This was my introduction to the weird and wonderful world of The Cramps. They came along at exactly the right time with their decadent and pervy punk-adjacent rockabilly.

I cannot improve on Allmusic’s biographical summary so I’m not going to try: “Conjuring a fiendish witches’ brew of primal rockabilly, grease-stained ’60s garage rock, vintage monster movies, perverse and glistening sex, and the detritus and effluvia of 50 years of American pop culture, The Cramps are a truly American creation much in the manner of the Cadillac, the White Castle hamburger [no idea!], the Fender Stratocaster, and Jayne Mansfield.”

They came to my attention with their debut EP Gravest Hits, featuring four fantastic cover versions – Surfin’ Bird (The Trashmen), The Way I Walk (Jack Scott & The Chantones), Domino (Roy Orbison), Lonesome Town (Ricky Nelson) – and this solitary self-penned number.

Yet even though the other four are all classics in their own way, it was Human Fly, penned by Lux Interior and Poison Ivy Rorschach – the couple who started the band after meeting back in 1972 – that stood out most.

With its lurching rockabilly rhythm, cavernous echo, and a vocal that goes from a sinister growl to hysterical sobbing, it pretty much defines the sound of The Cramps.