Another Halloween rolls around and I’m on the road today, delivering my show to the Kada Gallery in Erie in advance of my show that opens there next Saturday. I thought I’d throw out some scary music but there isn’t a great selection of monster themed music. Oh, there’s the Monster Mash but that gets played to death this time of the year, like Grandma Got Ran Over By a Reindeer at Christmas. And the Addams Family or Munsters themes are memorable but not what I’m looking for.
But there are the Cramps.
The Cramps emerged out of the NY punk scene of the 70’s with a distinct sound that influeneced by rockabilly and the B-Horror movies of the 50’s. Two guitars and a small drum kit- no bassist- and a leader called Lux Interior and a girl guitarist/femme fatale named Poison Ivy, the Cramps’ music was often called psychobilly. Many of their songs paid direct homage to old horror flicks, like Human Fly and the one I’m highlighting here, I Was a Teenage Werewolf, which starred a very young Michael Landon in a pretty kitschy story. But the Cramps created some high energy creeptastic stuff out of some hokey films. Below I Was a Teenage Werewolf is a performance by them from 1981 at NYC’s Mudd Club. The first is The Natives Are Restless and the second is their macabre TV Set. It’s a neat slice from an interesting time.
Have a very spooky Halloween!
Redtree Times 