different from most things I've heard. It's kind of punky and also kind of garage rocky. It's alright, not really my taste tho. Objectively, I think it is a good album, subjectively, not so much.

If the Munsters were a punk rock band they would be the Cramps. The Cramps are the answer to the question you didn't know you wanted to ask: can a four-person band have two guitars, a singer, a drummer and no bass? Yes. Does this album belong on a list of albums you must hear? If you listen to this album and think for a moment you heard the newest Jack White vault release from when the White Stripes opened a Burger King, then you have your answer.

Didn't like it.

4/5

Oli siellä pari ihan hyvää melodiaa, mut jotenkin tämmönen vanha punk-soundi ei nappaa ihan kauheasti.

Muutama hyvä biisi ja fiilasin kyl meininkiä. Mut ehkä pitää korkkaa itekin 2/5 ja tää vois olla sen paikka.

kovaa menoa ja rätinää. en tiedä teksteistä mut ainakin asenne jees. musiikillisesti ei mitään ihmeellistä mut hei, se on punkkia.

Such a great album that brings me back thirty five years to one of the best shows I ever saw. Lux Interior is one of the best front men that ever was...in the mold of Iggy Pop and the band rocks. Poison Ivy is a very u derrated guitarist. A fun album. With more than a touch of the macabre. 4 🌟

Listening to this album brought to mind the "Eerie" and "Creepy" magazines that my older brother used to read and my mother hated. The old-timey rock vibe makes sure the horror-themed lyrics are taken humorously. I'm not sure why this one doesn't come out more on Halloween. It's perfect for that. I won't listen to it much otherwise, but it was fun while it lasted!

I have heard of this band, but this is the first listen of the album. On my first listen, I thought it was rather fun. The rockabilly on overdrive had me bopping and I guess the lyrics were ghoulish (or goofy). After a while though, the tracks seemed to blend together. So, although it was kinda a party time, I can’t see myself ever seeking the album out to listen again. Ending with “Fever” was certainly a change of pace, and I did like The Cramps spin on that tune.

Wasn't expecting such a fun surfer rock/rock-a-billy sound from The Cramps. This was a good time. The cover of Fever was superb.

This was more fun than I had expected to have at the outset. SONGS THE LORD TAUGHT US is chock full of punk-meets-rock-and-heads-to-the-beach songs. It includes a cover of “Fever” that I had listened to in the past. There’s a lot of silliness in the lyrics - a song about wearing “Sunglasses at Night” to be cool (causing injuries during a knife fight), being a “Teenage Werewolf”, or ones daddy driving a UFO (“Mystery Plane”). But the apparent silliness only slightly obscures some real angst like getting abandoned by your father, being a misfit, or trying to fit in. I ended up liking this album much more than I had expected. My main complaint for the original 13 tracks were the muddiness of the vocals in the mix. Interestingly tracks 14-18 include a few different recordings and a few new songs and all sounded much better to me. My favorite songs: “Garbageman”, “Mystery Plane”, “Fever”, “Mad Daddy”, “Tear It Up” Enjoyed many songs on this. Not exactly something I want to listen to as a whole album necessarily but happy to revisit a lot of these songs. Probably then rates a 3.5 but I’ll round up for the clever lyrics.

Gothic punk? Rough around the edges Favorite Track: Teenage Werewolf Relisten: No

old punk, a little rockabilly for me but not bad!

2nd listen. Some really good stuff here! 3/5

Fun early punk album. Very raw.