Pop and Jazz Reviews : Times Catch Up With the Cartoonish Cramps

Yes, folks, it’s happened. The Cramps’ groovy ghoulies, Lux Interior and Poison Ivy, have become the all-American couple. Sure, at the Hollywood Palladium on Friday they were still the king and queen of sleazy sexabilly, Lux an Iggy Pop in pumps and pearls, Ivy something like Peg Bundy’s dominatrix twin. Sure, her minimal outfit still left most of her derriere exposed throughout the concert, while he peeled off his skin-tight black spandex body suit a few times to reveal his rear.

But as they led the quartet through the variations on the one (maybe two) songs they’ve been doing since most of the young fans on hand were watching Mr. Rogers, it wasn’t hard to imagine an Ozzie & Harriet home life--Lux going out for ice cream while Ivy repots her azaleas. Or maybe vice versa, as the Cramps are still an example of rock role reversal, with Ivy being the expressionless guitar tough and Lux the dramatic frontperson.

Once upon a time, though, there was an edge to the Cramps’ cartoonish sexploits. Now times have changed, and the group’s approach hasn’t. Even when Lux prefaced the recent song “Blow Up Your Mind” by telling the fans, “Kill yourself, it’s the only way--I mean that sincerely,” he seemed more harmless than the Munsters.