The Cramps – Songs the Lord Taught Us
Before psychobilly became an established genre, The Cramps were already creating their own twisted version of rock 'n' roll religion. Songs the Lord Taught Us is the band's legendary debut, a raw, sleazy, horror-soaked collision of 1950s rockabilly, garage rock, surf guitar and punk attitude.
Led by the unmistakable vocals of Lux Interior and the snarling guitar work of Poison Ivy and Bryan Gregory, The Cramps built a sound that felt like a forgotten horror-movie soundtrack being blasted out of a grimy underground club. Their songs draw heavily from the forgotten corners of early rock 'n' roll: monster movies, B-movie exploitation, juvenile delinquency, drive-in culture and the darker side of American pop music.
The album was produced by Alex Chilton, formerly of Big Star and the Box Tops, who helped capture the band's primitive, stripped-down energy without over-polishing its rough edges. The result is an album that sounds deliberately dangerous, weird and wonderfully unhinged.
Side A
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TV Set – 3:12
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Rock on the Moon – 1:53
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Garbageman – 3:37
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I Was a Teenage Werewolf – 3:03
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Sunglasses After Dark – 3:47
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The Mad Daddy – 3:48
Side B
7. Mystery Plane – 2:43
8. Zombie Dance – 1:55
9. What's Behind the Mask – 2:05
10. Strychnine – 2:25
11. I'm Cramped – 2:37
12. Tear It Up – 2:32
13. Fever – 4:17