People Who Died: Lux Interior of The Cramps (1946-2009)

R.I.P. LUX INTERIOR (ERICK LEE PURKHISER) 1946-2009

Seminal punk rock frontman Lux Interior (born Erick Lee Purkhiser in Ohio) died yesterday of a pre-existing heart condition in Glendale, CA at Glendale Memorial Hospital. He is survived by his fabulous wife and fellow Cramps bandmate, Kristy Wallace, a.k.a. Poison Ivy.

The Cramps emerged from the classic mid-70's New York City punk scene consisting of clubs like CBGB's and Max's Kansas City playing what they called "psychobilly;" a freakish mesh of 50's sci-fi B-movie aesthetic, high camp, and rockabilly supercharged by punk rock speediness. Many bands that I would come to love in the 90's like Reverend Horton Heat, Southern Culture on the Skids, The Amazing Royal Crowns, and even White Zombie seemed to be directly influenced by The Cramps. Kurt Loder kind of summed it up nicely in a 1984 review of a Cramps comp record:

“This is rock & roll the way it never really was on the radio, but the way you always dreamed it could be — drooling horrorama lyrics, great cheesoid guitar riffs, post-lobotomy drum-bashing and a singer for whom inhibition is the dirtiest ten-letter word of all. Slurp it up, sleaze fans.”

Damn right. Speaking of post-lobotomy, The Cramps even played a free show at the California State Mental Hospital in 1978, which amuses me to no end.

My first memory of The Cramps was actually due to Mike Judge's controversial 90's MTV show "Beavis and Butthead." There were many arguments over whether this show was rotting my fragile brain, but I was tuning in mainly because they played a lot of videos that MTV would not deign to play in the daylight hours. The Cramps video they showed was, I believe, "Bikini Girls With Machine Guns" from their 1990 album, "Stay Sick!," which says a lot about The Cramps right there. I was lucky enough to see The Cramps while I was in college in New England several years later. I was fascinated with Lux, from his hilariously creative name to his overall dark gothiness, which included an ability to perform in ridiculously high, shiny patent leather stripper heels. He was androgynous and I liked it. There will never be another.




Please enjoy the fierceness that is Lux Interior and the Cramps:



The Cramps - "Bikini Girls With Machine Guns" from their 1990 album, "Stay Sick!"



The Cramps - "Naked Girl Falling Down The Stairs" from their 1994 album, "Flame Job"


Yum.